From leadership coaching to putting shared values into practice

The University of Texas at Austin Center for Professional Education

The Center for Professional Education at UT Austin partnered with True North Coaching to develop selected members of its leadership team. What began with 360-degree feedback and confidential one-on-one coaching expanded to additional managers and led to a second engagement focused on defining the center’s organizational values.

Coaching leaders on the issues that mattered to them

True North began with 360-degree feedback so each leader could see how others experienced their leadership. In confidential coaching sessions, leaders chose what to work on. They used that time to make sense of the feedback, work through issues where they felt stuck, and decide what they wanted to do differently.

The initial group found the coaching valuable enough that the center extended it to additional managers.

Agreeing on the values that would guide the center

Following the success of the coaching program, the center asked True North to help with a challenge its leadership team had been unable to resolve. The center wanted its performance management system to reflect its culture, and leaders needed to agree on which values represented that culture and what those values should look like in everyday work.

True North brought the full leadership team together for a facilitated working session. The leaders agreed on a shared set of values and identified the specific behaviors that would put each one into practice. With that agreement in place, the center successfully rolled out the values and behaviors to staff and embedded these values and behaviors as part of their performance management system.

True North then helped the center bring those same values and behaviors into recruiting. The hiring team could explain what the values meant in practice and ask candidates for examples from their own experience.

“There have been noticeable improvements in the performance of the managers she has worked with, and she has been able to help them tackle issues for which they were previously stuck. This has been an extremely worthwhile professional development investment in our promising managers.”

Toni Wegner
Former Vice Provost, University of Texas Extended Education Ventures