CASE STUDY
Helping a Newly Promoted Manager Build the Confidence to Lead
Industry: Healthcare & Social Services
Engagement: 4-Month Leadership Coaching (extended to 12 months)
The Challenge
A newly promoted manager, six months into her role and leading three direct reports, was highly capable but held back by self-doubt. She second-guessed her decisions, waited for her executive’s approval before acting, and downplayed her own achievements. Her executive saw the gap clearly: she had the respect of her peers and consistently strong feedback on her work, but perfectionism and a lack of confidence were getting in the way of her thinking clearly and leading decisively.
The Approach
The engagement began with confidential 360 interviews across her direct reports, manager, and stakeholders, surfacing positive feedback she hadn’t fully absorbed and highlighting strengths and blind spots she couldn’t see in herself. From this, one behavior was identified as the highest-impact focus: making decisions and sticking to them. A quantitative and qualitative Impostor Syndrome assessment pinpointed the specific roots of her self-doubt, and a Leader Dashboard helped her define the kind of leader she wanted to become and give her team clearer direction and structure.
Coaching combined work on impostor syndrome, behavioral coaching, and situational coaching. What began as a 4-month engagement was extended to a full year after her executive saw significant progress and wanted to continue supporting her as she settled fully into the role.
The Impact
Measurable growth across every self-rated dimension over the engagement, on a scale from 1 to 10:
- Confidence as a leader: 2 to 8
- Trust in her own judgment: 4 to 8
- Speaking up and being more assertive: 3 to 8
- Making confident decisions without seeking constant approval: 2 to 8
- Taking action she wouldn’t normally take: 3 to 9