Global Leadership Development

Why would you hire a Global Leadership Expert?

Cupela Global Leadership Experts are hired for various reasons either by the HR department or by the client themself. Typical reasons to engage one of our experts include

• Overcoming a behaviour that is no longer conducive to success
• Accelerating self growth, e.g. developing global leadership skills
• Being successful in a new or enhanced role

What should you look for in a Global Leadership Expert’s resume?

Look for a mix of skills and experience in your Global Leadership Expert:

• relevant qualification (accredited coach, business psychologist, etc)
• experience in working at C-suite or VP level in an MNC
• experience in working with clients similar to yourself
• at least three years of work experience as a Global Leadership Development Expert
• knowledge of latest developments in business and leadership theory
• Since Cupela Global Leadership Development goes beyond just coaching to include aspects of consulting and mentoring, it is vital that your Global Leadership Development Expert actually knows what it means to work at the Managing Director level in an MNC.

Does my Global Leadership Coach need to have knowledge of my industry?

Since coaching is a skillset in itself, a good coach can benefit anyone they work with. A Cupela Global Leadership Expert helps their clients to find the solution that is best for them by looking at various perspectives, seeing the bigger picture, asking pertinent questions and teaching them tools that help them to better help themselves in the future. As for experience, intelligence and a sound understanding of business in general are much more important than specific industry insights. It can be extremely beneficial to have an intelligent outsider’s perspective on some sticky challenges. Just think about it: if you had the chance to get insights on your business issues from Binny Bansal or Elon Musk, surely you would go for it, regardless of the industry you are in?

What questions should I ask in the introductory session/call and how do I interpret the answers?

The primary objective of the introductory session is to ascertain that our Leadership Expert and you, the client, are a good match for each other. In order to achieve this, our Global Leadership Expert will ask you a lot of questions about your current situation and the main challenges you are facing. Our expert will then also answer your questions about their relevant experience and qualifications.

Things to ask yourself after the introductory session:

• Did you feel comfortable opening up to this person?
• Were they listening intently and asking clarifying questions to ensure understanding?
• Were they giving stock answers or citing real-life examples to illustrate their point?
• Do you feel confident that they have relevant real-life experience?

If you feel that you can fully trust our Global Leadership Expert, that they have interesting perspectives to offer you on the most important issues you want to work on and that you have a bit of rapport already after the intro session, then you are on the right track with this expert. You are ready to book your Cupela Global Leadership Development Programme!

How important is the personality of the Global Leadership Expert?

The personality is important because the leadership development relationship requires rapport. The expert and the client need to feel comfortable with each other, they need to respect and trust each other. This doesn’t mean that our Leadership Expert needs to be someone you would be friends with, it just means you have to be aligned on core values and how you communicate with each other.
The important thing is that the expert you are paired with understands and can relate to your circumstances, that they can ask you relevant questions and that you feel seen and understood. You need to trust them to have only your best interest at heart and to maintain complete confidentiality, which we always do at Cupela, of course.

How do you measure the results of Cupela Global Leadership Development?

This really depends on the exact nature of the assignment. Since we often work on soft skills, it can be difficult to measure the results precisely. However, there are two main methods we employ here at Cupela to get a good indication of the success:

First, we identify quantifiable metrics like ratio of positive to negative feedback, employee engagement or customer retention rates that are related to the issue the client is working on. For example, if the client is working on enhancing leadership skills, then employee engagement, talent retention and team productivity might be relevant metrics to observe. Of course other factors play into these but we can get an indication nonetheless. Secondly, we get regular feedback from stakeholders. We start with a 360 to establish the starting point and then get regular feedback from peers along the way. This is typically done informally at the office once a week or so and then backed up by formal stakeholder feedback and self-assessment once every two months or so. This doesn’t have to be time consuming, just 3-5 min per person to answer a few questions.

In either case, it is important to establish a baseline at the beginning, to then set SMART goals and set milestones to reach those goals. This way we can check progress against the baseline we set together in the beginning, so the client can see the significant progress they have made over time.

Does transformation really happen?

The short answer is yes. However, the long answer is more complex than that. It depends on a lot of factors. Cupela Global Leadership Development processes are set up to bring about (or at least accelerate) transformation but they are always dependent on the input of the client themself. Our expert alone cannot transform a client’s life or leadership practice. It is a very interactive process and the most important ingredient for success is the client’s willingness to change.

Our Global Leadership Expert will meet their responsibility to provide the structure, the framework for success. This means they ensure that the client sets SMART goals that can be achieved through the programme, they ask questions that help you, the client, see the bigger picture, the details and various perspectives on the matter at hand. It also means that the Leadership Expert assigned to you keeps the process on track, doesn’t allow you to go off on tangents to avoid the issue you are working on.

In Cupela Global Leadership Development we also often get stakeholders involved to help accelerate the transformation. These stakeholders would help establish the baseline by offering various perspectives and would also be asked to provide feedback on the progress along the way.

Is Cupela Global Leadership Development expensive?

Cupela Global Leadership Development has a high ROI, so while it might seem expensive at first, compared to other leadership programs, the ROI is so much higher that it actually ends up seeming like a very small investment in hindsight.

Say an executive is able to reach the next level in their career because they engaged a Cupela Leadership Expert for ten hours. They will probably make their investment back in the first three to six months of their promotion and then have the full benefit of their higher earnings. Or an organization pays for an executives productivity to be optimized. They could easily get an ROI of 10x over three years if the executive’s productivity goes up by 15 or 20%.

If we then take into account some of the indirect consequences of our development programme like lower employee turnover, more employee engagement and productivity, etc, we can see that the investment is minimal compared to the likely outcome, especially at the executive level.

Who can benefit from Global Leadership Development?

Cupela Global Leadership Development is targeted specifically at high-potential leaders in Multinational Corporations (MNCs). However, the success of the coaching and consulting process is heavily dependent on the willingness, openness and commitment of the client. So while the process can be successful independent of age, rank, ethnicity and other such factors, the client has to be ready and willing to change.

How will confidentiality be maintained? What will be shared with my superior and HR?

If the company pays for Cupela Global Leadership Development, some employees are worried that these parties will also be updated on everything that happens in the one-to-one sessions. However, it is a vital part of the expert-client relationship that confidentiality is maintained at all times. A professional leadership expert will never break that confidence, just like a doctor wouldn’t either.

If HR wants any kind of progress updates regarding the process, then this has to be discussed with the client and the leadership expert at the beginning of the engagement to find a way that is comfortable for the client and doesn’t break the confidentiality.

How do I find out more about a Leadership Expert’s experience and background?

LinkedIN is a great way to find out more about the expert assigned to you, there you can find out more about their professional history, you can read their publications and recommendations given by former clients. The latter also gives you some insight into what kind of clients they have worked with in the past.

Furthermore, the expert might be on other online platforms, like Forbes Coaches Council, where you will find our founder, Rajeev Shroff. Reading their publications and answers in forums will give you more insight into who they are and what kind of experience they have.

Finally, you can ask the Leadership Expert to give you references or the option to directly contact former clients to get feedback on the expert’s performance.

How do I ensure the Leadership Expert has the relevant experience and business acumen to really work with me at every level?

Aside from the things recommended in the answer about finding out more about the expert’s experience, this can best be assessed in the intro call/session. Make sure you prepare some questions that test the Leadership Expert’s knowledge and business acumen. Questions like:

• What would you do if I asked your advice on X?
• How would you deal with Y?
• How would we work together in a situation where…?

The answers to these questions and the questions the expert asks to clarify and gain a better understanding of the scenario you are proposing will give you a good idea of how clued in they are.

How does a Cupela Global Leadership Development Expert work and how do they keep up to date?

How an expert works will depend on their training and their experience, as well as on their willingness to keep learning and evolving. One way to check that they have received relevant training and have a certain amount of experience is to check at what level they are accredited as a coach. The ICF (International Coach Federation) offers three levels of accreditation:

• ACC (Associate Certified Coach) – 60+ hours of training and 100+ hours of coaching experience
• PCC (Professional Certified Coach) – 125+ hours of training and 500+ hours of coaching experience
• MCC (Master Certified Coach) – 200+ hours of training and 2500+ hours of coaching experience

Another way is to ask them about their process and their overall approach. Since rapport is so important for the working relationship you have with your Leadership Expert, it is recommended to have a call or meeting with any expert that passes your screening criteria to ask all your questions and then decide based on that whether they are the right person to work with you.

What happens in the one-to-one sessions?

This depends on what the client needs and what they hired the Leadership Development Expert for. Typical elements of a one-to-one session are:

• Goal-setting: We start by setting a clear goal for the session.
• Establishing the status quo: In relation to the goal, where is the client at right now?
• Exploring possible paths: How might the client get from where they are now to where they want to be?
• Final check-in: How much closer have we got to the goal that we set at the beginning of the session?

However, these steps look very different in different situations. The Leadership Expert asks questions to open up various perspectives and considerations; based on these questions, the client comes up with ideas for solutions. The expert then asks further questions that prompt the client to check the validity of their ideas and formulate steps towards a solution. Depending on the respective situation, the expert will pull different ‘tools’ out of their ‘toolbox’ to best serve the client and their current needs. These tools might include aspects of consulting and mentoring, depending on what is most conducive to reaching the client’s goal.

The interaction with the Leadership Expert is typically done either in person or on a video call. Assignments might be given for the time between sessions to allow the client to further explore their issue and possible solutions for it.

A great Leadership Development Expert gives honest feedback, asks difficult questions (in an empathetic way) and teaches the client tools that enable them to better deal with similar issues on their own in the future.

The desired outcome that a great Leadership Development Expert pursues is to make the client independent as soon as they can by empowering them to activate their ‘inner coach’.

What other outcomes can you expect from your Cupela Global Leadership Development?

The great thing about embarking on a growth journey with Cupela is that you can be sure that you will get a lot of ‘fringe benefits’ besides meeting the main objective of your sessions. This happens because our leadership development process is geared towards personal growth in general and thus you may find that you experience an increase in self-awareness, greater confidence, or more ease in finding and co-creating solutions.