Executive Coaching in Financial Services

Industry: Canadian Financial Services

Project: Enhancing Leadership Effectiveness through Emotional Intelligence

The Challenge

A prominent Canadian bank, renowned for its extensive financial services, strong global presence, and dedication to community development, approached Kirke Leadership with a couple of challenges:

Attraction and Retention: Top performers were exiting the Bank in large numbers to seek opportunities amongst the competition. Employee engagement scores revealed a critical need to improve the workplace culture and the effectiveness of leadership.

Succession Management: The Senior Leadership Team and Human Resources identified a critical issue with Directors being promoted to Vice President roles for their technical success and business acumen, without significant regard to their people leadership capability.

The Solution

In partnership with the Learning and Development Leaders and Senior Business Executives at the Bank, KLI created an Executive Coaching Program for the Director-level Leaders being considered for a promotion. The objective of the program is to support the Bank’s desire to foster higher emotional intelligence for greater leadership effectiveness prior to being promoted to higher levels in the organization.

Each Director was assigned to one of KLI’s ICF Certified Executive Coaches who is also certified in the EQ-I 2.0 assessment tool by MHS. Each participant took the assessment and received a report that contained their strengths and opportunities in emotional intelligence. They also received a coaching session with their trusted, expert coach.

During the coaching sessions, each participant gained:

• A deeper understanding of Emotional Intelligence (EI)
• The importance of EI for effective leadership - backed by research and data
• Self-awareness about their own strengths and opportunities in EI
• An exploration of where challenges arise in their own context relative to the talent management continuum
• A tailored toolkit of EI strategies to deploy
• An action plan of clear goals with measurable outcomes for embedding greater EI in their leadership

The Outcome

Kirke Leadership (KLI)’s approach ensured that the Directors were equipped with the awareness, skills, and tools necessary to lead effectively as they continue to step up in their careers. KLI’s programs, tailored to the specific needs of the Bank, have resulted in significant improvements in emotional intelligence, leadership acumen, employee engagement, and overall organizational performance.

KLI’s Competitive Advantage

Kirke Leadership (KLI) is recognized for our expertise in Leadership Development and Executive Coaching along with our ability to partner with consistent warmth, professionalism, and a relentless commitment to success for our clients.

We have a team of Executive Coaches of the highest caliber with the following:

• Certification from the International Coach Federation (the highest global certification for coaching)
• Real-world business experience across industries (i.e., Financial, Mining, High Tech, Communications, Digital, Retail, Pharma, Biotech, Academia, and more)
• Languages: English, French, Spanish
• Specialization in Executive Coaching as well as:
• Leadership
• Emotional Intelligence
• Conflict Management
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
• Organization Development
• Design Thinking and Innovation
• Team Effectiveness

Assessments used by KLI Coaches:

• EQ-I 2.0 / EQ-I 360
• DiSC
• Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) for cultural intelligence and greater DEI
• MBTI
• Thomas-Killman Instrument (Conflict Assessment)
• Saboteur Assessment
• Enneagram
• Hogan 360
• Social Styles
• And more

EQ-I 2.0 Assessment Tool by MHS

This is one of the world’s most widely used emotional intelligence tests, with over 25 years of research and experience behind it. Emotional intelligence skills are critical for building relationships and teams, resolving conflict, solving problems, leading effectively, and building resilience. The EQ-i 2.0 provides a detailed assessment of areas of strength and potential areas for development.

Each assessment comes with a comprehensive report describing how an individual’s emotional quotient (EQ) competencies work together and also provides suggested strategies for bringing EQ competencies into balance for greater effectiveness. All in all, this comprehensive assessment is widely regarded as the gold standard of emotional assessment testing. Here are just a few reasons why coaches and trainers continue to invest in the EQ-i 2.0:

For more details on Kirke Leadership’s programs and their unique approach, you can fill out our contact form. We look forward to hearing from you.