How One Executive Used Coaching to Lead Through Conflict

How One Executive Used Coaching to Lead Through Conflict

Leadership isn’t just about managing tasks but energy, emotions, and people, especially in high-pressure situations.

Recently, one of my executive clients found herself in a challenging position. A conflict broke out between a team member and a new employee, leading to an emotional fallout. The tension was high, and her colleague was visibly shaken, unable to function effectively.

As a leader in her organization, she knew it was her responsibility to step in, but how? The wrong approach could escalate the situation further, while the right one could reset the energy and restore productivity.

She reached out to me for guidance.

The Coaching Process: Learning to Lead Under Pressure

We focused on two key areas:

1️⃣ Managing Her Own State First – Before she could help her colleague, she needed to be in the right mindset. I coached her on regulating her emotions, shifting her focus from the problem to the solution, and stepping into a leadership role with clarity and composure.

2️⃣ Helping Her Colleague Reset—Once she stabilized her own state, we worked on strategies to help her colleague overcome the emotional low point. She guided her team members back to a productive state without forcing or invalidating their emotions using specific language, tone, reframing techniques and NLP strategies.

The Outcome: A Leadership Breakthrough

After our session, she implemented the strategies. As a result, she successfully helped her colleague regain composure, resolve the issue with the new employee, and refocus on work.

She later messaged me, excited about the outcome. Not only did her colleague recover from the situation, but my client also felt a more profound confidence in her ability to lead through emotional turbulence.

"Hi Paul the meeting with XXXX went really well! Her confidence level was 3-4 and at the end of the meeting was 7-8. She has had a fear of failure for a long time now and this XXXX confirmed that she is a failure. I managed to break her thinking pattern and focus on the positive side of this and her success stories. She is going to talk to XXXX later this week and stop taking sick days. She agreed that this XXXX is not worth it. I am very happy with the outcome! Thanks for helping me with this!!".

Her key takeaway: Leadership isn’t just about reacting to problems; it’s about managing one's state first to positively influence others.

The Lesson for Executives

In high-pressure environments, executives must develop the ability to:

✔️ Regulate their emotions before responding.

✔️ Shift their mindset from stress to strategy.

✔️ Lead through influence, not reaction.

This case study is a testament to the power of executive coaching. When leaders learn to manage their state first, they can create stability and confidence in their teams, even in the most challenging situations.

Learning and applying self-leadership communication tools and techniques is paramount to solving EQ (Emotional intelligence) problems, navigating emotional situations, and effectively returning to business.

Executives, where in your leadership journey are you facing challenges like this? Let’s talk!