Role: Managing Partner, boutique architecture & design studio
Business Stage: 18-person studio, established client base
Coaching Theme: Leadership presence & difficult conversations
Engagement: Biweekly 1:1 coaching, 10 months
This managing partner was well liked, technically excellent and quietly avoided almost every hard conversation. Underperformance went unaddressed, client scope issues were smoothed over rather than confronted, and resentment was building among the studio’s strongest performers.
Voluntary attrition ran at about 32% a year, well above what a studio this size could comfortably absorb. Annual revenue sat around ₹9 crore, with a 7% net margin, below the roughly 12% typical of a well-run boutique firm this size.
Much of the pressure came from the hidden cost of constant turnover. Rehiring and retraining costs were quietly eating into every project’s margin, while the leadership conversations that could have addressed some of these issues were being avoided.
The coaching focused on leadership presence and the practical mechanics of difficult conversations. Rather than communication theory in the abstract, the work centred on a structured feedback model he could actually use in the room.
Before real conversations he was dreading, the conversations were role-played together. He practised the opening line until it stopped feeling like a confrontation and started feeling like a normal part of leading.
The coaching also explored the personal story underneath the avoidance. A belief, traced back well before the firm, had led him to associate direct feedback with the risk of being disliked.
Between sessions, he committed to having at least one direct, previously avoided conversation each week. Each session then opened with a debrief of how the conversation actually went, rather than how he had feared it would.
Ten months into the engagement, he was holding roughly six substantive, previously avoided conversations a quarter, up from about one. Voluntary attrition fell from 32% to 11% a year, reducing the hidden cost of constant rehiring.
Annual revenue grew from ₹9 crore to about ₹11.5 crore, up roughly 28%, driven largely by stronger client relationships and repeat work from a more stable team.
Net margin improved from 7% to about 15%, moving above the typical boutique firm benchmark rather than simply getting closer to it. The improvement came alongside stronger client relationships, repeat work and a reduction in the impact of constant turnover.
The change therefore extended beyond the leader’s communication style. More direct leadership conversations were becoming part of how performance, client expectations and team relationships were handled within the studio.
Revenue Growth: Annual revenue increased from ₹9 crore to about ₹11.5 crore, up roughly 28% over 10 months.
Profit Growth: Net margin improved from 7% to 15%, more than doubling and moving above the boutique firm benchmark.
Attrition: Voluntary attrition reduced from 32% a year to 11% a year.
Leadership Behaviour: Substantive difficult conversations increased from approximately 1 per quarter to approximately 6 per quarter.
The change was not simply about having more difficult conversations. It was about changing how the managing partner showed up when those conversations were necessary.
Instead of smoothing over underperformance or difficult client scope issues, he was developing the ability to address them directly. Difficult conversations became part of leading the studio rather than something to avoid.
The engagement focused on the connection between leadership presence, direct communication and the ability to address difficult issues early. The work combined practical feedback, role play and reflection on the beliefs that were influencing his leadership behaviour.
For a professional services leader, where client relationships and team performance are closely connected, the ability to have direct conversations can shape more than individual interactions. It can influence accountability, retention and the quality of client relationships.
Some leadership challenges do not need another strategy or process. They need a conversation that has been avoided for too long.
Leadership coaching can provide a space to work through what needs to be said, practise how to say it and examine what happens when you approach the conversation differently.
