A sustained communication development program preparing BOBST's senior leadership pipeline for board-level presence and C-suite communication.
As BOBST grew and evolved its global leadership structure, a clear development need emerged: directors and senior managers who were technically exceptional and functionally strong — but who hadn't yet developed the communication skills required at the executive level.
Board presentations, investor briefings, cross-functional alignment meetings, and high-visibility external appearances all require a different kind of communication than what most technical careers prepare you for. The gap isn't competence — it's the translation of competence into visible authority.
The target group was experienced, senior, and skeptical. These were not people who needed to be convinced that communication matters — they already knew it. What they needed was a method that matched their level of sophistication, worked around their schedules, and produced results they could apply immediately in real situations.
The program also needed to be discreet. Development work at this level is often sensitive — participants needed a safe space to practise and receive honest feedback, away from the political dynamics of the organisation.
The program combined group sessions on executive communication with intensive individual coaching over a multi-month engagement — working on real presentations, not simulated scenarios.
A private session with each participant to map their current communication profile, identify their specific gaps, and agree on the priority areas for the program. At this level, generic training doesn't work — every intervention needs to be calibrated to the individual's real context, real audience, and real upcoming moments.
Focused on the specific challenges of C-suite presence: commanding a room without dominating it, handling difficult questions from the board, communicating strategic decisions with clarity and authority. These sessions also created a rare opportunity for senior leaders to practise together — building a shared language around communication that extended beyond the program itself.
Ongoing private sessions throughout the multi-month engagement — working on real presentations participants were actually preparing, not invented scenarios. Board decks in progress. Investor briefing narratives being drafted. Executive committee appearances coming up. The coaching tracked the real calendar of each participant's leadership moments.
For participants with upcoming board or executive committee presentations — dedicated preparation sessions replicating the real conditions as closely as possible. The right questions, the right pressure, the right timing. Not a rehearsal of the slides — a rehearsal of the conversation that surrounds them.
"At this level, the gap isn't competence — it's the translation of competence into visible authority. That's what we built."
Increased confidence in high-stakes contexts — particularly board-level presentations and cross-functional alignment meetings where the audience is senior, politically aware, and hard to impress.
Unconscious patterns identified and addressed — several participants noted the program helped them see habits around structure, pacing, and audience management that had been limiting their effectiveness without their awareness.
Applied immediately to real situations — because the coaching worked on actual upcoming presentations, the results were visible not weeks after the program but the very next time participants stepped into a board room.
A blended communication program spanning the full organisational hierarchy.
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