Leading with Presence
Core work: Competency Development | 4 months Journey
(Please note: For confidentiality reasons we don't mention client names in any of our case studies)
GCC- A Strategic Hub in India
A Global leader in Science-based agro-tech has their Global Capability Centre (GCC) here in India. The GCC in India is a strategic hub that supports business with digital transformation, IT, data analytics, and finance operations.
Among them, the IT team stood out. They had senior leaders with 15+ years of experience, globally recognised as a high-performing unit with exceptional delivery capabilities.
But there comes a stage in every leader's career where they need to go beyond execution. And for this team, the ask was clear: going beyond meant becoming influential global leaders.
"What got you here won't get you there."
Despite their expertise and recognition, these leaders struggled with:
Owning solutions beyond their immediate products
Speaking with confidence to CXOs and global leadership
Bringing value to conversations at a strategic level
Influencing stakeholders across geographies
Moving from a function-focused to an enterprise-wide mindset
In short, the challenge was not about technical capability, but about presence, influence, and impact.
The ARC Way
ARC designed a 4-month competency development journey that started with presence but quickly expanded into influence and enterprise thinking.
These workshops gave the participants a place to experiment with new techniques, behaviours and ways of communicating without worrying about failing.
Some of the levers included:
High-Impact Presentations: Live practice-based session where leaders received real-time feedback. Imagine how effective the learning cycle becomes once you learn something new, practice it- get feedback and then reapply. By Day 2, initially hesitant participants gained confidence and were delivering crisp, impactful presentations to the group.
Executive Presence & Stakeholder Influence: By using frameworks and grids like the Stakeholder map, impact and interest grid, and social styles, the group shifted from simply “communicating” to shaping conversations, adding value, and thinking systemically. And the enthusiasm from the group added to their learning.
““It was an engaged and enthusiastic group. They were really inquisitive and asked questions about the application of concepts to real life. Most of their questions had real-time issues to seek input on. They liked and wanted frameworks, tools and concepts to work on - something tangible to explore and go back with. They were quite reflective and voluntarily shared their insights post practice of tools and group Activities. They were eager to learn and liked questions that challenged them and their current ways of working.”
Adaptive Design: Our designs usually begin at the being level (mindset, inner shift, values), we realised this was a doing group (actions, behaviours). So the journey was course-corrected midway to include practical tools and frameworks that could be applied immediately. This responsiveness made the experience more relevant and effective.
SMEs that have led before
Quick Fact:
ARC works with a select group of Subject Matter Experts professionals who have lived experiences from fields like manufacturing, consulting, project management, communications, and FMCG.
To get onboarded as an SME with ARC is 1.5 year long process of immersion before they are ready to facilitate. This ensures they align with our philosophy of depth and impact.
And here’s a fun detail: In longer journeys where different SMEs lead different modules, each one leaves behind a one-page reflection of their workshop. This way, the next facilitator builds on the group’s existing insights, creating a seamless learning journey, making conversations more contextual.
The HR Team immediately noticed visible change:
What Shifted?
Leaders showed up with greater confidence in global conversations
Presentations became sharper, more concise, and more impactful
Participants started recognising their role not just as IT leaders, but as custodians of global solutions.
A shift from execution-focused to influence-focused leadership
The impact was strong enough that the Global leader in Science-based agro-tech invited ARC for another cohort of this program.
““The learning experience of this module was better than what I had during my MBA. This is something we wish we had experienced in college itself.””
This journey was about transforming globally recognised IT leaders from executors of solutions to influential global voices.
