Client Profile
- VP in Development at Biopharmaceutical firm
- Leadership Coaching for 12 months, bi-weekly, with initial Interview-based Feedback Assessment
- Goal setting and progress reporting with SVP and HR
Client Needs
Client heads a team with key inputs to the drug development programs from pre-clinical to post-marketing.
The company had experienced significant changes over a couple of years. When Mariposa began working with the client, she expressed feeling stagnant and wanting to challenge herself more. Her aspiration was to lead a cohesive and effective team and be remembered as a leader who inspires.
Coaching Focus Areas + Results
Difficult Conversations – More skillful engagement in difficult conversations.
Accomplishments
- Is more courageous to speak up and provide candid feedback. With team, is clear with them about her intention, that is, to support their development as well as provide overall impact to the team and the company.
- Lean into uncomfortable situations sooner, is more mindful about what she wants from the conversation and what she wants for the other person to gain from the conversation.
- With senior members of the organization, she intentionally inquires to clarify and challenge current assumptions with the aim to make the final product better.
- Results: Feedback is well received, appreciated and implemented. Shifting from the narrative of “will they like me?” to “I want to be a respected, thoughtful leader, bringing forth the best in me and others” has given the strength to engage in difficult conversations sooner and more effectively.
Influence – Cultivate relationships across the company and ecosystem.
Accomplishments
- Initiated a weekly roundtable where all peers have enthusiastically participated. The forum brought team closer and more importantly helped to have greater appreciation of other department’s needs and challenges so they are better at connecting the dots, anticipate the organization needs and support their SVP and the company.
- Actively reached out to team leaders and functional heads – gaining a wider perspective on projects across the company, understanding the challenges and needs of other teams/functions, and how her team can contribute differently, as well as opportunities to offer input at earlier stage of project inception.
- She is more intentional in scheduling 1:1s with people; to feel the pulse of the organization and learn what her and her team can do better/differently.
- Results: She has always been a go-getter, keeping head down and getting the job done. She discovered that stepping back to connect the larger/longer term picture and implications, raising visibility of her team and learning how they can bring more impact to the organization is crucial to “getting the job done.”
What I love about my coach is that she was rarely “tactical.” She challenged me to reach deep within, asking myself the hard questions: “What are you sensing at that moment? What was so great or not satisfying about that particular conversation / exchange? How could you reframe the other person’s behaviors or reactions? What do you want for yourself and how do you want the other person to benefit from this conversation / exchange?” And the longer term question of “what brings contentment and satisfaction for you?” She helped me get rid of a lot of “noise” and emotional baggage. Through coaching, she has gently guided me to be fair, factual, compassionate, forgiving and very importantly to be good and true to myself. It wasn’t about corporate maneuvering – it was about how to be a better person, a more influential leader at work and a better spouse and mother at home. I feel stronger and more in control of my life, both at home and work. I literally feel like I am taller, not shying away from challenging situations, building stronger relationships with my staff, my peers and my manager, and more attentive at home. The transformation was obvious that my manager supported extending the coaching program for another 6 months and the learning never stops.
