Testimonial from Jo Pursaill, Director of Talent, Manpower Group.
The age-old wisdom that if you want cultural change you need to start at the top was front of our minds when we started looking at coaching.
In an environment where sales come first and our industry is changing faster than our clients can predict, we need to have people who are empowered and confident consultants. Our knowledge, market understanding and insight is what clients love about us, so we need to make sure we are encouraging that behaviour and building our talent.
We are therefore keen to introduce more of a coaching culture, where across all of our functions and businesses people are empowered to think, find better solutions and help grow our top and bottom line.
Starting at the top with our MDs and Executive Directors, we needed someone to help us shape the development journey and be a strong facilitator.
We spoke to Totem initially because of the relationship we had built with them over the previous months. Compared to other suppliers Totem stood out as really getting our business and offering what we needed. Having contracted with Totem to support the design and delivery of a one-day workshop to introduce coaching skills to our senior teams, we were delighted how the first design meeting went.
Two of us came into that meeting with some clear ideas of what we wanted, which Helen listened to, then encouraged us to focus on the outcomes we wanted and the thinking and behavioural change required. This focus on outcomes helped all three of us design together a great programme, exploring what support would be needed before, during and after the workshop to make the learning stick.
When it came to the delivery, Helen managed the room incredibly well, building relationships with stakeholders before the start of the workshop so that any challenges could be addressed with ease.
The feedback from the delegates was fantastic and we have been able to keep going back to the messages of the day in encouraging the senior teams to embed the behaviour. It was a joy to co-facilitate with Helen and that gave us the maximum benefit of both internal ownership and credibility from me with external credibility and expertise from a business psychology firm.
I would highly recommend working with Helen and the team at Totem if you want credible consultants who take the time to understand your business and exactly what you’re working to achieve, then help you get there.
Their combination of pragmatic everyday advice with evidence-based psychological underpinning is outstanding.
Testimonial from Mark Cahill, Managing Director, Manpower Group.
Helen has been a great asset to the team, building relationships with senior stakeholders, holding credibility when they challenge and helping them embed the coaching behaviour we’re looking for. I encourage you to work with her.