Client Stories > Creating Executive Coaches: Biotech

Creating Executive Coaches: Biotech

Creating Executive Coaches

Using Executive Coaching to Drive Performance at a Biotech

Client Case Study

Situation – Creating Executive Coaches

This Biotech Company is an industry leader in the field of antibody discovery and development. Over the past 30 years the company has built strong intellectual property, technology platforms, and capabilities to engineer cutting-edge therapeutic antibodies that have the potential to transform medicine and reshape people’s lives.

To capitalize on a significant market opportunity that would have a major impact on the company’s future, the company launched a strategic initiative to develop its Leaders, Managers, and Management Systems. Shortly thereafter, the poor economic conditions affected the company, requiring a workforce reduction and increased workloads for the remaining employees.

The company weathered the economic storm and put itself on a positive course to execute its key strategic initiatives. To accelerate its momentum the company decided to implement an executive coaching certification program for 6-12 high potential leaders to create leadership leverage throughout the organization.  The overall objectives were to leverage previous investments in management training, increase employee engagement, retain key employees, and push critical strategic initiatives forward by:

  • Engaging key employees in participating in knowledge transfer and skill building
  • Decreasing turnover and possible loss of “tribal” information necessary to company success
  • Providing motivation and a platform for a formal on-going internal coaching program
  • Implementing proven methodologies used to coach and drive performance along with frameworks for having focused and productive conversations, employing active listening skills, managing difficult conversations, and applying tools (such as Personality Inventory and Interaction Styles) in real time
  • Increasing organizational productivity

Complications

The company recognized the importance of maintaining a strong, focused team during this critical period, and feared that its actions during turbulent economic times had eroded past efforts to develop its workforce and create a performance-based culture. They were especially concerned about:

  • Having to cut development resources across the company
  • Managing future career uncertainty across the workforce
  • Increasing workloads caused by workforce reductions

Approach for Creating Executive Coaches

1. Identify Desired Results

  • Determine coach and “coachee” selection criteria
  • Finalize business objectives
  • Identify program success metrics

2. Assess the Current Situation

3. Design the Exact Solution

  • Finalize design to meet agreed-upon objectives and success metrics while overcoming potential barriers

Approach (cont.)

4. Deliver Performance Learning

  • Kickoff for Creating Executive Coaches
     1-hour project kickoff session to introduce the program and gain commitment from participants
  • Day 1
    1-day facilitated session plus initial assignment focusing on concepts and content for effective coaching
  • Customized Monthly Learning Bursts
    Coaches attend monthly 2-3 hour monthly learning bursts to learn new models and skills, debrief their coaching sessions, and to obtain feedback and more in-depth instruction on using various tools and models. Topics shifted according to needs.
  • Final Certification of Creating Executive Coaches
    By LSA and VP of HR

5. Implement Coaching and Follow-Through

  • Monthly Application and Coaching Sessions
    Focused on just-in-time practice, mastery, feedback, or discussion as a group, in specific teams, or 1×1
  • Monthly Phone Coaching Sessions
    Each participant was able to schedule 30-45 minute monthly 1×1 phone sessions with the master facilitator to debrief and work on specific skills, issues, and questions.

6. Measure Impact and Results

  • Level-1 Coach satisfaction measurement

Note: Program participants coached individuals who were in a different part of the organization. Coaching engagements lasted 6 months on average.

Results
In six months:

Coachees

  • 100% reported coaching enabled them to perform at a higher level
  • 78 % reported their expectations of coaching were met

  • 100 % reported they would recommend coaching to a colleague

Coachees’ Managers

  • 50% reported they observed significant changes in their employees’ behavior

  • 100% reported they would like another staff member to receive coaching

  • 100% suggested other members of their staff receive coaching training

Coaches

  • 100% of coaches reported they would recommend the program to a peer

Related Information

Having taken on a new executive leadership role, one of my first calls was to LSA Global to help my leadership team to design, implement, and cascade clear strategic plans.  First, LSA helped our leadership team identify the strategy, culture, and talent areas that mattered most to create organizational alignment.

Then they helped facilitate the design of a strategic growth plan that is clear, compelling, believable, and implementable. We now have 100% commitment from an aligned leadership team and key stakeholders going forward.

I would recommend LSA to anyone who wants to create high levels of strategic alignment, growth, and performance.

Erik Arvesen
Vice President, General Manager

L3Harris_Logo-LSAGlobal

The customized leadership program was very practical and achieved our goals. LSA adapted very well to our group and the situation and helped us build trust and awareness of successful leadership styles. We look forward to the next steps.

Erik Okholm
Director of Software Development

We partnered with LSA Global to help us invest in our people. LSA custom designed an impactful management curriculum to help upskill our key managers and leaders.

We consider LSA to be our trusted learning and development partner and a valued extension of our team as we rapidly scale.  Thank you LSA!

Lisa Bruun
SVP Human Resources

Ellie Mae

LSA has been a tremendous asset at my current company and my past company.

As an HR leader, I am always looking for ways to find external resources that can provide impactful leadership and management development expertise. LSA consistently does that for me.

The tools and practices are crisp, business relevant, and easy to apply on the job.

Ken Boehm
VP of Human Resources

LSA has a tremendous ability to distil complex, multilayered challenges into meaningful, impactful, and clear strategies and action plans.

The time we invested as a leadership team to get aligned was well spent in gaining laser focus and identifying ways to prioritize what was meaningful individually and as a team. The facilitation and leadership style was direct, firm, and compassionate.

LSA provided the high level thinking and support for our team to co-create in a rapidly scaling business.

Bindu Garapaty, PsyD
VP, Talent and Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity

Impossible-Foods-Logo-LSAGlobal

Thank you to LSA Global for their partnership and support in helping us to design and roll-out highly needed and valuable leadership and management development programs that fit our unique situation.

I personally have partnered with LSA Global at four of my previous companies. It continues to be a delight.

We look forward to partnering with them for a long time to develop our managers and leaders.

Suzanne Kinner
VP Human Resources

Blackhawk Network

We turned to LSA to help us custom design and deliver a action leadership and management development curriculum to help drive performance across the company.

They have done an excellent job diagnosing the business situation, designing an approach that fits our unique culture, and delivering first class solutions.  Thank you!

Sally Buchannan
VP Human Resources

Over the years, both at 3Com and now at Redback, I’ve found LSA Global to be a valuable partner. The recent management programs that they delivered for Redback’s executive and management teams was the right solution, of the highest of quality, and customized to fit our unique business and culture. I would highly recommend LSA to any company looking for top quality solutions.

Gina Fulton
Vice President of Human Resources

LSA consistently delivers for me and my team.  Recently they demonstrated the criticality for executives to look beyond current ethics topics and focus on applying fundamental values in everything they do to demonstrate true leadership. They successfully delivered in two hours what most leadership development facilitators would spend an entire day trying to communicate.

Nick Voyvodich, SPHR
HR Manager

Fujitsu

LSA helped us with leadership development by designing a solution to match our unique needs and culture.

It was a huge success. I would highly recommend LSA to help take leaders and managers to the next level.

Karen King, SPHR
Manager, Human Resources

Alliance Data

We contacted LSA to help us design and deliver customized management development programs. LSA worked with us to meet our exact needs. We started at the top with our executive team.  It was such a great success that we rolled it out company-wide. We look forward to a long-term partnership with LSA Global and their team of experts.

Barry L. Byrd, SPHR
Human Resources Manager

Thank you for a great leadership development session today. The facilitator was brilliant.  The team got a lot out of it (as did I).

I believe it will help us create an even higher performance culture by ensuring we have a common understanding of how to create higher performance and work toward clear and common strategic goals.

Simon Jefferson
Managing Director

AKQA

LSA Global has been a great partner in helping us move toward being “the leading developer of talent in the service performance management industry.”

I have engaged LSA to help develop best-in-class programs in the areas of: Executive On-boarding, Manager Training, Sales Training and Coaching, Employee Engagement, and Instructional Design.

They have consistently met or exceeded my (very) high expectations and are always responsive to my needs to increase performance, engagement, customer satisfaction, and sales growth.

Mike Normant
Senior Director, Training & Development

Service Source

Having tripled in size and recently merged, LSA helped our executive team to increase our level of strategic alignment, to solidify our new direction, and to push our agency forward.

As we look to rapidly scale, the clear, actionable, and critical few strategic moves combined with how we differentiate ourselves to our top accounts and target clients has really set us on a great path to success.

This is exactly what we needed to get to the next level. Thank you LSA!

Matt Britton
CEO

MRY logo LSA Global

After a difficult search to find a partner that could address a very specific leadership development need, we chose LSA Global. They were responsive to our needs and created a highly customized solution that we continue to see results from. It is nice to know we have access to their expertise with a simple phone call.

Valerie Blackburn
Director of Business Operations

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