Mercé Barquero HRBP & Communications Manager

The relationship has been in place for a long time. It started with the certification of some people in the management team, and this has already created a school. This coaching chip has been installed naturally. The participants in the program want everyone to have similar experiences, they want the organization to be imbued with this way of doing things, with the learning and skills that you acquire through certification.

As a company we have a "Development Journey" training plan, which contains training programs for managers. We have a middle management training program, which we call the "Otsuka management Academy", where we have had the opportunity to work on various competencies, various learning linked to key moments in the company.

There was a moment when we saw that we wanted a model of leader who would lead from humility, from listening, from learning... we believed that coaching was a very powerful basis for achieving all of this. So we decided to include the EEC coaching certification as a best moment, within the learning itinerary for middle management. And that's where we wanted to count on the best, on you.

You customized the program to Otsuka's needs, to the profile of the participant, with the dynamics appropriate to the present need.

There were 18 participants with different profiles from all over the organization, a mix of middle managers, project leaders and team leaders. People who lead teams directly, people who do not lead, but who have a level of ascendancy and responsibility for project management that deserves to be in the program.

In the end, it is about leading and managing people, whether they are hierarchically dependent or not. This is one of the virtues of the program, which is that it is mixing people who don't usually work together as an opportunity to share experiences, learning, situations that they would not do on a day-to-day basis. This generates empathy when it comes to understanding the other, when it comes to engaging in conversations.

Super positive. It has truly been a turning point in terms of the type of development product. It's something different, innovative and transformative, really.

When people try it, they say "This is very different from anything that came before. You learn a lot about yourself, there is a lot of self-knowledge, awareness, as a person and as a leader. That's the thing, it has a global impact.

The results were fantastic. The overall result of the training was 9 and the applicability was 9.1. The applicability in everyday life is higher than the overall perception. This speaks for itself.

Basically it's a paradigm shift. First of all, listening, you listen differently. You become much more aware and you dare to have certain conversations, certain interactions. You are much more aware of why you do or don't do certain things. In short, and to sum up in two lessons, I would say listening and awareness. Also self-knowledge. Letting go of things in order to pick up new ones. This self-knowledge is further reinforced by the 3 coaching sessions included in the program. Self-knowledge linked to leadership, to communication, which has changed substantially in Otsuka after the training.

I would also highlight learning to dare to open conversations, to give your opinion, to give feedback. You can see approaches with more courage that were previously sheltered in the prudence that always distinguishes us. Now, connecting with some distinctions, we are opening up new forms of relationships. There is ambition.

I also connect with vulnerability. This word that is sometimes difficult. Now with this new awareness you open up more to the team. You are new leaders with new skills.

We passed a survey that measured all these parameters that I have shared with you (listening, feedback, trust, vulnerability...). In addition, we have our performance evaluation and there we have seen that people feel much more comfortable giving this feedback, which we want to be part of these performance evaluations.

For me, the most important KPI is that the conversations are incorporating feedback. Listening as part of me, of a new way of being and being.

We want to continue. People want to keep feeding this learning journey. This has given rise to a project to establish and promote a feedback culture in the company. It's a pilot project and we'll see where we get to.

The first thing is to see where the organization is, what the needs are and where it wants to go.

I would invite him to talk to you because of the adaptability you have as a school, the trainers, the contents, the program itself.

We made a total adaptation and this is very much appreciated.

We wanted it to be voluntary. A group of 10 people from the managers' group, for the sake of leading by example.

It is encouraging for managers to ask for feedback. The moment you are asking for feedback you are inviting the other person to do so as well. This is how the culture is indirectly implemented.

As an HR area, perhaps lower the level of demands and expectations. When you have tried it, you want everyone to try it, but it is true that there are people who may not be willing or ready. We have to be prepared, as a development and human resources area, that not everyone is going to experience it with the same enthusiasm, energy and predisposition.

I would dare to launch an invitation. In this fast-paced world we live in, I would invite us to defy this rhythm a little and resume conversations, these short distances of moments in which you share with people through conversation, because that is really where things happen. In this you to you, in this conversation that is generated, is the change. To become more attentive and more aware.

If we want to be an organization where interesting things happen, to achieve objectives, we will have to facilitate the conditions for things to happen and generate trusting environments where we allow progress to be made.