Two companies put their resources together to create a well-developed, agile and inclusive leadership team.
By Zee Johnson
With pressure mounting from the newly declared pandemic in early 2020, WarnerMedia realized that they had to quickly equip their leaders with the tools needed to guide the company through unprecedented changes. To do this, the company partnered with BetterUp™, a virtual coaching and mental health platform, to quickly introduce an intense and personalised leadership development programme across the business, globally.
This coaching-based programme, which included group coaching, peer coaching, and one-on-one sessions with coaching experts, was deployed to over 5,000 employees in the manager population in just four weeks. Over the course of a six-month period following its implementation, the organisation witnessed significant behavior change.
The confidential coaching sessions acted as safe spaces for leaders and provided the opportunity for honesty about workplace shortcomings and barriers. They also allowed leaders to work diligently and intentionally on improving in these areas for the betterment of themselves and their teams.
The company saw the most growth in the following areas:
- Aligning others around a clear strategy: 81%
- Building relationships and internal partnerships: 79%
- Motivating and inspiring others: 78%
- Creating an inclusive work environment: 77%
- Ability to adapt to change: 77%
- Strategic thinking and planning for the future: 76%
In addition, participants made great improvements in both coaching and problem-solving, too, with an 11% gain in coaching culture, a 16% gain in resilience, a 12% gain in stress management, and a 17% gain in coworker coaching. With these numbers, coworkers were now more likely to demonstrate curiosity, ask others for feedback, and genuinely listen to other perspectives.
As an additive to the programme, WarnerMedia took advantage of BetterUp’s manager engagement features that allowed managers to support the development of their direct reports. Managers were able to provide feedback on top areas of opportunity and focus for their reports, including their perception of the professional growth of their directs during the coaching program.
Overall, employees who took part in the program are continuing to leverage the benefits which is directly supporting WarnerMedia’s strategy to drive a coaching culture across the organization. By working collaboratively, both companies were able to be proactive with real-time solutions and brought the idea of “coaching at a scale” to life.
WarnerMedia and BetterUP were awarded the HRO Today Forum EMEA award for Business Partnership Excellence.
