Von der „Ratgeberin des Königs“ zum Coach für Top Managerinnen

Peninah Thomson im Interview

Der denkwürdige Ausspruch von Löscher, CEO Siemens, dass Siemens-Manager „zu weiß, zu deutsch und zu männlich seien“, hat das Thema „women leadership“ wieder auf die vorderen Plätze der Aufmerksamkeitsstatistik geschoben. Da gehört es hin, auch und gerade in schwierigen Zeiten, und ohne alle Gender-Polemik, dass „Frauen ’ran müssen, wenn Not am Mann ist“, wie ein Zeitungstitel lautete.

Dass woanders die Uhren schon etwas anders schlagen, liegt nicht zuletzt an Menschen wie Peninah Thomson, Partnerin von Praesta UK. Stationen ihrer enorm vielseitigen und anspruchsvollen beruflichen Tätigkeit waren das britische Außenministerium, die Nato (Board of National Delegates) in Rome, Paris, The Hague, Munich and Washington, dann Pricewaterhouse Coopers (Government Services and Economics Division), mit Kunden in 14 verschiedenen Ländern. Dem folgte eine zweijährge Abordnung an das UK Cabinet Office, bevor sie Direktor der „Corporate Transformation Practice“ von PwC wurde und 4 Jahre lang die Vorstände von FTSE 100 Unternehmen beriet. Auf dieser breiten Erfahrung mit Menschen, die unter oft schwierigsten Umständen Verantwortung an der Spitze von Unternehmen und Regierungsorganisationen wahrnehmen, beruht ihre heutige Tätigkeit als Mitgründerin und Leiterin des FTSE 100 „Cross-Company Mentoring Programme“, in dem Vorstandsvorsitzende als Mentor für weibliche Top-Führungskräfte ihre Entwicklung zu glaubwürdigen und zugkräftigen Kandidatinnen für Vorstandsaufgaben großer Unternehmen und Konzerne begleiten.

1. What made you decide to become a coach?

In 1998 I was a Director at PwC, where I had worked for 14 years, heading a team of change management consultants. My role in client projects was to work 1:1 with the sponsor of the change - usually the CEO or CFO - as guide, counsellor and „trusted advisor“ as they led the organisation through significant change (typically a merger or acquisition, organistional restructing, new product launch or executive team change).  Earlier in my career I had been „second stringer“ to the UK Ambassador, working to the Board of National Delegates to NATO in Paris, Washington and a number of other European countries.  In both NATO and PwC I had experience of working at strategic level with senior executives charged with taking significant decisions, against seemingly-impossible time pressures and with (frequently) less information than they would have wished.

It was becoming increasingly clear to me that this 1:1 work was the part of my job I enjoyed most and when, during a year’s assignment at the European Investment Bank, the (German) President sat back in his chair and asked if I would like to hear what his view of my role was, I was intrigued to hear it.  „You are“, he said, „a conseiller du roi“. His observation made me think, and when in 1998 one of the founders of The Change Partnership (now Praesta) headhunted me to the firm to focus upon 1:1 coaching, it was the President’s words that I remembered and which gave me the courage to leave an organisation of 127,000 people for one of 14.

2. Who influenced you, in terms of your ideas on leadership, and what characterized this person?

During my work in NATO I worked with the British Ambassador, who was engaged in complex negotiations relating to arms limitation. The talks were a difficult process, with overt or covert reservations and resistance being expressed by several of the NATO nations, and I observed our Ambassador during this sensitive piece of diplomatic work. Despite the frustrating lack of progress during the early stages of the talks, I never saw him display frustration. He sustained his calmness and determination and – crucially - nurtured the diplomatic relationships, even in the most difficult moments. From him I learned that intellectual ability and a keen grasp of the policy brief was necessary but not sufficient: it was also about gravitas, resilience, calmness, grace under pressure and the ability to maintain relationships so that – despite intense divergence of views – it was possible for all parties to come back to the negotiating table the next day. The really important thing was that the dialogue could be resumed. I was deeply impressed by his determination never to allow himself to be derailed by negativity: this was the cornerstone for his capacity to work effectively in alliances, exert authority and a positive influence, and get things done through others.

3. What, for you, is the best thing about being a coach?

It is the privilege of being a trusted advisor; being trusted for quality of judgement and insight, and for the ability to help clients think their way through to good decisions and to effective action. This might sound paradoxical, given that we are coaches and not consultants and do not give expert advice or tell clients what to do. What this relates to, however, is a professional commitment to the client - without explicit or implicit allegiance to a given outcome - which inspires trust. For me, bringing our executive experience and personal maturity to coaching helps the client to expand the field of choice, and being a trusted advisor in this sense enables them to trust their „self-advice“ and build strategic decision-making capacity.

4. The focus of Praesta’s approach to coaching is leadership. What trends do you observe in relation to women and leadership?

There are some interesting trends in relation to women’s leadership. During the last four years – in the UK, at least – we have seen companies manifest a greater willingness for women to aspire to senior executive and non-executive directorship roles. There is, too, a greater openness to female styles of leadership at senior and board level. Although this change in attitude; this increased willingness to accept women in senior roles is not yet reflected in the number of women who actually hold board positions, there has been something of a change of climate in the UK and the argument is now broadly accepted.  Women themselves are increasingly willing to „own“ their ambition and their aspirations. They are better prepared, and more self-confident. There is still work to do, however as – at 3.8% - the percentage of women in senior executive roles in the FTSE 100 is still tiny.

5. Could you outline a vignette of success from the last months?

Last week I had an appointment with the Chairman of a FTSE 10 company involved in the Praesta FTSE 100 Cross-Company Mentoring Programme, in which some 32 Chairmen and Chief Executives are mentoring women from the so-called „marzipan layer“ just below the Board, in another FTSE company. We had been discussing the extraordinary times that currently pertain in the financial and economic environment and - despite the pressures facing leaders of all companies at the moment - he had agreed to continue to mentor for a further year. As he helped me on with my coat he said: „you should be proud of this Programme“. As always with spontaneous, unsolicited, affirming feedback, that word of recognition and its implicit acknowledgement that Praesta is doing something both innovative and beneficial, meant a great deal.
 

Newsletter, 03.2009