Banking on Experience
Initially the client wanted Tammy to work with members of her management team, but the challenges she and her bank faced became clearer, she asked Tammy to guide her through this period of tumultuous change as well. In effect Tammy operated as the change consultant’s change consultant.
Working closely with the client - a mother who had come into banking from another sector after a career break to start a family – coaching provided a sounding board, allowing her to test ideas, speak the truths she wouldn’t be able to express to her colleagues and to capitalise on her many strengths. Already adept at using her emotional intelligence in working with people, the work with Tammy allowed her to shift her perspective and see how the powerful emotional experiences she encountered were a real source of information - of ‘intelligence’ for her and for others.
Over a period of time, she learnt to use the turbulence her organisation was facing as a positive rather than a destructive force. This was particularly effective in her dealing with those members of her team who were experiencing the greatest problems. Coaching helped her to manage upwards, giving her the confidence and tools to forge more effective and resilient working relationships with her superiors at the bank.
In a highly competitive environment and in an extraordinarily pressurised period in its history, she steered her organisation into safer waters, overseeing a restructuring and rebranding of the bank’s retail arm that quickly delivered improved profits. In short, she helped safeguard the bank’s future during a period when rivals were going out of business.