Coaching has helped GSK address the issue of gender imbalance at middle and senior leadership levels, supporting females to become more self-aware and self-confident, among others.
The Accelerating Difference (AD) initiative combined individual and group coaching, sponsorship and dialogues. It was put in place after an internal review showed the percentage of women was diminishing at increasing leadership levels.
A study by GSK’s Sally Bonneywell analysed multiple perspectives from female leaders being coached, the coaches and members of the steering team of the AD initiative.
According to Bonneywell, the overall finding was that the coaching “supported the development of female leaders in many and varied ways, including enabling the development of skills and capabilities as well as progression in their roles… Additionally, the female leaders also emphasised that the coaching supported them with self and personal identity development, relational ability and transformational learning.”
Each female leader had received up to 12 individual coaching sessions plus six group coaching sessions over 14 months facilitated by either an internal and an external executive coach or an external executive coach and an internal Job Plus Coach
(JPC; a leader trained to be a coach).
The research highlighted that the quality of the relationship between line manager and client had a significant impact on creating the micro-climate in which the female leaders operated. This ranged from being fully supportive to highly dismissive, and significantly influenced the career outcomes perceived by the female leaders.
Some participants recognised they had been avoiding conflict, but through group coaching and subsequent reflections, existing beliefs around conflict were challenged and changed, and behaviour adapted.
The leaders also moved towards accepting power as a positive constructive force.
- ‘How a coaching intervention supports the development of female leaders in a global organisation’, in International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, Special Issue 11, pp57-69