Publishing

Creating a leadership toolkit

The following is an extract from the February 2018 Coaching at Work magazine, which profiled MyThrive in use at Emerald.

The client’s experience

Katy Snell, Group Head of People at Emerald Publishing, started using MyThrive in 2017, and has experienced the platform as both the Emerald-wide lead and a coachee.

The service was brought in as part of a broader review of Leadership Development tools. Katy explained that “we wanted to take a new approach. We’re a traditional company and we’ve not tried anything like this before, but it’s a risk I’m pleased we took.”

Using the tool

Katy said “we tried the demo and found it was really easy to use and get people on board with. The Thrive team offered great support,. The Onboarding was great, and we’ve had good support with Engagement.”

And as a coachee? “To be totally honest, I was apprehensive! I could see the value rationally – but with a 30-minute session, I didn’t know how much we’d get done. However, the coach I used was great with rapport – she got the hang of me and spoke my language, so I felt like I had a couple of hours’ benefit from a short conversation. And follow up was great too – she sent a really helpful reading list. I wondered how much we’d achieve, but at the end I was really pleasantly surprised.”

The application

“I was coached on a behavioral topic” Katy explained. “I got some really tangible skills relating to getting a promotion – which I was successful in doing! So that’s a great result, I’m obviously very pleased.”

The verdict

“The feedback from people that have used it gave the coaching a glowing report. Ease of access, the simplicity of the booking systems and choosing your own coach are all great features. And the quality of the coaching has been excellent. Plus the digital functionality is a nice addition to our learning portfolio. We’ve now rolled out MyThrive to a wider team, and are looking forward to getting the results.”