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What does it take to build a coaching culture inside one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, from the inside, and on your own time?
In this episode of the Coaching in Organizations Podcast, Hartmuth Gieldanowski, Agile & Innovation Coach at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, shares the honest story of how a small group of internal coaches launched a coaching pilot in Zurich that reached roughly 100 employees in just two years. And it started almost by accident.
You'll hear how Hartmuth went from resisting the inner work of coaching at a two-day training to becoming the person bringing that inner work to others. He shares the fears the team had going in, the organic way the pilot grew, why they opened it to all 1,300 Zurich employees rather than just senior leaders, and what they learned about measuring ROI in a space that doesn't easily reduce to numbers.
If you're thinking about how to start or grow a coaching culture in a complex, global organization, this episode is a must-listen.
🧠 5 KEY TAKEAWAYS
Hartmuth Gieldanowski shares what he learned from building a coaching pilot inside one of the world's most complex pharmaceutical organizations.
- Start local to scale globally: Takeda has over 50,000 employees across dozens of countries. Hartmuth's team focused on the Zurich headquarters first, large enough to generate meaningful data, manageable enough to move quickly.
- Organic growth is a strategy: The pilot was never a big launch. A newsletter mention, a simple landing page, and word of mouth were enough. Demand grew steadily and stayed manageable.
- Open coaching to everyone, not just executives: Leadership coaching often reaches only the top tier. This pilot was available to all 1,300 Zurich employees, rooted in the belief that resilience and self-reflection should not be reserved for a few.
- Let people taste coaching before committing: A 15-to-20-minute taster session did more to explain coaching than any written description. When people experienced it, they understood it.
- Build the connective tissue: One of the biggest lessons was that coaching programs don't exist in isolation. To earn sponsorship and stay alive, they need to connect to leadership development, performance goals, and organizational strategy.
"If you do the right thing and you do it wrong, it's still better than to do the wrong thing and do it right. So you cannot lose."
↪️ WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE
03:11 - Hartmuth’s Coaching Journey: Hartmuth discusses his initial dislike for coaching 10 years ago. He explains how he later realized its importance for organizational success.
04:51 - Launching the Zurich Coaching Pilot: Hartmuth shares how his past experience influenced his humble approach to transforming organizations. He then describes how the Zurich pilot began almost by accident.
11:18 - Overcoming Initial Fears: Hartmuth talks about the team’s fears, including not finding enough coaches or being overwhelmed by demand. He explains how they organically found coaches and managed the workload.
16:00 - Opening Coaching to All Employees: Hartmuth explains why they opened the coaching pilot to all 1,300 employees in Zurich, not just senior leaders. He highlights the goal of building resilience across the organization.
18:51 - Impact and Reach of the Pilot: Hartmuth shares that they coached roughly 100 people in two years, typically for three to six sessions. He notes the main impact was strengthening internal resilience and increasing aliveness.
21:40 - Defining Coaching for Employees: Hartmuth explains how they helped people understand coaching by distinguishing it from mentoring and other services. They offered short taster sessions to allow employees to experience coaching firsthand.
24:50 - Local vs. Global Approach: Hartmuth discusses the difference between global values and local execution for cultural change. He explains why a local approach was necessary for coaching due to diverse contexts and privacy guidelines.
27:39 - Hidden Challenges in Program Design: Hartmuth points out that organizations often overlook the need to connect various initiatives. He stresses the importance of linking coaching programs to strategic goals like performance or DEI&B.
30:03 - Securing Sponsorship: Hartmuth highlights the importance of support from local HR and line managers. He emphasizes that a top executive sponsor is crucial for scaling such initiatives across an organization.
32:27 - Group Coaching Potential at Takeda: Hartmuth sees strong ROI for group coaching in supporting new leaders and fostering cultural understanding. He believes it can help align new leaders and bring together diverse cultural backgrounds.
🗝️ KEY THEMES
- How a reluctant participant became an internal coaching champion
- Building a coaching pilot inside a 50,000-person global organization
- Why the Zurich office was the right place to start
- Opening coaching to all employees, not just leaders
- Measuring ROI when the impact is deeply human
- The role of taster sessions in making coaching tangible
- Navigating data, privacy, and ethical guidelines across cultures
- Where group coaching fits inside Takeda's future coaching strategy
- Why top executive sponsorship matters for scaling coaching cultures
ABOUT GUEST
"Hartmuth Gieldanowski is an Agile & Innovation Coach with over 15 years of experience transforming organizations, products, and teams. Currently working at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, he brings together Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile methodologies with a deeply human-centered approach to leadership and organizational change.
Certified as a Co-Active Certified Professional Coach (CPCC), ORSC-trained systems coach, and ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC) — Hartmuth works at the intersection of organizational development, team dynamics, and innovation. He is currently serving as President-Elect of ICF Switzerland, where he is actively shaping the future of the coaching profession in the country.
His track record spans enterprise transformation, including guiding CEO-level teams at Swiss Post in agile product development and human-centered design, as well as orchestrating a rapid 9-month turnaround of PostFinance's entire e-banking platform. He is also a lecturer at FHNW University and a lead trainer, empowering managers and teams in CX, OKRs, and digital innovation.
Hartmuth is passionate about building organizations that people love to work in — places where joyful work and high performance go hand in hand."
🤝 CONNECT WITH HARTMUTH
- Company name: Takeda Pharmaceuticals
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