How one food giant enabled its leaders to double hat

How many organisations recognise when they need a paradigm shift in their operating model to achieve their goals? One of our clients did. And established a limited tenure working group consisting of leaders from various functions. Their task: to redefine the company's operating model. This meant these leaders now had to manage their primary responsibilities while also contributing meaningfully to this strategic group.

This is how we helped this team develop the midset and skills they needed to double hat and excel across their multiple responsibilities.

Inclusive leadership: Aligning the leadership culture of a global FMCG company with evolving consumer & employee expectations

We recently worked with a global consumer goods company that wanted to recalibrate its leadership culture in response to evolving workplace dynamicsand employee expectations. The CEO also wanted to create a customer/consumer focused organisation to drive sales and expand market share globally.

Our brief: To collaborate with the organisation’s leadership to engineer a shift towards a contemporary, inclusive leadership style that not only resonates with modernworkplace expectations but also delivers results. Achieving this goal, required the development of new leadership capabilities at every level.

This is how we worked with the global leadership team to facilitate the required shift in mindset and leadership behaviours.

‘A HUGE thank you for bringing your expertise and sharing your top tips on career planning with our employees. On behalf of our DUAL Employee Network, we are so thankful, We thoroughly enjoyed the session and feedback received has been incredibly positive.’

Sam Johnston, HR Business Partner, DUAL Group

“We recently worked with Liebfrog to run a series of outstanding face to face workshops on Confidence & Resilience for the Women in BAT network, where Karin Muller guided us to better understand the Imposter Syndrome, learn techniques for how to manage it effectively, and build resilience.

Through highly engaging and interactive sessions, Karin skilfully addressed the very important topics of imposter syndrome and self-doubt, normalised the feelings, provided a secure space a self-reflection and self-awareness, and equipped each group of participants with coping mechanisms and tools for self-management and overall wellbeing when faced with challenging situations. Additionally, she highlighted the important role of resilience and provided practical strategies to build and maintain it.

Catering to our network’s global footprint, Liebfrog went above and beyond by providing an on-demand webinar version of the workshop, where our diverse audience could also benefit from the learnings imparted.

Karin’s invaluable expertise, guidance and overall delivery made the workshops an exceptional success – leaving a lasting impact on all participants, as well as eagerness to keep learning from her on other topics.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Liebfrog and Karin for such a fantastic piece of work on such relevant topics, delivered with great professionalism, expertise and kindness – and can’t wait to have the opportunity to work together again!”

Marria Pirrone, BAT

‘Karin is a broadly skilled and highly effective professional who understands a brief quickly and delivers what is needed. With a combination of strategic thinking and pragmatism she gets to grips with complex challenges and translates them into workable and effective solutions. With her collaborative and friendly style she is an asset to any team and her commitment to delivering high quality results on time is outstanding.’

Heather Morgan, Director of People and Planning, Great Ormond Street Hospital Childrens' Charity

‘Karin was a great catalyst for our work. She has helped us open up in genuine ways, so that we could grow, not only as managers, but as people.’

Engineer, tech sector

‘The event Liebfrog ran for us was extremely interesting. Great mix of presentation, interactivity and plenty of stories, examples and additional resources. I’d love more of these.’

Workshop participant, FMCG company 

‘Taking part in Liebfrog’s development programme was like a breath of fresh air. Karin is calm and insightful, helping you uncover the answer to your question that's hiding inside you. Her direct, yet gentle and soft approach creates safe space to share and receive knowledge and advice. Joining her programme was like a present to myself that keeps on giving.’

Dessy Tsolova, Fashion Insiders & Co

‘Karin is a very dynamic and friendly, experienced professional. I have had the pleasure to work with her for several years and she is an invaluable contact for FOCUS. Not only has she presented several career and soft skills seminars to our members, receiving extremely positive feedback, but also provided individual coaching to partners looking to establish a career in the UK. Working with international professionals, Karin has shown a great deal of cultural sensitivity, helping them to navigate the UK job market as well as to adjust to the local culture.’

Alessandra Gnudi, Executive Director, FOCUS

‘I really enjoyed my coaching sessions. The ideas for how to develop my skills were really creative and helped me get out of my comfort zone! My confidence has grown since doing the coaching sessions and I appreciate my own abilities a lot more. Thank you!’

Ethical trade executive, Primark

‘Karin went above and beyond all that I expected, and she was there at any point necessary. From the time I started to our last session, I became so much more sure of myself and my career in London. It was done by taking the smallest of steps and Karin was exceptional at providing assistance and support for this. I now highly recommend coaching to anyone I speak to, there is so much one can learn during those lessons.’

Jason W., entertainment industry

‘I have made excellent progress towards my coaching goal. Karin was the tonic that I needed to kick-start my dormant potential. The sessions kept me on-track as I knew that I was accountable to someone within a short time frame. Karin took a real interest in me and my situation and made me feel she cared if I succeeded. Some of the homework was quite tough! All of it very useful, tailored to my needs and helped me work out where I wanted to go. And although we had a tight schedule to fit in a lot of work, Karin didn’t make me feel pressured in any way. My overall rating of my coaching experience 5 out of 5.’

Lynne Haddow, career coaching client

‘Working with Karin has helped me see why I am stuck and has directed that insight into something positive. She is very easy to talk to and I felt I could share every irk whether work or personal.  After each session I felt rejuvenated and ready to address what I hadn’t been able to see before. The tasks set were not too taxing but cleverly revealing, and have made me see my views and values in a new light. I have found working with her incredibly helpful and beneficial.’

Robert, public services

‘The coaching has given me a very clear 10 year goal, which is further than I have ever planned for before. Not only did we work together to set out the goal, but I have some high level steps to take to reach that goal in the time frame. It was a very valuable exercise for me and has given me a refreshed engagement and excitement about the future, with a clear and deliberate path ahead.’

Farrah Gilsenan, Strategic Marketing Director & Convenience Channel Director, Foodservice, Kerry, Ireland

‘During our organisation's trial phase for a new 360-degree feedback tool, Liebfrog’s Karin Mueller coached members of our senior leadership team and our executive board in an excellent manner. During the coaching sessions she skilfully helped trial participants navigate their feedback reports, helping them gain profound insights around their leadership skills and styles, and explore areas for improvement. The feedback from trial participants was consistently brilliant, with some seeking further coaching as a result. Highly professional, capable, and friendly, Liebfrog quickly became a trusted partner.  We have very much enjoyed our collaboration.’

Bauer Media Group

“The first word that comes to mind about Karin is ‘approachable’. She doesn’t tell you what she thinks you should know. She encourages you to branch out – to be open. Her ability to grasp duality captivates me. She’s able to relate to people, to their business reality, then find a middle ground to achieve impact. This combining of worlds is important – indeed, it’s crucial for business leaders.”

Associate Director of Strategy & Transformation from a leading food retailer

‘Thanks for the session; I thought it was brilliant with practical suggestions on how to establish the mentoring relationship and keep it focused.’

Participant of mentor training for the Institute of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability

‘I thoroughly enjoyed working with Sonia. She helped me make informed decisions about my career development. She has a solution-oriented coaching approach, which involved concrete steps that helped me achieve career objectives, as well as offering various tools I can use throughout. Sonia’s genuine, mindful and empathetic demeanour is very assuring and makes it easy to talk about more difficult subjects such as behavioural, emotional or psychological issues that could be impeding desired career ambitions.’

Elif Boutlu

‘Karin is a great coach. She has enormous capacity to listen carefully and respect my ideas, decisions and perspectives. With her help I have been able to sort out things and gain tremendous clarity on my business plans. She guided me beautifully in aligning my life and work to my value system, beliefs, talent and skills. She helped me to understand that my goals and achievements are as important as everything else that I have been prioritising in my life. She is an outstanding coach and I would highly recommend her to anyone looking to sort out big questions in their life related to career goals, work etc.’

Supreet Oberoi, entrepreneur

‘Karin is a compassionate and insightful coach who brings both professional and personal wisdom to her work. Working with her has enabled me to tackle things that have been standing in my way for a long time as Karin opened my eyes to new perspectives and opportunities. But most importantly, she has helped me to develop some practical approaches and solutions which could be put to the test straight away.’

HR Business Partner, FMCG company

I feel so much more empowered and can understand myself way better now, how and why other people and I may react the way we do. Reflexion is now a key to my everyday life. The sessions did always underline the right questions to the current problem.

Coaching client, health & social affairs sector

‘Karin is very gifted at reading the situation, understanding a person as a whole, and providing a pathway to achieve an objective with the necessary behavioural change that this requires. I always felt that she truly cared and made the advice extremely personalised to my needs, in terms of the pace and method of instilling change. It was always an enjoyable session of self-exploration and she always took an optimistic and positively constructive approach to any difficult topic.’

Marketing research professional

‘Karin is friendly, attentive, curious, encouraging, understanding and a great listener. For most of us, it is quite difficult to lay out your fears and insecurities, but Karin helps you to analyse, understand and work with them. She takes a "light touch" approach to coaching, tuning in to the needs of her client. By asking the right questions, she helps you understand your thoughts, behaviour and the issues you want to work on. I was impressed by Karin's engagement, attitude and professionalism; she is structured in the way she designs coaching programmes, and very responsive and flexible. This enabled us to get the best out of each and every session. I wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone who is looking for professional and personal guidance, and am very grateful for the work she has done with me.’

Ilse H, consultant

’I have worked with Karin for many years. Her ability to listen without judging, not to mention her honesty and keen sense of humour have made her an indispensable sounding-board on whom I rely hugely and look forward to meeting with. She is kind but pragmatic and has such a wealth of experience dealing successfully with people and cultures from such a wide range of backgrounds - from private clients to multinationals. This brings to her work an open-mindedness and a level of life experience that you don’t often find. I would highly recommend her to anyone that needs a steer in the right direction – be it personal or professional. Thank you!’

Entrepreneur, luxury goods segment

‘Karin is a wonderful coach – highly experienced, professional, empathetic and with a real talent for understanding you and helping you get to the crux of an issue quickly and with great warmth. I really enjoyed our sessions together. Karin keeps you focused while gently challenging you and supports you all the way. I would definitely recommend Karin to anyone looking for a coach to help them navigate a job change or indeed career change.’

Mark Hanly, change management expert