At Yamaha, subtle shifts are making a big impact. Laura Foad, Divisional Manager (HR & Administration Division, UK), opens up about her unconventional path to leadership, the power of third-party coaching, and why human connection still matters most in a world increasingly shaped by AI.
How do you start your work day on the right note?
Laura: I have to have a cup of tea! And I have to know that my kids have got to school as best as possible; that they've got everything, and they've gone in happy. Usually if that's achieved, I'm on the right footing.
In regards to when I get here and my role, I'll have things in my calendar which can be quite interchangeable – especially in the HR part of my role, people might want to talk to me spontaneously. That can change up your day. But it's important to change it and make sure that you are approachable – for people to feel like you're accessible when they need you, rather than you have to book an appointment.
What's an unexpected detour in your career that ended up being exactly where you needed to go?
Laura: I suppose in our industry, a lot of people that have come into Yamaha, particularly if they're at senior level, have come in having had an originating experience in the product. I always liked motorcycles from afar, despite my parents having some reluctance about supporting me in getting a motorcycle. I didn't come in going, 'I'm a motorcycle enthusiast', for example, or 'I must work for Yamaha,' or 'I must work for a main manufacturer.' I came back from traveling, got a temporary role here [which has] turned into a career. And I do ride now, so I've got that out of it as well!
Why did you choose to do coaching at Yamaha?
Laura: I think coaching is important for development. There is a culture that you'd see in many companies that have been established for a while where your development means you get thrown in the deep end and you sink or swim. I wanted to bring more structure, and there are lots of different things you can do, but coaching's quite a key one.
More than that, the coaching focus was: if someone wants to be an area salesperson, for example, it's very easy to say: 'Right, we'll give you X amount of time a week to go visit and practice that kind of hard skill, and we'll send you on a sales course, and you can learn the art of negotiation,' etc. But coaching felt important because we needed to ensure that we align the company's values with people values. Ultimately, if those two don't align, all the skills in the world are probably not going to end up leading that individual anywhere.
What specific business challenge prompted you to consider coaching?
Laura: Our business challenge was 'How do we match people's own values with the company's?' I think that's why it's important you have third-party coaching, because it's not us doing the coaching ourselves and saying, 'You have to think like the company, you have to think like me'. When it's third-party, it's a safer space. And it was important to have coached for that because it's a really hard thing to do. People are who they are, and they shouldn't be forced to change, but they need to be aware of what the company values are and the expectation of how they fit into that.
What had you decided success would look like for you and your organisation before the coaching began?
Laura: The success is employees understanding what they really need, if they get promoted or if they get an opportunity somewhere, whatever it is, that the company objective is that they understand what the key thing is to get them there. That they're not going, 'Well, I did this report immaculately, I don't understand why I'm not promoted.' You may have done it immaculately, but perhaps you also weren't very flexible whilst you were doing it, and that actually didn't help in other ways.
The success for the company is that our employees are happy and they have an understanding of why they either are or aren't being offered opportunities or being developed. And they understand what it is they have to do. It's that clarity – have they got clarity of what they need to do? It's about, 'We're looking to support you, but we're being really honest and transparent about what we'd like to support you with. And then it's over to you to do it in complete confidence. But we've been completely straight about it, honest and sincere.'
What resistance, if any, did you encounter from colleagues and how did you address this?
Laura: I didn't really, everyone was great! Everyone I offered coaching to wanted it and saw it as they were being invested in. But it's never been offered as "you need to change and get some coaching so we can change you." It's: 'Look, this is where you are. This is where you want to be. This is the slight obstacle. And this is the discussion the company's had with you and how you feel about it. Why don't you go talk to someone away from the company (a coach) and discuss with them, outside of all this, how you might get there in line with your expectations and ours?'
Can you describe the cultural shift you've observed taking place at Yamaha during and after coaching?
Laura: I don't think there's any kind of grand moment. And like you say, it's not about changing people. It's really subtle, but you do see more of an effort put in by employees. Maybe where someone would have reacted to something before, they channel that differently now, they don't seem to let it bother them so much – or they take a different approach, or they at least, even if they still don't maybe agree with something, they have better understandings and an acceptance of it.
It's these sort of little subtleties in people, who can make their own decisions about which way they want to go.
What distinctive benefits do you feel you've gained, personally and as an organisation, from that human connection as opposed to an AI coach?
Laura: I think it's amazing what AI can do, but for me, the human approach to coaching I appreciate more as the responses or the reactions to whomever you're coaching is more organic. There is more of a personal connection – and surely coaching is about connection because if you don't connect to who's coaching you, that's it isn't it?
That's the difference you need.
The chatbot is okay for certain things, but sometimes it's, 'Oh no, I really just need to ring about that!' and then even the AI responds with 'I'm going to transfer you to a human', doesn't it? Quite quickly! I think something as personal as coaching, particularly what we are trying to strive for with coaching, which is someone's personal opinion and alignment to our company values, requires that human connection.
I'm sure AI could list all the things, but in regards to dealing with your own thoughts and feelings about direction or what your values are, for me, that's a far more in-depth conversation and connection required than what AI can offer at the moment.
Laura: If you've got your workforce on board and they feel invested in, they're much more likely to do the things that you need them to do and ask of them on a daily basis, rather than literally doing the bare minimum that just ticks the box. And they'll go a little bit further for you.
Sometimes to really stand out and be different, you have to go that little bit further. It's not necessarily actually the targets that are set. It's how much further can you go and get people to go for you.
Coaching is worthwhile for not always saying 'yes' to employees, but also learning how to say 'no' in the right way, to make sure things stay fair across your organisation. If people feel that the organisation is fair, they'd be much more willing when you need them to do that little bit more and actually believe in what you're doing, rather than 'it's just a job and these are my hours, I'll do what's required, but that's it.'
So coaching can help with aligning for your direction and where you want to go on an individual level (which people actually really believe in), and aligning with some of the things as a company (like how and when to say 'no'). It's building up the trust between you and them. So they're willing to give more effort because they're valued.
Leadership development, like culture building, is an ongoing journey rather than a one-time initiative. How does Yamaha plan to continue your coaching approach to ensure everyone can continue driving organisational excellence?
Laura: We're working on our core competencies. In our appraisals each year, we'll all get set an objective, but we'll also get set the core competencies that we need to work on as well. It might complement the objective or be something that we need to develop personally or generally – there are lots of different ones, for example, 'a spirit of challenge'. What is highlighted is one thing we haven't yet got.
A few years ago, I set up a development programme with five different tiers. And if an employee was put on a development programme, they would get investment from the company on their skill building. They would get competencies to focus on; and get support with more product familiarisation and experience. But the question that we started picking up in the surveys later on, or what wasn't clear to people as we saw people being promoted, is: 'Why were they promoted?'. Which goes back to transparency, why people get the opportunities they do.
At the moment, what we're doing, which is quite a hard thing as a senior team, is going through all our competencies; people's attitude to their work. And if we used our appraisal scoring matrix, how would we score every individual in the company? Generally, on each of those competencies, where's the average someone needs to be that the company will then invest more in that person to develop them further? In the future, it's about enhancing coaching to a more structured development and who qualifies for development, who qualifies for promotion.
So it may be that in the future, if we identify that someone hasn't hit the average competency scoring to be promoted, we will put them on coaching to get them there. It's just about enhancing the transparency about who we invest in and what we're measuring against.