People Leader Perspective: Sophie Aspden

People Leader Perspective: Sophie Aspden

We partnered with the team at Planes back in 2023 to develop their people managers. Sophie Aspden was our client and the People Lead at Planes and also a participant on the Further Programme alongside her colleagues, so we thought we'd interview her for her perspective on working with Coachable and the impact it's had on her and the team at Planes. (Interview from 2024)

‍

What were your motivations for partnering with Coachable?

Something I like to do every quarter is have a team survey. Very people of me. A big thing for me is constantly making sure our team feels trusted and valued, so we put a heavy weight on psychological safety. Another one of my main goals is making sure we have a team that wants to learn and grow. Someone who is important in both of the above metrics is a development manager. So we specifically asked a few questions around, “do you have trust with your developer manager?” and “do you think there's someone that you can learn from and grow with?”. 

The scores were not really where I wanted them to be and we had a lot of first time development managers in the business. So I started looking at how we could improve that score and our teams’ confidence through training. A lot of our team are very sweet and nice and doing the right things instinctively, but without having the tools and framework behind them to make the decisions and impact they could feel confident with. 

I came across Coachable, which looked like exactly what we needed for our team. It’s been an amazing course for people to go through over four months. And it has really embedded a lot of skills that our development managers needed.

‍

How has the Coachable programme impacted the whole team going through this as development managers at Planes?

In our most recent staff survey, the scores we were measuring were across the board, nine out of 10. And all of the ones that pertained to development managers were the highest we’ve ever seen in our surveys 

‍

‍

We've also had feedback from our development managers that they’ve been trialling new things with the people they manage. It’s been great they’ve been really open throughout the process! 

I've certainly been trialling new things with the person I manage. I'll say to him “I'm pausing, I'm thinking about something I've just learned about and I'm trying to reframe a question”. I’m being more conscious of when to be a coach, mentor or manager and switching between different leadership styles. 

It’s given our people that ability to step back and not go straight into problem solving mode, which I think many first time managers do a lot. They’ve actually had to take a step back and allow people to grow more in their own development. 

We talk a lot about the ability to make mistakes, experimenting  and trying things out and learning from things is super important. That was very much a philosophy in our projects and how we work is now being looked at from a performance and progression perspective too, which is awesome. Our people now have more ability to make a bet, which are essentially our goals, and if it doesn’t work out it’s fine. 

Our development managers are coaching people with the mindset of letting them try stuff out and finding solutions themselves. It has all become more of a full circle. And that methodology is already showing impact. 

‍

What impact has it had on you personally?

I feel as a people person you do get into a lot of situations where you are asked for advice on a lot of things, and I originally looked at Coachable for our development managers, but then actually, it's been super useful for myself as a people person too. Because we have a lot of first time development managers, and first time founders we often have that back and forth conversation about “how should we do X? Why should we do this?” 

Being able to have more understanding around certain frameworks, and use tools which explore how people might be interacting with different things differently has been amazing for me. Using different leadership styles has enabled me to feel more confident in making recommendations as a people person. 

Personally, it’s been a confidence build. Knowing how to speak more directly is something that I've always shied away from. But now I see how useful it is to remove ambiguity and be confident in my messaging and storytelling to build trust and influence. And then on the flip side, the other part that's been super useful for me is understanding how different leadership styles work. The empathy map in particular was a standout as it allowed me to reflect on how my decision might be affecting other people. and It also helped me consider how something that I'm proposing might feel to someone else. This has enabled me to put things forward to founders in a different way and be more empathetic to their concerns and needs. 

Often, in the people space, you can quickly see the tangible effects on people. But it’s also important to think about it from the business perspective and whether it makes sense to Planes as a whole. It’s helped me to marry up my communication of those perspectives for everyone involved. 

‍

Who would you recommend the further programme to? Who do you think it's good for?

Honestly, so many people. A lot of people become development managers and don't have training. A lot of people have had old school training, and have been managers for a while. We put everyone from first time managers all the way through to our founders on the course. Each person, regardless of their seniority, tapped into the stuff they've learnt on the course in their own ways. They’ve all been more open to different ways of thinking and doing things.

‍

Nice. Is there anything else that you would want to say in terms of if anyone's thinking about doing the Further programme? What advice would you give them?

Don't be afraid to do it. Know the team that's leading it are really supportive. Both Liz and Ally create a really safe space. Being able to tap into stories that you've experienced, being able to be open and vulnerable about what you know, what your challenges are and how you’re hoping to improve is the best way to actually tap into your future self and improve your leadership style in general. 

Also be open with people who haven't been on the course and share what you’re learning. If you've picked up a framework that you think is really interesting and something they can use, then introduce them to it. 

We're going to do a debrief to the whole team on what the Further programme has done for our development managers and get all the founders to present their final presentations to the team.  Hopefully, this can give a little bit more clarity around how they like to be communicated with and their preferences. We think it’s important that it’s shared across the board. 

‍

Excellent. Well, it sounds it's been like it's been really impactful for Planes. Thank you so much for taking the time to give us this testimonial. And we look forward to running the half day workshops with your team as part of your Team Days next year. 

I can't wait for it. Because let’s face it, nobody wants a shitty boss!

‍