Pascal Zimmer - Managing Director - DATATRAK SA

Subject: coaching by Véronique POLET – Pégase Management Services

Story of a torture victim and his torturer

I felt dubious to say the least about my initial contact with Véronique Polet. In fact, I soon began to wonder why she wanted me to see the point in tidying up my office and my e-mails, while all the time she talked about Feng Shui. I wondered what football team she was talking about…
After a while, and making an effort not to express my feelings about allowing this intrusion into my working environment, I put aside my doubts and suspicions and let myself be led onto a path of gentle guidance.
I must also point out that things weren’t going particularly well, or perhaps the timing wasn’t great; I was actually emerging from five years of cost-cutting and a merger that brought in new products and entailed existing products and services disappearing.
In fact my company before the merger was, and will remain, firmly based on providing services to its customers whereas, on the other hand, I had to deal with becoming a manufacturer who had to work out why its customers were no longer buying its marvellous products. Calling it a culture shock would be an understatement; it was a whole new field of combat.
It is in this sort of seemingly inextricable situation that one comes to realise how beneficial a neutral viewpoint and some external help can be. Having already achieved positive results with our counterparts, Véronique was able, through her intervention, to reduce the tension, facilitate dialogue and unlock total stand-offs at crucial moments.
All in all, the perfect recipe for putting a coach to the test, because on top of that we’re talking about me, Pascal Zimmer, needing a coach? Never!
What’s more, I realised pretty quickly that we had similar experience and had even done the same management training. So what could I possibly have to learn from this lady?
Well, the answer is the things I gave least thought to. In other words, picking up the well-known tools that I was familiar with but clearly wasn’t making use of: time management, how to say no, delegating, keeping people informed…
Under the watchful and merciless eye of my torturer, what choice had I but to set about it?
Once these things were in place - and that wasn’t too painful either - I became aware of another interesting aspect of this strange creature: she listened.
The typical isolated company boss, stressed out by his work and getting a little closer every day to his heart attack; that was me!
By listening, Véronique enabled me to take stock, to realise what an impossible situation I was in, and to gradually return to a normal working routine, including some working from home that was professionally extremely beneficial.
Today, this help has truly become self-help, to the point of sending me home when I realise I’m over-stretched, something I never would have considered in the past.
The lasting benefit I retain from this coaching is how it forces you to look at yourself and your environment from another perspective, to re-think how you are performing, and lastly, to increase your potential.
So I thank Véronique for the valuable input she provided and will continue to provide in the weeks to come.

Pascal Zimmer
Managing Director