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In August of 2017, I accepted a position as an ‘Embedded Coach’ at Sonder, an experimental role that was born from Co-Founder and CEO Francis Davidson’s passion to create a feedback-driven and coaching culture. This role that was typically unheard of in other startups, particularly in early stages of growth, would end up having a profound impact on the people, business and culture at Sonder.

For those of you who aren’t familiar, an Embedded Coach operates as an employee of the company and typically reports to the CEO or Head of HR/People. This multifaceted role is designed to increase leadership capacity across the company, improve cross functional communication/collaboration, and contribute to cultural development.

Since joining Sonder, I’ve done over 5,000 coaching sessions with people and teams at all levels of the company, customized six types of coaching, expanded my team and now partner with Learning & Development to develop the next generation of Sonders leaders.

We have grown from 150 to +1,400 employees, and now operate in over 35 markets in 10 countries, and recently became a public company. Here is why I believe that this role is critical to integrate into early start-ups in order to drive impact, increase efficiencies, improve employee engagement, and ultimately impact the bottom line.

When I joined Sonder we were an HR team of two, serving 150 employees. In addition to providing structured leadership coaching, I began offering rapid fire ‘spot coaching’ in order to help equip people with the ability to execute change more effectively across complex, chaotic and diverse systems.

I would often hear ten different perspectives on the same issue in any given week, which allowed me to offer an alternative approach or help people gain a shared reality instead of operating from assumptions. I’d support both sides in having difficult conversations, better understanding each other's worlds and responding with compassion and understanding. A lot of my conversations were around teaching people how to assume positive intent and provide helpful feedback instead of shutting down or getting stuck in a victim mindset.

Embedded coaching is now a valuable resource within Sonder to support people in speaking up, framing difficult conversations, challenging ideas, collaborating effectively and setting and resetting expectations as the roadmap continued to evolve.

Here is where I felt that embedded coaching has been able to have the most impact:

  • Act as a cultural ambassador, integrating the company principles and leadership values into each session and empowering people to live our values in the moments that matter most. When met with adversity, I could say, ‘This is what direct and compassionate communication looks like, and here’s how I can support you in navigating this situation.’
  • This practice began to shape the way people viewed our growing HR function, as one that created a safe space for people to do ‘their work’ in the workplace, as opposed to a reactive function - often common at an early-startup - that focuses primarily on liability and compliance.
  • The variety of perspectives that coaches had access to offered a unique and valuable pulse across different levels and departments of the organization. While all of our sessions were confidential, themes were escalated to flag issues that would have otherwise been detrimental to the culture and business.
  • Much can be lost in translation due to people’s conditioned beliefs, insecurities or simply their differences in how they communicate and relate to the world. I firmly believe that offering an alternative approach helped remove roadblocks, enabled a project or team to get back on track, and to also be happier and more engaged.
  • Most importantly (in my opinion), embedded coaches create accountability around conscious leadership, empowering people to speak from their own experience, to see and understand their blind spots, and to access compassion and empathy when confronted by situations that have the capacity to either divide us or unite us.

When I reflect on the impact this practice has had on the organization, I firmly believe that we have been able to have a significant impact on retention, engagement, productivity, and performance – all impacting favourably, the bottom line. Coaching provides a ‘growth accelerator,’ because coaches have the broader context of the company, and can provide ‘big picture’ insights into the people, culture and business that would otherwise go unseen by senior leaders.

That’s why I feel this unique position can make a huge difference in the growth and success of your start-up. I feel incredibly fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to play this role at Sonder, and to help create a culture where everyone can thrive.

Mary Fischer
Finsbury Glover Hering
Sonder Inc.