Executive Coaching is Product Management

Crystal Fernando, Partner at WhatBox Partners and Former Head of Global Delivery at InterContinental Hotels Group, shares how to build high-performing teams and her approach to coaching innovation leaders.

Organizational structure, strategy, and product development process are all important pieces of successful product management. However, after 20 years of experience in digital innovation at some of the world's largest hospitality companies, Crystal discovered that people are often the most important factor of all.

She says that in the past, you needed expertise and size in order to succeed, but now you need the ability to grow teams and be adaptable.

Crystal discovered this while leading a digital and cultural transformation at InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), one of the largest hospitality companies. The company was opening between one and three hotels per day in the US and Canada alone, so she knew that her teams needed to learn and adapt quickly.

Crystal deployed what she called "swat teams" to discover opportunities to improve processes, but learned that leaders needed to be coached on building teams and mindsets for innovation.

You'll learn a lot from this episode about team building, culture, and leadership.

Here are the highlights:

• Crystal shares how she approached going digital at IHG (3:35)
• How Crystal deployed “swat teams” to discover and solve problems (9:41)
• Crystal discusses what it takes to innovate successfully in today’s world (13:03)
• Crystal describes what enables teams to perform at their best (16:20)
• How crystal approaches executive coaching (23:57)