Anne Mayer

CONTEXT
An acting VP over a major program area experienced a shift from being jovial and light-hearted to appearing overwhelmed and moody, which other executives noticed. He was passed over for a promotion, and given my past support for his team, I offered him coaching, which he gratefully accepted.

At the outset, he acknowledged feeling stressed and unhappy, with a poor work-life balance affecting his health and family. After many years with the company, he was even considering leaving.

TRANSFORMATION
Through coaching, he gained deep personal insights, identified the root causes of his stress, and developed strategies to regain control of his emotions and life. He also addressed leadership behaviors he recognized as limiting his growth.

As a result, he renewed his enthusiasm for the company, improved his work-life balance, and was promoted to oversee one of the company’s largest portfolios. He was later placed on a fast-track executive program and has since referred others to me for coaching.

CONTEXT
A VP revealed that a government customer, with a portfolio worth billions, was considering not renewing their contract due to delivery failures and growing distrust. The VP sought my help to address these issues and repair the strained relationships between the two teams.

APPROACH
I developed a multi-tiered plan that first required the buy-in of both internal and client senior leadership. By initiating trust-building discussions, the customer agreed to engage in a “recovery effort.”

After interviewing individuals from both organizations, I presented underlying issues to leadership, revealing inefficient processes that hindered success and contributed to blame-shifting. I also facilitated several team offsites to focus on remediation measures and provided individual coaching to the VP and senior program leadership.

OUTCOME
The customer’s executive staff appreciated the transparency and efforts taken, which led to a successful contract renewal.

As director of Employee & Organizational Development at the University of New Mexico, I designed and led the development of a comprehensive competency-based Management Credentialing Program to address barriers to advancement into supervisory and management roles. The program was built around clearly defined leadership competencies, applied learning, and a rigorous capstone assessment to validate demonstrated capability rather than degree attainment.

I partnered closely with senior administrators, academic leadership, HR, and labor unions to align standards, secure stakeholder buy-in, and ensure the credential carried institutional credibility. The learning design integrated leadership fundamentals, people management, and real-world application, creating a sustainable internal leadership pipeline grounded in measurable outcomes.

Following successful implementation, minimum qualification requirements for supervisory roles were formally revised from a bachelor’s degree requirement to either equivalent experience or completion of the Management Credentialing Program. This change removed advancement barriers, strengthened internal mobility, and established a durable, competency-driven model for leadership development.

CONTEXT
A department head requested assistance to address low customer quality scores. My initial assessment revealed unclear standards and expectations, inconsistent processes, a lack of reinforcement mechanisms, and low morale.

APPROACH
In response, I developed a multi-tiered approach that included:
• Engaging leaders to secure buy-in for the initiative.
• Facilitating discussions on building a customer-focused culture.
• Touring business units to understand staff concerns and common customer challenges.
• Customizing the company’s customer experience curriculum with realistic, customer-based scenarios.
• Coaching facilitators and leaders to deliver staff training sessions.
• Coaching the department head on sustaining momentum and launching further improvement initiatives.

OUTCOME
The corporate engagement survey that followed showed increased employee morale and improved customer quality scores. Anecdotal feedback also indicated that employees felt greater pride in their service. I was later asked to share the revised curriculum with counterparts in the UK and corporate teams.