People Passionate. Engineer and Scientist. Culture Enthusiast. Leadership Modernizer.
Why does an engineer become a leadership coach?
Hi. I’m Mandy. I’m a scientist, engineer, leader, coach, friend, world traveler, and people enthusiast. I know all about the challenges we technical people in global leadership positions struggle with as we juggle multiple hats. I know because I’ve lived it myself.
When I was working in a big manufacturing corporation, I happened to build and lead teams on 4 different continents and managed the global projects those teams were collaborating on. It very quickly became evident that my technical background wouldn’t help me with the challenges I encountered when working on the relationship level. My background would help me to make decisions in operational matters. Additional skills were needed to make business decisions. But the most crucial competencies to help teams collaborate successfully, be productive and effective, and deliver quality on time were all interpersonally related.
Early in my career, I realized what difficulties people seem to have when communicating having different backgrounds. Back then, the diversity I worked in, besides gender, was of interdisciplinary nature, all of the same nationality, German. Chemists wouldn’t understand engineers, engineers wouldn’t understand chemists. Being both, I found myself translating when collaborating in mixed teams.
It became even more complex when I started working in big companies. Cross-functional communication throughout the whole organization felt like an unrealizable attempt. Everyone was having their own understanding, different business goals, motivation, and needs. Alignment seemed to be a never-heard-of concept. Now, imagine the overwhelm when I shifted from national to international projects.
Working in Germany, Chile, China, and the USA, I saw cultures clashing. Misunderstandings led to frustration, mistrust, and the delay and failure of projects. Leaders in this environment struggled on a personal and interpersonal level. Teams were ineffective and worse, they were discontent leading to burnout and high turnover.
Determined to help teams to collaborate in a healthy and effective way, I started to cofunction in people development projects and decided to continue my mission as an entrepreneurial executive, leadership, and diversity coach. In 2021, I partnered up with another coach, Bahman Zarghami, whom I founded the Zarghami & Zimmermann Corporate Consulting Group with. Today, we help corporations attract, develop, and retain talent, improve collaboration, communication, and leadership, and work at all levels of diversity.
Qualifications
