An Interview With Chad Silverstein
I have a greater awareness of my own strengths and weaknesses which I now use to guide the decisions I make, both for myself and my team. This allows each person on my team to leverage their strong suits to get the job done in the most effective way possible.
The competitive edge in business often comes down to a combination of strategy, foresight, and professional development. For executives looking to level up their skills, an executive coach can be their biggest asset. In this feature, we talk to business leaders who heavily invest in personal and professional development opportunities, coaching, and leadership programs. They’ll share why they invest so much and the impact it has on their life. Today, I had the privilege of speaking with Maryam Al Shaibani.
Maryam Al Shaibani is the vice president of Integrated Digital Solutions at OQ, a globally integrated energy company based in Oman. Maryam brings over 13 years of experience in project development, implementation and management of medium- and large-scale energy and utility projects in Oman. Applying a coach-approach, Maryam is a results-oriented leader with proven experience driving new business opportunities, growth and strategies. Maryam received her Bachelor of Engineering at University of Bath and her Master of Science in Business and Management at University of Strathclyde. She now resides in Muscat, Oman.
Thanks for being part of this series. Let’s jump in and focus on your early years. First off, can you give us a snapshot of your life before you started your career?
I was born in Oman as the first of four children. I was raised there, but later moved to the UK as a young adult to attend school at the University of Bath, where I studied electrical engineering. I then returned to Oman in 2002 to search for a job, and at the time, very few women were in the field. Finding a job was a challenge, but eventually I received one offer, thanks to a friend who connected me with a company her family member worked for. I went in for an interview and started in the role the very next day. Since then, I’ve been with the company through transitions, mergers and the introduction and integration of its award-winning coaching program.
When I first joined the organization, it was the Oman Oil Refinery. It has since evolved to become OQ as it’s known today. Along the way, the company navigated several major transitions and leveraged coaching as a tool to support its leaders. This was particularly important during the last merger which brought nine companies together and required unique leadership skills to adapt to the onboarding of so many different business priorities and styles of work. I’ve had the opportunity to witness all of these transitions firsthand, and throughout this time, I’ve moved along the value chain from my original focus on engineering to a role in the Integration Program, working both on activities to create and improve our outputs, as well as those to promote our work to customers. Today, I serve as Vice President of Integrated Digital Solutions at OQ’s headquarters.
What was it about personal and professional development that attracted you to start investing in yourself? Also, can you share when you started and what your first investment was?
When I studied engineering, we didn’t have people to coach or counsel us as we navigated the shift from university to the working world. As I began my studies, it was a challenge, particularly as one of very few women in my program, but I knew I would not go back to Oman without earning my degree. After a disheartening job search, I finally received the offer to work at the Oman Oil Refinery. Despite the obstacles I faced as a woman in a male dominated industry, I refused to quit because I was committed to advancing opportunities for other women, like myself. Over time, I began to understand which areas of my role I was best at and which I didn’t like — I realized I was very good at project management, however, as an entry level employee with no formal management experience, I was ineligible at the time to become a full-time project manager. As I came to that realization, I knew it was time to invest in my professional development to ensure I could reach my goal of becoming a project manager. Given the range of job opportunities available at the Oman Oil Refinery, I knew that if I had the proper trainings, the opportunity to move into project management could become a reality. With no option for coaching or career counseling available at the time, I chose to take a sabbatical and went back to the UK to get my Master of Science in business and management at the University of Strathclyde. Once I earned my MBA, I came back and was able to move into another field.
When I returned, the company was undergoing its first merger. I joined the Integration Program to apply for a new role as project manager in what was soon to become Orpic. During this transition, I decided to engage with a mentor as I was navigating both a new company and a new role simultaneously. I began to meet with someone I had worked under when he was the Director of Projects at Oman Oil Refinery.
One of the biggest lessons he taught me was how to listen effectively. He did this by bringing me to all his meetings and letting me listen as a silent observer. I did this for almost two-months, not speaking and just listening and learning. I began to realize how valuable this lesson was, and it made me invest even more into the mentorship. Not only did I learn how to listen, but I learned how to read between the lines and trust my instinct. This skill, which I now know through coaching to be one of the most valuable capabilities a leader can have, has served me throughout my career because it shaped the way I hear what people are expressing to me. It allowed me to move from listening to their words to understanding their message.
Can you think back and share one of the biggest blind spots you had that someone helped you see and something specific about what you learned and how it showed up in your life?
I started my career as a very energetic young person. I brought an engineering and project background and was all about delivering tasks and meeting deadlines. This mentality eventually took a toll on my reputation, because my colleagues viewed me as someone who would come in and push everything away to meet delivery dates no matter how difficult. What I didn’t realize at the time, however, was the toll this mindset was taking on my relationships with my coworkers. I became so hyper focused on completing assignments that I wasn’t taking the time to understand or measure the capabilities of the people around me. This caused me to lose the trust of my teammates and friends. Although this wasn’t my deliberate intention, I didn’t understand how to leverage their capabilities effectively and place them on the right track because I was so intent on completing tasks in the fastest way possible. I really began to realize the impact of this flaw when I discovered how lonely I was feeling at work.
Simultaneously, coaching was introduced to the company and was used to elevate organizational culture during a merger and major transition period in 2018. Although everyone tried it, not everyone immediately understood its value. In such a technical environment, where many of my colleagues are very pragmatic, coaching was seen as immeasurable and therefore ineffective. This was soon disproven as the impacts of coaching quickly transformed the organization and its leaders for the better.
As I was navigating my own leadership at work, OQ began integrating a coaching culture which provided me access to a professional coach. As I navigated this feeling of loneliness in the workplace, I really began to reap the benefit of coaching, as OQ was working towards its vision of becoming a global energy leader. My coach, Benita Stafford-Smith, a master certified coach with the International Coaching Federation, guided me to take time to sit and think about what my team was looking for and where I was missing the mark as a manager. It made me realize that while I always knew they weren’t feeling fulfilled, I was ignoring it in the interest of meeting deadlines and getting work done. This caused me to overlook an equally important element of leadership — the wellbeing of my team.
Now, I see how much the program has grown. Initially, coaching was entirely new to Oman professionals. But it offered the desired development to support our company’s leaders in creating cultural shifts to improve the experience for employees throughout the value chain. While some may still be skeptical or misunderstand its intentions, those of us who have taken advantage of it have experienced its value firsthand. As someone who saw the development of this coaching culture from the ground-up, I know it is one of the primary tools that allowed OQ to provide such unwavering support for its staff amidst periods of significant change. As people saw those who engaged with a coach earning promotions, the tool began to speak for itself. Today, OQ offers a fully integrated program which has not only resulted in internal staff training to become professional coaches, but has become an coaching program.
How long have you had an executive coach and how would you describe your relationship?
I’ve now been working with my executive coach for nearly seven years, since coaching was first introduced when the Oman Oil Facility Management Company transitioned to OQ. My relationship with Benita started when the company began offering group executive coaching based on a request from a stakeholder via a strategic three-year coaching roadmap. As I entered my new working environment, I was appointed to work with the coach. That was my first real interaction with coaching, and I almost instantly realized the benefits I could gain, foremost being the ability to empower my employees throughout the change management process.
Benita helped me break the ice and find my strength, which in turn allowed me to demonstrate my value. This quickly earned me the respect and trust of my superiors and my colleagues. From that first interaction, I have never stopped working with her, thanks in part to the value of OQ’s coaching program, which has made this engagement so accessible to me. Since our coaching engagement started, our relationship has grown by leaps and bounds, and I now consider her to be a close friend. She knows me very well and can almost always anticipate when I need to work through a challenge with her. I am not the only one who feels this positively about coaching. In fact, according to an internal survey, 86% of OQ senior leaders reported increased confidence in their leadership interactions with their direct reports. These astounding results have not only further embedded coaching as a foundational element of OQ company culture, but also shaped our corporate values.
If I was sitting down with your coach, and asked “what’s the one thing your client needs to work on more than anything else in the world” what would I hear them say about you?
Benita would say that I need to work on believing in myself. At its core, that is really what she helped me to do. Often, I’ll come to our session with an idea and bogged down by some hesitation or feeling scattered and she’ll bring me back to reality and help me find the confidence to move my idea forward. She always says, “Fill your boots, Maryam, fill your boots and go.” So, I think if she were here right now, she would tell me to believe in myself and go for it if I’m holding myself back. Although this continues to be a work in progress for me, employees across OQ who received coaching reported a 92% self-satisfaction rate with positive impacts on overcoming obstacles and obtaining goals. This is directly aligned with my personal experience with Benita.
If you were questioned about your “ROI” (return on investment), is there anything you can point to that justifies how much you spend on being coached? If not, how do you justify it?
Coaching can feel difficult to quantify in terms of tangible value. But what you get from investing in coaching is better leaders and, as a result, a better organizational output. This comes through improved teamwork, efficiency, internal communication, which according to an ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study are some of the most direct impacts of coaching, along with a better ability to reflect on strengths and weaknesses and make changes accordingly. All of this together has a tremendous impact and return on investment. One measurable result is employee retention. Those who work for a leader who has been coached at OQ are much more likely to stay in the company long-term than those who work for a leader who has not been coached. While there may not be an easy way to measure direct ROI, the return is clear and undeniable.
As OQ was navigating a shift from a process-driven approach to a guiding governance structure, those leaders who engaged with coaching developed new skills that were paramount in achieving success under this new business model. OQ was navigating completely new challenges as a result of this merger, so despite the Oman culture being widely unfamiliar with coaching, its value and the role it could play in responding to these new challenges became clear very quickly.
Although value can be difficult to calculate, OQ made the decision to train and credential internal coaches, which to date, has saved the organization over $500,000 USD rather than pairing all employees with external coaches. Even greater, OQ was asked to help establish a coaching culture for Oman government units as part of its 2040 vision — a tribute to the value and impact its internal coaching program achieved.
Let’s dive into specifics. What are the top 5 things you’ve either gained or learned about yourself, where you specifically made changes, and have seen positive results?
1. I have a greater awareness of my own strengths and weaknesses which I now use to guide the decisions I make, both for myself and my team. This allows each person on my team to leverage their strong suits to get the job done in the most effective way possible.
2. I hold the ability to follow my heart. Coaching has allowed me to develop an understanding that my intuition is strong, and I should rely on it. This has served me well as I’ve moved up the corporate ladder and navigated challenges with many different types of people.
3. I place great emphasis on non-visible cues which I’ve found often carry more importance than the words people say. This, like my intuition, has positioned me to see the whole person, rather than the persona they bring to work. It has not only helped my relationship with my team, but the morale we have with one another.
4. I understand how to listen — not just to verbal responses, but also to body language, word choice, tone, non-verbal cues, and more. This allows me to pick up on the full message, as opposed to the top layer which is often only the tip of the iceberg and can be very deceiving.
5. I am much more patient. I used to be very impatient and extremely deadline focused. Coaching grounded me and made me understand what this skill can bring to my overall leadership style.
What advice would you give other entrepreneurs who don’t think it’s worth investing in a coach or spending money to join a leadership program?
Every entrepreneur needs the space that coaching provides where you can reflect and bounce ideas off a non-biased third party. It allows a leader to reflect and refocus. Without that break, leaders may miss opportunities because they’re so stuck in their day-to-day business and routines. My biggest piece of advice would be to start coaching as early as possible and use the lessons learned to shape a new leadership approach.
Do you have any examples of how being coached had an impact on others who work around you? How has it spilled over to your team or your family?
My latest role is VP of Integrated Digital Solutions. When I took on this role, my first order of business was to put my entire direct line through coaching. As an IT department, this team always operated as a back office with little focus on company culture. Last year, prior to my time in this role, the team scored a 59 on the OQ culture survey. This year, we scored an 85, the highest score on the culture survey. This directly reflects the team’s use of coaching, which was only fully utilized when I, as a long-time recipient of coaching, made it a priority.
I was not the only leader who leveraged coaching because of my own positive experiences. All leaders at OQ who worked with a coach requested coaching for their teams. While they didn’t all work with Benita — they chose coaches that worked for them — the value was consistent across the board. As a leader, it’s easy to always focus on the end goal. Oftentimes, we do not necessarily communicate or explain why we are making certain decisions. Once the team understands a leader’s intentions, it creates a two-way understanding. Coaching serves as a conduit for improving communication between leaders and their teams to effectively cultivate this deeper mastery of the ”why” behind decisions. Today, we are very cohesive team. We’ve run around 100 initiatives within a very short time. Although we still have room for growth, we understand and complement each other and can act effectively as a fully staffed team.
One specific example of the impact of coaching that I think about often relates to one of my employees who received a job offer at another company. It was an excellent offer and one I couldn’t match in terms of pay. I gave him the maximum I could but prepared for him to leave. The next day, he told me he had made the decision to stay. His reasoning was that he’d rather work where he understands the vision of his leader, than somewhere where there could be a potential disconnect between his team and leader. To me, this spoke volumes about the value coaching was bringing to my team and further established its importance as a permanent tool in my leadership toolkit.
One score of the culture survey focused on whether you would promote working at OQ. Our team scored the highest on this question across the entire organization which became clear in my experience with the employee who chose to stay. I truly believe that coaching made the team proud of what they do and instilled a sense of pride in being a part of this team.
There are so many executive coaches out there. How did you go about selecting the right one for you?
I was lucky because Benita was provided to me. I didn’t choose her; and when I had the chance to choose my own coach, I knew I would never want anyone else. Benita brings a diverse perspective to our coaching sessions. She is not from Oman, she has experienced many cultures, and has seen many different situations. This diversity allows her to bring a unique perspective and prompt questions that someone else may not. The exposure she has prompts her to offer unique options for us to explore that I have found irreplaceable. Recently, a colleague was promoted, and she asked me what advice I had for another woman in leadership in a male dominated industry. I told her to get into coaching and choose the right coach for her. I needed an outside perspective to prompt a diverse mindset, but her needs may be different. No matter what they are, the value of coaching is unparalleled.
Lastly, where can our audience go to follow your journey and perhaps get inspired to make their own investment in coaching?
For readers interested in learning more about me and my work with OQ, they can visit my LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryam-al-shaibani-95783a1a4/ or OQ’s LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/thisisoq/. To learn more about integrating a coaching program into your organization, visit https://coachingfederation.org/coaching-in-organizations.
Thank you so much for joining us! We wish you only success.
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein, a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience as the Founder and CEO of multiple companies. He launched Choice Recovery, Inc., a healthcare collection agency, while going to The Ohio State University, His team earned national recognition, twice being ranked as the #1 business to work for in Central Ohio. In 2018, Chad launched [re]start, a career development platform connecting thousands of individuals in collections with meaningful employment opportunities, He sold Choice Recovery on his 25th anniversary and in 2023, sold the majority interest in [re]start so he can focus his transition to Built to Lead as an Executive Leadership Coach. Learn more at www.chadsilverstein.com
Maryam Al Shaibani On An Inside Look at the Benefits and Impact Of Working With an Executive Coach was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.