Hyunna Coelho

Chief Administrative Officer, Merz Aesthetics

Through a period of tremendous change, she led a global Time Leadership® initiative for her organization. Hyunna is a strategic, visionary leader, who is authentically committed to the well-being and fulfillment of her employees throughout the company. Below, she shares her insights, decision-making process and experiences practicing Time Leadership on an individual, team and organizational level. 

WHAT WAS THE CATALYST FOR SPEARHEADING A COMPANY-WIDE TIME LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE?  

My priority and focus is organizational development. You can't advance the organization without your people. So we focus on what we can do to help people advance in their roles, feel satisfied in their career, and understand what skills they would like to develop. 

When you invest in that, then the organization naturally advances and develops. I look for key themes that would help the entire organization advance. If it's a pain point or an opportunity for the organization, then making that a strategic priority can influence it at a greater scale. 

That's really how we ended up with the approach of focusing on Time Leadership. Across the organization, we heard that managing time was a pain point for a lot of people. 

The goal was to bring a set of foundational time management skills to our entire workforce to empower them to achieve their professional and personal goals, in a way where it’s appropriate for our culture and our ways of working.

WHAT DOES “TIME LEADERSHIP” MEAN TO YOU?

Time and leadership are an empowering combination of words. Time management is tactical; “Here are the things I must do in a certain time period.” Time Leadership means that you can take ownership of your time and have the ability to prioritize and maximize this very precious resource.

Time Leadership also implies that we’re responsible for helping our teams focus on things that are impactful, that ladder up to our strategies, and work towards our goals and value. As a leader, I can see the big picture. It’s my job to ensure that we’re not wasting time on non-value-adding work.

TALK ABOUT BEING A TIME LEADER OF SELF. WHAT STRATEGIES DO YOU USE TO TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR OWN TIME? 

One of the biggest shifts I made was in the way that I think about time outside of work. I used to not prioritize myself (self-care and family) to the same extent that I would prioritize work. I now look at my life holistically and recognize that I have control.

I block and protect time during the work day for things I used to do at night or on the weekend: the tasks that require critical thinking, such as project work or policy writing. Microsoft Analytics has helped. After studying the analytics, I learned that sometimes I only had two hours of focused time scheduled in a given week. To do my job well, I need much more than that.  

I’ve also become very intentional in how I transition from work to family time and vice versa. I used to work throughout my entire commute home, squeezing in calls and follow-up, rolling right into the house without any transition time. Now I take 20 minutes to mentally shift from work to home. Before I walk through the door, I set my intention for my evening—to rejoin the family, to be present, enjoy dinner and relax together.  The result is I’m less stressed in general and much more present all while doing more impactful work in less time.

HOW DO YOU SEE YOUR ROLE AS A TIME LEADER OF YOUR TEAM?

First and foremost, it’s about role modeling. I’m more conscious of the impact of my work style on others. I’m a night owl, so for years after I put my kids to bed, I would get back on the computer and work on emails and legato tasks. But then I was raining emails down on my team. You think it’s OK, as a leader, to say, “You know what, I like to work at night. So if I send a midnight email, don’t worry. Respond to me whenever.” But the fact that you sent that midnight email sends a message. Sometimes what you actually do is more powerful than whatever expectations or guidelines you set.

TO CREATE CULTURE CHANGE, YOU NEED BUY-IN FROM THE TOP. HOW DID YOU ACHIEVE THAT?

Our CEO Bob Rhatigan is an incredible leader who is truly committed to a culture that promotes the health and well-being of his employees. My senior colleagues were very supportive because, as leaders, they understand how precious and valuable time is.  

Within the leadership team, everyone would say, “Yes, I could learn ways to better manage my time”, and “Oh, my role is also to model skills for how you can lead yourself through time for our teams.” So it wasn’t that hard to sell at all. 

One question that everybody probably has in common - if you had the opportunity to learn how to manage your time better, would that be of value to you? I think a hundred percent, everybody would say yes.

YOU’VE SYSTEMATICALLY ROLLED OUT TIME LEADERSHIP FROM THE TOP DOWN. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR APPROACH TO SCALING A TIME CULTURE CHANGE?

We began with understanding the concept of Time Leadership, and the role that leaders can play, and how you can bring it to the culture. Because if you incorporate it into the culture, then it becomes a part of who you are as an organization, and it defines your decision process and ways of working. 

The defining moment for us was when we presented it to the Global Leadership Team, allowing them to have a deep conversation about the impact of having a time-conscious organization and our role as Time Leaders to promote this culture.  

We next focused on the Global Management Team, making Time Leadership one of three annual priorities. We kicked off with a Master Class to frame what Time Leadership is and that set a great foundation as we were starting to dig deeper into how we can be more effective as leaders. We then ran workshops throughout the year for each regional and functional intact team to explore how to apply the tangible tools and resources for themselves and to better support our talent.

Now that the leadership is aware of what Time Leadership is and their role in it, we are ready to train the rest of the organization and share the skills that we’ve learned. Our goal is to create a common language of time and a safe environment to be truly honest and authentic about how you’re experiencing the work and balancing your to-dos and priorities.

WHAT HAVE BEEN THE STICKIEST CONCEPTS, AND HOW HAS THAT IMPACTED THE ORGANIZATION?

The terms legato and staccato really caught on–describing the difference between tasks that require uninterrupted, deep thinking versus the short quick items we can get done in 5 or 10 minutes. This helped pave the way for us to shape some new ways of working policies. One time norm we introduced is called Work it out Wednesdays (W.O.W.). Each Wednesday, the time between noon to five, in whatever time zone you are in, is blocked as a no-meeting zone—blocked to be dedicated to critical thinking time, projects and learnings that don’t require collaboration.

One reason W.O.W. days are a hit is because it pairs very nicely with another initiative we introduced this year–dedicating a percentage of everybody’s Management by Objective’s (MBO’s) to their own development. But in order to do professional development, you need time. We can have all these resources for employees to access, but then if you don't give them the time to do it, when will it get done?

We are still working to incorporate W.O.W Wednesdays into all areas globally, but when we do a pulse check and ask, “Hey is W.O.W. still something you use”? The response is a clear: “Oh yes! Don't take it away.” It’s the greatest thing for the teams that have embraced it.  People have incorporated W.O.W. into their weekly work schedules. 

WE BEGAN OUR JOURNEY PRE-PANDEMIC, RIGHT BEFORE MERZ Aesthetics UNDERWENT A GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION.  YOU NEVER WAVERED IN YOUR COMMITMENT TO THE PROGRAM.  HOW DID ALL OF THESE CHANGES IMPACT THE NEED FOR TIME MANAGEMENT TOOLS?

When it came to navigating the global restructuring, we knew that time management would be essential for our employees as they changed roles and responsibilities.  It's been quite the journey, and boy, wasn't it fantastic that we embarked on it before the pandemic, which really magnified the need for Time Leadership.  The pandemic brought on many different time challenges with our employees working from home, principally the difficulties compartmentalizing work and life. 

In the post-pandemic world and the hybrid work environment, people are having to redefine WHERE they are going to go to work when their schedule is more flexible. There are more competing priorities. And honestly, time feels like it's gotten smaller if you don't have control over it. Those easily adapting to the hybrid routine have taken command of their schedule on a weekly and monthly basis. Those who struggle are still learning their Time Leadership skills. And so the hybrid schedule has also identified those who need skills development - making it easier for managers to support them.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE OTHERS WHO WANT TO PRACTICE TIME LEADERSHIP FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR ORGANIZATIONS?

By all means, prioritize it in your strategic planning for both organizational excellence and learning and development.

We’ve learned that Time Leadership is a skill that can be learned. With effort and a little bit of commitment, you start to see immediate impact. If you make effective use of planning and look at your time as a precious resource, you see the immediate impact of how it affects your life and daily work. That fuels people to say “Okay, yesterday was a great day, I had full control. Now all I have to do is try for the next day.” You build your skills the more you practice them.

How can you measure the impact? You’ll see it in the engagement scores, the training feedback from employees, the discussions that are taking place and in how effective meetings are. It’ll manifest in the ways of working and how your organization performs.