Meet Natasza Frąckowiak, Senior Contract Manager at Capgemini Financial Services with experience in strategic vendor and legal contract management. In this interview, she talks about new professional acquisitions and her cultural adaptations throughout global transitions.

Interviewed by Alexia Lecerf

Can you describe your current role as Senior Contract Manager at Capgemini?

As a Senior Contract Manager at Capgemini, I am responsible for  contract management activities related to contracts with Capgemini clients. Those activities can be divided into two phases: everything that is happening before the contract is signed, and activities related to the phase after the contract signature. During the pre-signature phase, I'm working very closely with internal stakeholders to shape and sign the deal that is manageable during delivery and  meets  the approved parameters. I am also responsible for identifying risks and working with the various risk owners to create mitigation plans.  Once the contract is signed, there are certain contract management processes that need to be performed during the post signature phase. One of them is change management, where any changes to the contract need to be drafted or reviewed by me. I am    also responsible for raising contract awareness within the delivery teams to ensure contractual compliance. The scope of activities heavily depends on the complexity of the contract.

You have pursued a Master in Law and maintained a career in various forms of contract management with AIB, Hewlett-Packard, Credit Suisse and now Capgemini. Why did you then decide to pursue additional training in psychological education and integral development at a school of professional coaching?

I've always been interested in Psychology and had been thinking about doing coaching for a very long time. In one of the previous companies I worked for, I was part of a coaching programme and I thought it was  a very effective way of identifying and achieving goals. Although I knew I wanted to do it, I was waiting for the right moment to commit because it requires a lot of time and dedication. When my eldest son turned 14, the way we communicated changed and I felt that I was missing certain tools to communicate with him more effectively. At that point, I thought coaching would help. With regards to my personal development, I noticed that I was not always achieving my goals and something prevented me from succeeding. In theory, I was motivated, but somehow I still procrastinated, and didn’t always end up where I wanted to be. All   of these factors contributed to the final decision to do Coaching School.  I think that was one of the best decisions I have made!

Having recently completed a coaching programme at the Professional School of Coaching, what is your view on coaching, how has this influenced your professional relationships and leadership style?

I think I could talk for hours about how coaching influenced every aspect of my life, but I will focus on elements that have had the biggest impact on my professional relationships and leadership style.

When I think about coaching,  I often use this analogy:  if you look at the lake from a distance, you see its flat surface, but you don't know what is underneath the lake. Coaching is a lot about bringing what is underneath the surface and looking at it and then deciding what you're going to do about it.

In my view, the biggest benefit of coaching is increased self-awareness which is also a key factor of an effective leadership. Self-awareness is better realising what you feel, and understanding how to regulate  these emotions. It's also about understanding which beliefs are supporting me and which ones are actually limiting me to achieve my goals. Understanding how I can better manage my emotions, thoughts and beliefs has a direct impact on building and maintaining relationships, because it helps me to be more empathic, open and  non-judgmental towards others.

The second key element of coaching is effective communication. Active listening is a fundament of effective communication and something I was not aware before I started coaching to the extent I am now. I can observe the power of right questions every day:  as part of my role, I often need to ask questions and depending on how I ask questions, I will find out what I need from the other persons or I may  miss  something.

I use what I learned while coaching, training and mentoring more junior colleagues and I see the difference in my approach. It is easier for me to recognise strengths and talents in others, which helps me to provide the required support for their  growth.

The fact that we're having this conversation today is the outcome of my own personal coaching process where I have identified goals that I want to achieve while certain beliefs were blocking me from achieving them. I think it is the testament to how strongly coaching influenced me.

Self-awareness is better realising what you feel, and understanding how to regulate  these emotions. It's also about understanding which beliefs are supporting me and which ones are actually limiting me to achieve my goals.

You are a fluent speaker in Polish, English, and occasionally use French and German in the workplace. Additionally, you have transitioned from working in Ireland to Poland. How was this transition? How have you used these cross-cultural experiences in your work?

I left Poland shortly after my graduation. It was my first work, my first adult experience, and my first time being completely on my own in a different cultural environment. When I started to work in Ireland, for a while, I was the only foreigner in the office. I met fantastic people there who thought me a lot about different values, priorities, approach to life. It was invaluable experience which shaped and influenced me a lot. I observed that the way of communicating was an important cultural difference. I perceived it as more  ‘reading between the lines’ type of communication rather than going straight to the point -I was a very direct person at the time.  I remember a curious situation when someone asked me, “Would you mind doing ..something?”. I remember thinking, “Oh, that’s so nice, they asked me if I would mind”, because this question translated in Polish meant that I was given an option :I can, but  I don't have to do it.  This was the polite way of saying, “Okay, please do it” which I understood later. There were plenty of situations like this and this was all part of the learning process. When I decided to go back to Poland, I had to transition from something that became part of me back into a culture where we communicate in a more direct way. This transition was not as easy as I thought it would be. However, because I was working for a global corporation the process went better at work than in my personal life! I think working abroad and experiencing different cultures definitely helped me to be more open, adjustable and sensitive to cultural differences.

Culture is always somewhere, it's an element that influences us and the way we behave, we communicate and we collaborate.

Culture is always somewhere, it's an element that kind of influences us and the way we behave, we communicate and we collaborate.

In your professional journey, how have you navigated and overcome gender-related challenges to foster an inclusive and empowering environment for leadership?

I don’t think , at least I'm not aware of, that I experienced any gender related challenges, understood as an objectively  different treatment due to the fact that I am a women. My management has always been very supportive and access to opportunities was the same for men and women. I don’t differentiate between men and women in my interactions, what matters to me is the person (as a human being), his/her personality.  However, when I look at the gender related challenges from a more subjective perspective, I feel that having children impedes my work/life balance. There was a time when I was part of a very interesting project and I loved what I was doing.  I was trying to give 100% at work, and 100% as a mother as well, but forgot about myself in the process. This experience thought me a few important lessons: it is impossible to be 100% at everything at the same time; understanding priorities in life is key as they help to live in peace with the choices, priorities change and that’s ok. In this specific situation, I am not sure I overcame this challenge, but I did find a solution that was the best for me at the time, allowing me  to meet my professional development and private life needs:  less demanding role, but still with opportunities to grow, and more time for my family.

How do you value being part of a network where you can cultivate partnerships and collaborations with other female leaders, as done in WIL?

I haven't been part of an women’s network earlier in my career. I see a huge benefit of being part of this network. If I think about the gender related challenge example above, being part of a  women network at that time would have allowed me to discuss my challenges with other women who had gone through similar experiences and get advice and support  from them.

For me, the women's network is a great space to meet other women to get inspired, to learn from each other and be in a space where we can express ourselves without really being judged.

For me, the women's network is a great space to meet other women to get the inspiration to, learn from each other and be in a space where we can express ourselves without really being judged.