281: From Blame Culture to Coaching Culture: Kuoni Tumlare's Journey with Felix Gaehwiler

In the third episode of Building Successful Coaching Cultures, host Rosie Nice, speaks with Felix Karl Gaehwiler, an adaptable and pragmatic leader driving Business Transformation for DMC Europe at Kuoni Tumlare. Felix shares a candid look at life inside a blame-driven sales culture—where responsibility was always pushed outward, energy was low, and while people were functioning, they weren't thriving. The team was stuck, unhappy, and disconnected.

Change began when a new Head of Sales, Tim, introduced a coaching-led approach. Rather than giving solutions, Tim first listened—to frustrations, complaints, and concerns—and then asked different questions that challenged individuals and teams to take ownership: "What ideas do you have to solve that?" Felix recalls how challenging this felt at first and how it took him on his own journey, confronting his resistance until he could see the approach working and eventually train as a coach himself.

The conversation explores how coaching shifted accountability, relationships, and performance over time, while also highlighting the ongoing effort required to sustain a coaching mindset amid leadership changes, cross-cultural teams, and hybrid working. This episode is a grounded, human exploration of what coaching really looks like inside organisations—messy, challenging, and ultimately transformative.

You will learn:

· Blame cultures can appear functional while masking stagnation, disengagement, and low accountability.

· Listening and curiosity are a key part of building a coaching culture

· The powerful shifts that occur over time when a coaching culture is built into organizations

'I think a coaching culture exists when people feel safe to develop new ideas, but even more, when they feel safe to give and accept feedback, irrespective of position or title.'

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For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit:

https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/dl-hub_podcast-channel-building-coaching-cultures-blame-culture-coaching-organizations

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