The Coaching Approach

Intelligence, takes more than one form. There is the linear, which enables us to deal with the material world; & there is the intuitive, over which we have no conscious control. It is this latter intelligence that is the source of creativity. - Alan Garner
CoachConnect
“It is as if my every thought is getting a voice.” said my client D after a coaching session. This state is born of a deep trust & comfort of being with one who wishes only your success, This, along with a design thinking approach produces an uninhibited, nonlinear expression of ideas that tap into the client's ability to intuit.

Purposeful Resolutions

With his New Year's resolutions, Zuckerberg turns the high-powered innovation beam on himself. Every challenge he undertakes carries the end goal of solving for some aspect of himself that he'd like to develop further, some gap in his ultimate self-vision. It's a level of personal accountability that is nothing short of extraordinary.

CoachConnect
New year resolutions are notoriously short lived. This weakness of purpose dogs the other resolutions we make during the year too. But If you want to prove something, not to others but to yourself, get yourself an accountability partner. Get a coach.

Ruthless Prioritisation

“The conversation with you”, said client B, “made me realize that I am spending only 0.5% of my time on my key priorities“.

CoachConnect
This kind of a realisation is a result of a deep dive into what you really want in life, and how you want to take your business to new heights. It’s a process Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook would call ‘Ruthless Prioritisation’.

Want to know what your Ruthless Priorities are and fast track your personal and business growth? Get in touch.

Keeping Resolutions

#LivingStories
”I never keep my New Year's resolutions, so this year I resolve to gain weight, make less money, & hate my life”. - A cartoon by Glasbergen

#MyLearning
New Year resolutions are notoriously difficult to keep. The Vedas offer a 3 level hierarchy to test the intensity of our intentions.
L1: Abhilasha: A wish with little energy, with little impetus to move one forward
L2: Svatmi karana: Wish becomes important enough to influence thoughts and actions
L3: Iccha bhavana: Our desire, will, action, speech & thoughts, all become laser-focused on achieving the goal.

For L 3 focus, get a coach.

Nursing Innovation

#LivingStories
“If you inject a live virus into a healthy body, the body will react to it. And it's the same thing with organizations. They say they are promoting innovation but they are not, really. And if you happen to be in the innovation/disruption team, then the organization will attack you. So you need to find a way around it“. - Tobias Digswell,  Nobel Museum curator

#MyLearning
Do not stop at just innovating a product or a process, think through the strategy of how to inject and nurse the innovation through the whole system.

Spirit of The Season

#LivingStories
60 years ago this month, at the height of the Cold War, the emergency phone rang at the US Continental Air Defense Command. When the in-charge, Col.Harry W Shoup picked up the phone, it was a child asking to speak to Santa. Turned out, a local store had carried the phone number in an ad asking children to call to speak to Santa. Realising there would be a deluge of calls, Shoup ordered his operators to respond to ”every child who phoned in that night.” The tradition continues to this day.

#MyLearning
The milk of human kindness overflows during the festive season. Put it to good use.

The Well-Formed Mind

#LivingStories
In his TEDx talk, Sashi Tharoor speaks of the response of a village woman he spoke to. Asked the benefits of becoming literate, she explained she was now able to read bus destination signs, which she previously had to ask others. She could also read the street signs and therefore felt more independent. Tharoor also speaks of how, having a well- formed mind is more import than having a well-filled mind.

#MyLearning
How can I use the benefits of being literate to develop my intellect?  To not merely know facts, but to regard them with mindful curiosity & make meaning of them?

Using Emotions to Your Advantage

#LivingStories
“McEnroe needed to believe that the world was against him, he needed to get angry, to stoke the competitive beast inside of him. He played his best when hard done by - with justification or otherwise. Especially in the 70s and early 80s when the world hadn't been exposed to the ‘competitiveness’ and ‘aggression’ of the modern age, Mac the Mouth was an aberration.”
“…..but being too nice comes with a price too, especially if you are nice to the wrong person.” - R. Kaushik In the Wisden

#MyLearning
Anger and politeness, both have their uses. Use with discretion.

Metaphors Make Communication Easy

#LivingStories
Persistent efforts by Rahul Bajaj to convince authorities that his small car, built on his 3 wheeler rickshaw platform, still qualified as a 3, and not a 4 wheeler, were futile. He was being persistent as 4 wheelers are liable to pay more taxes, which drive up the price. Finally, he decided to give the example of the Gillette 3 blade razor. When they added two more blades, making it a 5 blader, did it still qualify as a razor he asked.
He got the permission.

#MyLearning
By linking abstract information to a concrete concept, it becomes easier for people to understand the information.

Taking Time Out

#LivingStories
Twice a year, during the busiest and most frenetic time in the company’s history, Bill Gates still created time and space to seclude himself for a week and do nothing but read articles (his record is 112) and books, study technology, and think about the bigger picture. Today he still takes the time away from the daily distractions of running his foundation to simply think.

#MyLearning
Taking time out to refresh one's knowledge, and think about the past and the future to make sense of the present, can have a profound effect on all parts of you.

Life is Semantics

#LivingStories
“If you say that creating the Taj Mahal is indulgence,  then it is - in the eyes of the world”, says filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali. “If you say he loved her and he created a monument - then it is a monument. It is the way you look at it.” He claims what others call indulgence, he calls commitment and the two should not be confused.

#MyLearning
Personal truths, are a summation of experiences from the personal notes we make of them. Indulgence or commitment, successes or failure, profit or loss etc, are only the topic heads to a deeper set of self narratives of their meaning to us.

Your True Value

#LivingStories
The matriarch of a reputable business family, known for her vast collection of modern art possessed an enviable series of pahadi paintings by a well known miniature painter. The painter was her grandfather's family friend and had gifted her 18 miniatures paintings at her wedding. However, she unaware of the high value of the artworks until someone pointed it out to her.

#Coach perspective
How we see ourselves is a function of our mind, even the mirror captures only an image painted by our mind. How we value ourselves is also a function of the same mind. How close is  your true value, to the value you  put on yourself?

Check with a coach!

Your Workspace Talks!

#LivingStories
According to Aparna Piramal Raje, author of Working Out of The Box, the private workspaces spaces  of CEOs provide insight into their business priorities and personality. She has classified CEO workspaces into four distinct archetypes, based on their design, usage and purpose that provide valuable insights into the minds of CEOs.

Coach perspective
Private workspaces provide insight into the working style of leaders. As a Business coach, this observation is key to my coaching. 

Think
What do you think your workspace tells about you?

Using Weaknesses of Your Advantage

#LivingStories
Jaideep Barman, CEO of Faasos was asked what his social media profile saying, “Pretending to be a CEO” meant. He replied, “See I am a Bengali, so I am very lazy. From day one I have looked for people who can work their best. I am the CEO, but it is a job well done by the team.“

Coaching perspective
Weaknesses used creatively for the greater organizational good can produce effective outcomes.

Try doing
Write down  on the left side of a  sheet of paper all your weaknesses and on the other side people, places or things that can help to compensate them. Don’t edit anything. Just free associate as many compensates as you can with their specific contribution. Once you’ve found one that you think works, test it out.

Tell
In what ways have you used your weaknesses to your advantage?

Image: Openforum

Dealing with Dissent

#LivingStories
When Snapdeal’s Rohit Bansal made unflattering comment about talent in India,  Flipkart’s Sachin Bansal disagreed and tweeted,  “Don't blame India for your failure to hire great engineers.  They join for culture and challenge“.

Coach perspective
It may be perfectly OK to have an opinion that may not vibe with your colleagues. But how you handle the opposing point of view is an art.

Try doing
Speak to the person directly. If you two can't seem to find common ground, consider going  to a sound third party to defuse the situation.

Tell
How do you deal with people of a different opinion than that of yours?

Image: Otis

Sweet Spot for Peace of Mind

#LivingStories
Beyond a certain point , money is not something you live for, feels Kumarmangalam Birla. “If I didn't have the money to buy the two works of art that I want,” he elaborates, “I'd feel pretty bad about it, but more than two  works of art and two holidays. I've no need for money.”

Coaching question
What are the things you would want to buy, after which you'd feel you do not need any more money?

Try doing
Practice cutting down on your needs and limiting your wants. Aim to choose the sweet spot between your Needs, Wants and Lacks.

Tell
How do you view your lacks?

Image:Ian Brown Lee

Yes Is A World

#LivingStories
“Find a way to say yes to things”, says Eric Schmidt,  executive chairman, Alphabet. “Say yes to invitations, to a new country, yes to meet new friends, say yes to learn something new. Yes is how you get your first job and your next job, and your spouse even your kids.”

#MyLearning
E.E. Cummings couldn't have put it better when he said, “Yes is a world & in this world of yes live (skillfully curled) all worlds”. Truly, saying yes can open the door to so many exciting and unexplored worlds!

Image: Improvised life

Acts of Kindness

#LivingStories
“If you are unemployed and need an outfit cleaned for an interview, we will clean it for free”, says a sign outside the establishment of In The Bag cleaners. Below this is a personally signed note from Team Leader Dave Coyle, which says,  “When times are tough, we will help you look your best.”

#MyLearning
Reading the sign aroused a mixture of emotions in me - a slight constriction of the throat followed by a sunny feeling which Wodehouse would have described as, “The bird’s on the wing, the snail's on the thorn,  God’s in his heaven, all's right with the world“. If those my emotions, one can only imagine the feelings of the receiver of the act and the giver.

Each of us, whether In business or employed, have the capacity to do an act of kindness to those who are less privileged than us. It does not cost much, but can be immensely gratifying and emotionally rewarding to both the giver and the receiver of the act.

Sensitive Leadership

#LivingStories
When Shikha Sharma, MD and CEO, Axis Bank, moved to a new office, she took some radical decisions. Everybody, including the seniors in the organization, had desks of the same size. She was trying to demonstrate to the company the need to be more open.

#MyLearning
Symbolism in organization has a subtle and elusive nature but few organization members fail to notice differences in the size of offices and desks, quality of furnishings, parking privileges, and use of titles. Thoughtful leadership means being sensitive in dealing with the differences for organizational good.

Image:Jokeroo

Peace of Mind

#LivingStories
The governor's residence in Mumbai is a sprawling 47 acre ecosystem of rich biodiversity, filled with peacocks and other creatures. Two decades ago, to control the snake population, an officer released a pair of mongoose. Their progeny is now endangering the peacock population by breaking their eggs and eating their chicks.

#MyLearning
Our bodies ecosystem is  a self-regulated system operating in a state of perfect balance. Into this balanced system, we release the ‘mongoose’ of emotional stress, which uncontrolled, is often liable to endanger our peace of mind.

Image: Deviant art