ABC hosted the July Monthly Talk by Mr. R R Nair

1. MY JOURNEY AS A COACH
SOME REFLECTIONS
ABC: 19th July 2012 RR Nair
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2. Challenges / Dilemmas: A few illustrations…
• Who is the sponsor, and why?
• From the leader’s perspective, do I need a coach? And
why? What does the organisation expect and require of
the person?
• Defining client expectations: what would you most like to
get out of this; defining coaching goals
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3. • For the coach, being self aware of one’s own
vulnerabilities
• Living the values; dealing with ethical boundaries; integrity
issues; “you are not using me very well”; “how do I want to
use my coach?” When does the coach realise failure? And
what are the choices?
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4. • Don’t like the expression ‘coachee’! ‘Coachee’ vs
‘development partner’; partnering with people to design the
coaching process
• Helping them to deal with ‘blind spots’; altering the
paradigm; shifting the focus to the future; how to get out of
the mode of looking in our rear view mirror to define the
future; focus from weaknesses to strengths
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5. • Challenges relating to diagnostic of the 5 necessary
conditions for development (Motivation, Capabilities.
Insights, Real-world practice, and Meaningful consequence)
• How does the coach see the person in real-world situation?
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6. • How to balance between ‘challenge’ and ‘support’; what
is the most positive and powerful thing that the coach
can do to help the person achieve the objectives?
• The person experiencing a sense of accomplishment;
positive reinforcement; and the ‘pygmalion effect’
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7. • How to practice 30:70 ratio? The power of AI, active
listening and use of ask/tell repertoire
• Transforming from ‘burden of leading’ to ‘joy of leading’
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8. Lessons Learned:
•Be totally committed to the person
•Be diligent about purpose and stay grounded
•Be action-centric; make the person work; ownership for
action rest with the person; pick up early warning signals
on seriousness
Contd… 8

9. • Be concrete; constructively critique; give the person
what is needed, not what is asked
• Inspire the person to be a non-stop learner;
encourage to try new approaches; actively support
visible commitment to developing others
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10. • Attach importance to formal and informal coaching
conversation; will facilitate context setting, rate of
progress, and reinforces availability and visibility; show
‘generosity of spirit’
• Use a more flexible tool kit offering multiple ways to gain
insights
• Be holistic
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11. • Coaching is the most customised development
intervention; not amenable to a cookie-cutter approach
• It’s all about trust
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12. Concluding Remarks
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