BOLDLY conversation with Rajiv Ranjan
Recently we caught up with Rajiv Ranjan to chat with him about his thoughts on coaching trends and his outlook for 2022.
- What are the most common development themes you're seeing in your coachee's goals at the moment?
Amongst the many senior leaders’ conversations I’ve been having, I findmany of them see a daunting task ahead in leading their businesses and teams atthis unprecedented challenging time. The common themes I’m hearing are:
1. Their ability to innovate, juggling with varied challenging business scenarios,driving results amidst stressful market dynamics.
2. Additionally, leaders today are looking at ways to become agile and courageousin making decisions, and at the same time, be inclusive with their teams.
3. Many of my clients are taking on bigger responsibilities without beingready, largely caused by attrition in their industries or business change. Theyare investing in themselves to live up to the expectations of this careeradvancement and lead teams effectively.
Overall, my clients are looking at building a stronger leader who drives results, is empathetic and trusting. On another note, some clients are looking at things that give value to them. With the personal experiences and learnings they’ve taken on during the pandemic, some of my clients are working on finding their purpose and reflecting within.
- You've just returned to India after many years abroad. What's your observations about the coaching market there?
Coaching practice is still very lean in most of the Asian markets. I have seen limited coach-client relationships in both Malaysia and the Philippines where I have worked for over 8 years. Though India has a vast employment market, coaching is still seen largely in the higher echelons of organizations or in multi-national companies where coaching practice is driven by headquarters. I see a huge opportunity for coaching to be made available to more leadership layers. We all know coaching expands thinking holistically, with the challenging workplaces today’s leaders at all levels are experiencing, coaching will certainly help them navigate the chaos better.
- What models or coaching methods do you find have the most applicability in your engagements right now considering these issues?
I have experienced a shifting mindset through coaching. The issues ahead of us are unseen and unknown. As we all started to recover from the pandemic, geo-political tensions, unsettling economic environment, unseen employment opportunities and an exodus of the workforce all started impacting each one of us in some shape or other. We need a different outlook to emerge from these circumstances, and hence the Transformative Coaching approach seems apt to me. Clients benefit most from their experience of reflective thinking and expansion of mind in this coaching process by enhancing their awareness, deepening learning of what matters the most, and using this emerging understanding to create forward action to hold themselves accountable for what they want to achieve. Not only do I use this method in my coaching conversations, but this method also profoundly assists in my in-general conversations with leaders in uncovering unsaid development themes.
- How are your coachees typically measuring their development progress through this period?
Clients themselves define and work on the forward actions they identify for their own development. Directly as a results of the clarity they had gained through our coaching discussions, the actions they plan become simple steps to hold them true to their decision and commitment to move forward. At times, clients choose to work on themselves through self-reflection or they give permission to someone else to work and support them through this development journey. Basically, whatever supports them to be honest to themselves – it’s so different case by case and needs to be tailored to the specific coachee.
- Has there been any trend in the type of coaching engagements you're seeing at the moment? Ie trigger events, or types of coachees seeking out development?
Three trends I have been observing of late include;
a) career transition from mid-senior levels or onaccount of higher job responsibilities,
b) with the rising start-up community in India,high numbers of founders are seeking business coaching to stay in the game, and
c) coaching to support leadership development inorganizations.
I see all these trends as being related to the macro economic scenario we find ourselves in today.
- Finally - what's your outlook for the final quarter of 2022 - is coaching more or less pertinent for companies right now?
Coaching is incredibly important and very much in the focus for corporations, particularly for staff in the leadership levels. Group coaching for junior managers and mid-level managers is also a trend where companies are investing. With the return to the workplace and hybrid working implementation, companies are looking to prepare their leaders to be able to manage teams differently. Coaching certainly is aiding these managers in better managing themselves and their teams.
Thank you Rajiv.
Email us: connect@boldly.app to speak to one of our qualified coaches like Rajiv.