Initially we decided to hold our peer coaching session at Janis’s place. Unfortunately my bag was stolen and I had to postpone the meeting. We held the meeting today over phone.
We had a short telephone chat before the meeting where we discussed what will be the agenda. This was quite useful in setting the tone of the meeting. We decided to follow up on the action items from the past sessions.
I played the role of coachee first. The main outcomes of the session were:
1. Setting and declaring agenda upfront makes the meeting productive and helps the participants to stick to the agenda.
2. Summarize where you left the meeting last and what were the agreed action items.
3. Take the discussions to the next level and apply the same model (GROW) to explore and agree on the next steps.
As a coach Janis showed a lot of empathy and understood my current problem. The joint approach to explore the next steps was quite constructive.
We again did a good time management in this round.
Later I played the role of a coach. The main outcomes of the session:
1. Productivity and efficiency of a staff could be related to cultural issue. Getting a third party expert opinion might be very useful
2. When planning a strategic move, it may be useful to pre announce what’s coming to the team?
3. Worst case scenario must be worked out. Figure out ways to prevent it if possible.
4. As a coach talk less and listen more.
As a coach I was able to follow the golden rule of silence as results a number of options were explored. We were able connect and understand the problem of each other.
In the end we agreed decided to call each other next week and set up the next meeting.
Friday, 26 February 2010
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Peer Coaching Blog: 26.01.2010
January of the new year was no different than the last year. I spent most of my time in Singapore. We decided to meet for this coaching session face to face in Geneva.
Janis wanted to have a coaching session on the following issue :
I have behaviour in my personal and business life to be very pushy and persistent in discussing my point of view. Sometimes I drive it too hard without giving sufficient room for other people. Also I might push my idea too far, focus only on certain aspects, get discussion quite emotional, and risk it to become aggressive. After discussions I even sometimes recognize that I have been stuck too much on my idea, instead of considering other valid point of view, of I have argued just for sake of arguing.
This being a personal issue I decided not stick very closely to the GROW model. My intention was to reuse some of techniques/knowledge learned in the Resilience course and help coachee(Janis) also use those skills to resolve problems.
I spent most of the time on exploring and explaining options as a result the focus on specific objective goals was missed out. Towards the end we agreed on the next points and Janis had few items or skills to work upon.
In the second half of the session, we dicussed a problem I am facing at my work place:
New bank engagement: After the merger the team is merged to my team. The head of the old team who was working in the past indepndently now has to report to me. I want to align him to my goals and objective but so far the outcome has not been very encouraging. The delicacy of the situation demands a very careful handling. There are differnt short term and long term goals with this team and I have to balance both of them.
Janis played the role of the coach skillfully. He emphasized the importance of breaking down the problem to bare bones and adressing the real issue. Then only one can come up with real options.
We missed the summarizing part and agreeing on certain specific goals and actions. Exploring options gave me some new ideas regarding handling the situation.
Towards the end we agreed on our next meeting.
Janis wanted to have a coaching session on the following issue :
I have behaviour in my personal and business life to be very pushy and persistent in discussing my point of view. Sometimes I drive it too hard without giving sufficient room for other people. Also I might push my idea too far, focus only on certain aspects, get discussion quite emotional, and risk it to become aggressive. After discussions I even sometimes recognize that I have been stuck too much on my idea, instead of considering other valid point of view, of I have argued just for sake of arguing.
This being a personal issue I decided not stick very closely to the GROW model. My intention was to reuse some of techniques/knowledge learned in the Resilience course and help coachee(Janis) also use those skills to resolve problems.
I spent most of the time on exploring and explaining options as a result the focus on specific objective goals was missed out. Towards the end we agreed on the next points and Janis had few items or skills to work upon.
In the second half of the session, we dicussed a problem I am facing at my work place:
New bank engagement: After the merger the team is merged to my team. The head of the old team who was working in the past indepndently now has to report to me. I want to align him to my goals and objective but so far the outcome has not been very encouraging. The delicacy of the situation demands a very careful handling. There are differnt short term and long term goals with this team and I have to balance both of them.
Janis played the role of the coach skillfully. He emphasized the importance of breaking down the problem to bare bones and adressing the real issue. Then only one can come up with real options.
We missed the summarizing part and agreeing on certain specific goals and actions. Exploring options gave me some new ideas regarding handling the situation.
Towards the end we agreed on our next meeting.
Peer Coaching Blog: 28.12.2009
November and December were horribly crazy with a lot of travel. We wanted to do a peer coaching session before I leave for my vaccation to warm and sunny Cuba but unfortunately that didn't happen and we decided to do it just after I return back. Skype was the agreed medium to conduct the meeting.
I was still in my holiday mode on 28th, Janis came with a proposal about the coaching session and I gladly accepted. The situation descriptions reads as :
Dhruv Germany engagement. I have employee, who is Senior Business Manager Components in my team. Recently it came to my attention that there is problem in his engagement with Germany Components team – specifically with one Product Manager there - Conny. Conny was having much more senior view of herself, than Dhruv had about her. She has felt that in communication style of Dhruv, and it created problem. She believed that Dhruv is undervaluing her because of being women, not taking her serious, and not being specific in supporting her. My objective is to coach Dhruv to understand the issue, and come up with an action plan to adjust his relations/ communication style with Conny. Having sad that Dhruv is in quite difficult position. Beside managing Western Digital business, he is responsible for overall Components strategy implementation in Europe. So, he has to manage his work and availability for Conny specific WD linked requests more that any other Business Manager in my team.
We decided on the modus operandi for this meeting, first I will play the role of a coach followed by feedback session and then we would reverse sides.
When I played the role of a Coach, I tried to stick to the GROW model.
Janis during the feedback session gave the following feedback:
- Set the objective upfront: It is useful to bring both parties on the same page and set the tone and momentum of the meeting by explicitly mentioning that this is the coaching session
- Talk less, listen more : I fell into the trap of talking more many a times.
- Summarizing by the coachee: I did the summarizing bit myself and Janis's remark was it should have been done by the coachee.
What went right:
- Exploring options: I challenged the coachee to think beyond obvious and come up with different options.
- Questioning: Challenging the coachee to explain something in more detail
- Time limit: I managed to finish it within 30 minutes slot
- Next steps: Agreeing on specific measurable next steps.
Then I played the role of Dhruv. I intentionally tried to take the position of being defensive and push back. Janis used the "why" question very skillfully and that kind of forced me shed a bit of my defensive position
what went right:
- Setting the objective: It was quite clear from the opening line that we are here for a coaching session
- Exploring options: Janis encouraged to come up with more options by giving some clues and hints. This helped in guiding the thought process
- Setting goals: Goals were set quite clearly
- Time limit: Janis managed to wrap up the meeting within the time limit
what could be improved
- Sandwich Approach: I told him about my experience with this approach. It encourages the coachee to be more open and help them feel better. The packaging of negative points between postives conveys that this is a coaching session rather than a reprimand.
- Personal touch: Sharing a bit of personal experience helps. It leaves a lasting impression and the session less robotic.
- Figuring out coachee strategy: Coach should be aware about the strategy of the coachee ex: losing focus, pushing back. Playing the right counter strategy will make the session more fruitful.
In the end we agreed on our next meeting and action items.
I was still in my holiday mode on 28th, Janis came with a proposal about the coaching session and I gladly accepted. The situation descriptions reads as :
Dhruv Germany engagement. I have employee, who is Senior Business Manager Components in my team. Recently it came to my attention that there is problem in his engagement with Germany Components team – specifically with one Product Manager there - Conny. Conny was having much more senior view of herself, than Dhruv had about her. She has felt that in communication style of Dhruv, and it created problem. She believed that Dhruv is undervaluing her because of being women, not taking her serious, and not being specific in supporting her. My objective is to coach Dhruv to understand the issue, and come up with an action plan to adjust his relations/ communication style with Conny. Having sad that Dhruv is in quite difficult position. Beside managing Western Digital business, he is responsible for overall Components strategy implementation in Europe. So, he has to manage his work and availability for Conny specific WD linked requests more that any other Business Manager in my team.
We decided on the modus operandi for this meeting, first I will play the role of a coach followed by feedback session and then we would reverse sides.
When I played the role of a Coach, I tried to stick to the GROW model.
Janis during the feedback session gave the following feedback:
- Set the objective upfront: It is useful to bring both parties on the same page and set the tone and momentum of the meeting by explicitly mentioning that this is the coaching session
- Talk less, listen more : I fell into the trap of talking more many a times.
- Summarizing by the coachee: I did the summarizing bit myself and Janis's remark was it should have been done by the coachee.
What went right:
- Exploring options: I challenged the coachee to think beyond obvious and come up with different options.
- Questioning: Challenging the coachee to explain something in more detail
- Time limit: I managed to finish it within 30 minutes slot
- Next steps: Agreeing on specific measurable next steps.
Then I played the role of Dhruv. I intentionally tried to take the position of being defensive and push back. Janis used the "why" question very skillfully and that kind of forced me shed a bit of my defensive position
what went right:
- Setting the objective: It was quite clear from the opening line that we are here for a coaching session
- Exploring options: Janis encouraged to come up with more options by giving some clues and hints. This helped in guiding the thought process
- Setting goals: Goals were set quite clearly
- Time limit: Janis managed to wrap up the meeting within the time limit
what could be improved
- Sandwich Approach: I told him about my experience with this approach. It encourages the coachee to be more open and help them feel better. The packaging of negative points between postives conveys that this is a coaching session rather than a reprimand.
- Personal touch: Sharing a bit of personal experience helps. It leaves a lasting impression and the session less robotic.
- Figuring out coachee strategy: Coach should be aware about the strategy of the coachee ex: losing focus, pushing back. Playing the right counter strategy will make the session more fruitful.
In the end we agreed on our next meeting and action items.
Monday, 1 February 2010
Peer coaching: 27.11.2009
Today I had my first peer coaching session with Janis Kemers. We decided to meet in the town of Nyon, Switzerland. Nyon is like middle ground, midway between both of us.
From my own experience building a bit relationship is the first and foremost step towards coaching. This was was the focus of the session.
We started off by talking about AEDP module in Lausanne. By sharing our experiences we immediately hit a common ground and couple of mojitos helped to calm us down.
We quickly changed gears from IMD, AEDP, syllabus, professors, AEDP friends down to us. We openly shared our perception and feeling about each other. What we liked, what we observed, what we missed ? This helped us in knowing each other and building that "trust" which will be a core ingredient for our future sessions.
We looked back at our leadership classes and explained to each other our understanding of the GROW model. The common view was this model could be quite handy in our professional as well as our personal life. That lead us to our next topic " what areas we would like to improve upon". Janis listened to me quite well and asked cross questions to challenge my views. He was able to corelate to some of my problem, as we shared the common problem of being dominant and forceful.
We agreed not to do an active coaching session today but share which learnings from AEDP we have implemented so far. It was an aha moment for me when Janis told me about the impact of using 'yes and' instead of 'yes but'. I shared my experience of counting till three before reacting and how this technique has helped me in my professional life. As this technique gives me those few extra precious moments and control my emotions.
The action plan was to try each other's technique and figure out how usful was it?
One question which puzzled both of us was: what makes people tick? why we like someone and reject someone else?
It was for me a step towards a long journey and I am glad I found a right peer coach. We agreed on our next step and date for the next session.
From my own experience building a bit relationship is the first and foremost step towards coaching. This was was the focus of the session.
We started off by talking about AEDP module in Lausanne. By sharing our experiences we immediately hit a common ground and couple of mojitos helped to calm us down.
We quickly changed gears from IMD, AEDP, syllabus, professors, AEDP friends down to us. We openly shared our perception and feeling about each other. What we liked, what we observed, what we missed ? This helped us in knowing each other and building that "trust" which will be a core ingredient for our future sessions.
We looked back at our leadership classes and explained to each other our understanding of the GROW model. The common view was this model could be quite handy in our professional as well as our personal life. That lead us to our next topic " what areas we would like to improve upon". Janis listened to me quite well and asked cross questions to challenge my views. He was able to corelate to some of my problem, as we shared the common problem of being dominant and forceful.
We agreed not to do an active coaching session today but share which learnings from AEDP we have implemented so far. It was an aha moment for me when Janis told me about the impact of using 'yes and' instead of 'yes but'. I shared my experience of counting till three before reacting and how this technique has helped me in my professional life. As this technique gives me those few extra precious moments and control my emotions.
The action plan was to try each other's technique and figure out how usful was it?
One question which puzzled both of us was: what makes people tick? why we like someone and reject someone else?
It was for me a step towards a long journey and I am glad I found a right peer coach. We agreed on our next step and date for the next session.
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