Fast Forward Two and a Half Years
Continue reading… Imran got his transfer to training within a month of starting coaching. As planned by him, he had approached the head of training and offered to make a presentation on a given topic to let them judge his ability. The training manager was delighted with Imran’s presentation and then pulled some strings to get him transferred out of his exiting job.
Just over two years later Imran was transferred into branch banking. Six months after that he was posted as head of credit for a branch near his home, allowing him to be close to his father. During this time, he had met the CEO one on one and asked him to be his mentor – and the CEO had accepted. His next career goal: To become a branch manager in two years.
He is thankful to his coach for helping him get out of his negative frame of mind early on, for being by his side during the crucial decision-making phase and for bringing awareness and clarity about steering his career and life forward.
Suggested Answers to Questions Arising out of the Case
1. What does Imran’s willingness to apply for coaching indicate?
A major pre-requisite for coaching to succeed is for the client to acknowledge that he has an issue to tackle, and is willing to seek help to solve his problem. Imran being confident and straight-forward in his approach was keen to find a way out of his impasse. He had no hesitance in approaching the in-house coach.It being in-house coaching, will Imran be able to open up and be honest?
2. It being in-house coaching, will Imran be able to open up and be honest?
In the first meeting Imran opened up with “If my boss finds out that I am talking to you on this issue, I’ll be fired”. The coach put his mind at ease by talking about ICF core competencies and Code of Ethics, emphasizing the strict confidentiality of all matters discussed during coaching sessions.
3. What are Imran values and beliefs that are on display?
Imran was torn between the necessity of keeping a well-paid job and looking after his ailing father. He was also bothered by a feeling that his employers were exploiting him, and felt helpless in the face of this exploitation. Although he believed that sincere hard work does pay off in the end, yet, stuck in a routine job for three years, his belief was being challenged. He totally overlooked the fact that he always had a choice. He could resign and look for another job, but the huge risk of staying unemployed for an unforeseen period of time (in the absence of a social security net) made resigning without another job in hand an unacceptable choice.
4. A. ) If Imran finally decides to ask for and succeed in getting a transfer to the training centre, does it solve his problem? If he gets stuck in training, will he get even more frustrated?
B. ) What if he asks the coach for advice about whether he should apply for this transfer?
a. This was for Imran to decide. He accepted the risk of not finding an easy way out of training. Since he was convinced that the position of training faculty offered many more opportunities for learning and growth, he was willing to take that risk.
b. He did. The coach tactfully turned the question around and asked Imran to evaluate the risk and reward profile of all possible choices open to him – including the choice of doing nothing.
5. How would a systematic goal setting process help Imran?
Once Imran became clear of the various choices open to him and did a cost-benefit analysis of all choices, he decided to go for a training position as a stepping-stone towards getting into branch banking position. The next question was how to go about this course of action. The three goals Imran made for himself were:
For the three-month coaching period, Imran’s expectations were:
Imran’s primary focus of coaching was to help him prepare himself to qualify for faculty position, for which dozens of applications had been received from within the bank. Strategies and actions for achieving the first goal were designed during the second session – involving research, study and presentation practice.
6. Is there a risk of the in-house coach getting caught in departmental politics?
The risk was there but not pronounced. As Imran’s transfer to training would confer corresponding benefits for his existing division, his boss’s resistance mellowed down with time. Once the Training Department declared him successful for induction as faculty member, Imran’s boss readily agreed.
7. The training job was for a period of two years, meaning that Imran’s boss could ask for his transfer back to Agricultural Finance after this period. Right?
The coach raised this issue with Imran during the second session. Imran was aware of the ‘two year’ clause, but was willing to take this risk in the interest of forward movement.
8. What Power Tools can be employed to help Imran make forward movement in his journey?
A number of Power Tools apply to Imran’s case. The coach successfully used some of them to help shift his perspective from a victim state to an empowered state. Some examples:
a. Blame vs Responsibility
b. Action vs Delay
c. Commitment vs Trying
d. Trust vs Doubt
(This is a true story. Imran was coached by Bakhtiar Khawaja for a total of six sessions in 2011. He is in the middle of another 12 session series)