A Research Paper By Bemene Piaro, Transformational Life Coach, UNITED STATES
Expert Interview: Capacity Building
I came to coaching through two significant experiences. The first was when a friend introduced me to coaching at a transitional time in my life. Although I did not understand what coaching was, I understood that I would be getting support to handle situations in my life that very much needed support. The program that I signed up for was only 6 months long, but I ended up staying with my coach for 3 years in total. One direct result of that experience is that I reached out to a company that exemplified the values I have in life and told them that I would like to work for them. The courage came from my coaching work. I did end up getting a job at that company and still work there today.
Working with this company was the second way that I was introduced to coaching and what finally led to me choosing to become certified as a coach. The company I work with does capacity building with a very strong coaching component, which puts me in mind of blended coaching. It also leads workshops and facilitates communities of practice. The way Chat GPT defines capacity building is:
Capacity building refers to the process of developing and strengthening the skills, knowledge, resources, and abilities of individuals, organizations, or communities to effectively address challenges, achieve their goals, and drive sustainable development. It involves enhancing existing capacities and acquiring new ones to improve performance, effectiveness, and resilience. Capacity building can take various forms and be applied to different sectors, such as education, healthcare, governance, agriculture, and business. It encompasses activities aimed at developing technical skills, managerial expertise, leadership qualities, institutional systems, and organizational structures….Overall, capacity building is a long-term process that invests in human capital, strengthens institutions, and builds sustainable systems. By developing and expanding capacities, individuals and organizations become better equipped to address complex issues, make informed decisions, and achieve their goals effectively.
Because of the very strong coaching aspect of capacity building, I decided to interview a colleague of mine, who is a capacity building specialist at my place of work. I found my conversation with her deeply illuminating both as a coach and as someone who sees herself as a leader interested in making an impact. I hope that her words of wisdom will also support future coaches at ICA. Below is a summary transcript of our conversation.
Expert Interview on the Importance of Empowerment
Bemene:
My name is Bemene Piaro and as I am getting toward the end of my life coach training program, I am exploring the importance of empowerment and being in the driver’s seat of one’s life in coaching members of the Black and Brown community in the US, specifically, but in coaching minority women in general. For me, identity, wholeness, and empowerment are core to living a thriving life. This afternoon I am joined by Sawida Kamara who is an Organizational Development Capacity Building Specialist. Sawida, can you introduce yourself and share with us in your own words, what you do and how long you’ve been doing it for?
Sawida:
Sure, I am… an [Organizational Development] capacity building specialist. I currently do that work with an organization called Fair Chance, where I’ve been doing that work for about…four years, but I’ve been doing capacity building work in a very formal, intentional way for 10 years.
Bemene:
Thank you. And, you shared with me that you had been a coach before…. When you say, coach, what do you mean by that?
Sawida:
Yes. So I did career transition coaching … in addition to … organizational development consulting…formally from 2013 to 2018.… I had a whole coaching business. That is a former life kind of thing. Not many people know that.
Bemene:
What has been your journey with coaching?
Sawida:
Yeah, so I started actually receiving coaching in 2012 when I was doing a career transition myself. For the first time in my life, I decided, like, okay, I’m leaving a job, and I’m going into business for myself, and I hadn’t left the job yet.… And I, at the time, I met a woman who was just also starting her coaching business… I was starting … my consulting business. And so what we did was, we bartered services. …[S]he was more in the spiritual life coaching realm of things, but she was like…I need help setting up my business in other ways…so, it started off more like a bartering process.
And then from that, I realized, wow, this is really like an immensely helpful thing. So I said, you know what, I actually want to just start having coaching just be a part of my life.… I’ve worked with one life coach for most of those years since then. So for me, coaching … has always been part of being like supporting myself … through whatever transition that is going on in my life. It … just was like, I’m always going through something even if it’s not when we think of going through it in terms of like, it’s heavy or whatever, but just like life is always happening and you need support.
And there’s always an evolution or growth or something else that you may be embarking [on]…[Or] even thinking about … the immense benefit of just like having someone … who understands you … and also understands, like, maybe how you think about things, or how you approach choice or making decisions.… And so I have come to a place of like … I’m always going to have a coach, … and that’s totally okay….
Bemene:
Can you talk a little bit more about what capacity building is… and how you use coaching in that?
Sawida:
Sure. So Capacity Building is a little bit both coaching and consulting. So consulting often is when you are being brought in to be the solution or resolve whatever the challenges of the organization, or even manage a change, that the organization is navigating…. [W]hen it comes down to the doing, it comes … down to the [consultant] to execute. [Y]ou might have some hybrid coaching, where there’s a little bit of someone internally carrying some aspect of the engagement….
But in capacity building…, you’re doing the coach[ing], just so you’re helping [find] solutions. You’re doing that, but you’re doing a lot of [the work] alongside the client…. It’s way more coaching-centered, where you are having them define where they want to go… when they want to get there… [and] how do they want to get there? And not so much of, like, here’s what I suggest…. I wait to hear their side of things, and what they feel directed or led to do. So that … [is] what’s the difference between what capacity building is and how it differs from coaching, or from consulting work. Capacity building brings in a lot of coaching because you have to do a lot of supporting work. I … work with executive directors [in] really thinking through their organization’s culture, their leadership style, but like, like deep internal stuff, too. Like why they’re showing up how [they’re showing up], and how that is showing up in their organization, you know? Like, okay, you just want a better [nonprofit] board, but why have some of the challenges emerged with your board? Is there a personal thing that’s going on that is showing up in how you interact with your board as well?
Bemene:
It sounds to me like you offer them space for self-reflection and an opportunity for them to see themselves in the work. And I also hear you saying, there are actually very directed, tangible outcomes that have to come out of this. But you wait to hear from them. I’m guessing the consultant piece [comes in] when your expertise comes in and [you] say … this is what you also actually need… You’re helping find things, solutions, and ways of doing things …you are still being resourceful in that way.
Bemene:
All right. So how would you describe your niche and the demographic of your clients?
Sawida:
My … clients when I was doing coaching… [were] mid-career professionals who were women, and in the capacity building space, my clients are predominantly black. I will say, professionals who are, you know, late 20s to early or mid-40s. And predominantly women in that space as well.
Bemene:
Okay, so what are three key issues [or] concerns that you see as a common thread for your current clients? And if you want to talk about [it], your former clients, when you were offering coaching? I welcome both.
Sawida:
Oh, sure. … In the career coaching space, it was wanting to do what I would consider meaningful work…. So it’s this strong desire … underpinning to want to make an impact. They spent a lot of years working in one space, and… [now] want[ed] to do something else. And my thing was like, great, you have skills, let’s figure out how to package that and put that in front of someone else in a different way. And really, not having to feel like a novice or a first timer, because there’s this temptation, especially when you’re coming into a new field that, oh, I’m starting all over. And it’s like, you aren’t starting all over, you’re entering into something new. And very much … making sure you’re holding on and bringing you into a new space… You’re not empty… you have lots to offer and bring into that space.
And I think a lot of my executive directors [in capacity building] are also there. The founding of their nonprofits, if they’re the founders, has come from that space of, I want to do something new. And therefore, they created a nonprofit as the expression of a new way of showing up in terms of work, and a new way of contributing, I guess, to the greater good or to society.
So the common thread is that people are usually looking to either start a new meaningful work, or they want to have meaning and impact in the work they’re doing. If they’ve already started a nonprofit, and they’re an executive director, they started it because they want that meaningful work, and then they’re with you because they’re wanting that impact in that meaning.
Bemene:
In addition to wanting that meaningful impact and work, what are the concerns that you hear, or the things that you find you have to … help them navigate to get to where they have to get to?
Sawida:
The main thing is they feel like they’re maybe not the right person to do it. There is probably a limiting belief there somewhere. But it’s this idea of, I don’t know if I can do that. Or I don’t know if I have the skills to do that. Or I don’t have the confidence to do that. But it’s like in some way the internal dialogue is, this isn’t for them to do. With the executive directors, it’s sometimes challenging for them to be like, I am the right leader for this organization. Even if they found it, a lot of them have a sense of like, maybe I’m not the right person to do this. So I need to [find] someone else. And then I need to move on to something else, sometimes. But it’s because they’re feeling…I don’t like that phrase…I don’t like the phrase imposter syndrome. But I think, ultimately, that’s what it is. And so for some people, [it] is that idea that I can … [be the founder of] something and still feel like not the right person. When it was my idea in the first place. That is what is striking to me.
I have been shocked by the number of times that has come up. I think of it like, when you’re an entrepreneur, you created something, and now you feel like you can’t lead your own creation. I’m like, Oh, interesting.
Bemene:
So how do you navigate that, when people are in that space? What have you found to be helpful for helping people shift into that space of feeling like the right person for the job?
Sawida:
One, work through–I would say the biggest thing is working through how they see themselves and what they can have. It’s organically different for everyone. But I think it’s like, really going [through] like what is that about? You know, and not just at face value, encourage it. Like, oh, no, you’re the right person for this. But like, why? Why are you feeling that way? What, makes you think that way?
And it’s also walking them through…understanding their own leadership strength and what leadership looks like for them. So that therefore, you’re not always relating yourself to an ideal, that may not be rooted in you being a black woman, for example, or a woman leader…[T]he [stereotypical] characteristics or traits of a leader are … really speaking to a white man. So it’s…having them value their brand of way of showing up as being a type of leadership style that is beneficial and can also get them down the journey that they’re on…
I think for my career coaching clients, the main thing for them was … there’s always more than one thing to be in [and] do. That’s a belief I have. There’s always more than one thing to be and do in life. You don’t have to be like a one-trick pony. You can actually reinvent your life and have it be what you want it to be. And you can do it over and over and over again. And that, just because you’ve worked 20 years as a nurse, and now you feel like … you want to be [in] management…, that doesn’t mean, oh, well, I’m only [a nurse, so … I can’t go anywhere else beyond where I’ve gone].
Bemene:
So I’m really curious now. Generally, what have you seen as either the qualities or leadership styles that tend to work for women or black women, since they tend to be the majority of your clients?
Sawida:
It’s not one type of style. It’s not one way of being, it’s really actually allowing your leadership style to be framed as this is just really who I am. So… it would be hard for me to answer that question….They can definitely tell you what is their thing. I can speak to each of them individually.
Bemene:
I hear you saying…what you do is help them find who they are, as a leader. You help figure out how to bring themselves to leadership. And I also kind of hear you saying that leadership is actually about being your authentic self in that.
Sawida:
Yeah, exactly. There’s definitely a radical message, and new. It’s getting to be popular now. But I think it’s new still.
Bemene:
Yeah, yeah, it is. Because I think that’s not a message I grew up with.
Yeah, be yourself and be a leader.
Sawida:
Yeah, you had to comport yourself into this is what a leader is. And now we’re hearing more about authentic leadership is your authentic [self]. And even, leading for you may be coming alongside and collaborating. It may [be] play, [you] may use different words, or you may want a more flat organization. Some of my [executive directors] have that, so they’re looking for a lot more of a team or shared leadership, not necessarily like one idea of leadership.
Bemene:
What advice would you give me as a new life coach starting out based on your experience being coached, coaching, and knowing what my focus is and what I’m interested in doing with coaching? Or who I’m interested in focusing on? What advice would you give me?
Sawida:
One, I will say, be very much generous and loving with yourself with whatever price you’re charging. There is no such thing as I’m new to being a coach. Again, this idea of newness and therefore meaning I get to take less is not really healthy. It’s actually you might be entering into coaching but this is, this is a version of yourself. I’m sure you’ve done this type of thing in many forms without being, quote, called a coach. And of course, you still have to learn and grow and actualize into this coach, but it’s not like fresh on the planet. It’s like no, you are bringing all of your experience with you, all of your knowledge, all of your learning. One of the things I had to demonstrate with my coaching clients was, like, if you want to be well paid, I also want to be well paid, so we [have] to meet each other there. I can’t support you to have this thriving career where you’re well paid and all that, and I’m taking pennies.
Same with my capacity building. I’ve done a lot of work [on] being clear about how I want to show up at work. What kind of culture works for me? And how work styles work for me, so that therefore, it’s not about helping someone else just do it. It’s also about helping me, like making sure I’m also living in it as often as possible if I can.
And then lastly, like, you know, I have learned so much, I’ve learned so much from people I’ve worked with. I love keeping in touch with them because I’d love to see where their journey takes them. So I’m someone who kind of, you know, I appreciate the idea that even though I’m providing a service to you, I do want to keep in touch. And I do want us to have a connection. And, you know, I may not necessarily be in contact with all of my clients. But there’s a good number of them that it’s like, oh, my gosh, how [are] you? So, I’m saying all that to say, it should feel like you’re also connecting with your tribe, and you’re creating relationships with people who also want to be part of your tribe. And not just like, you’re just my client. That’s it. Some people like it very structured, you’re just a client, and there’s no such thing. I didn’t find that that worked for me.
Bemene:
So that is helpful to hear. Yeah, I’m a very collaborative person. And I do believe in having a village, and so it’s nice to hear that, you know, you can also select your clients based on who you would want to let into that village.
Sawida:
I think when I first started, I felt like I needed to work with everyone. But I got burned out. And so I learned, oh, I can’t work with everyone. I have to have a different lens.
Bemene:
Thank you very much for your time for the advice and for sharing your story. I love everything new that I learned about you.