I was prompted initially to react and justify but I had learnt better and hence held myself back and listened to Neel without trying to judge him. That day I didn’t coach him per se instead I worked on building rapport and trust with Neel.
We met a week later at the Ancient School of Wisdom on the outskirts of the city and I commenced the discussion by asking him what his WINS were for the week. Post that I got Neel to do the Wheel of Life exercise so that I could understand Neel’s priorities and outlook towards his sense of fulfillment from life. I also had initiated that Neel to undergo the DISC behavior assessment. He was high on C – Compliance which meant that he was reserved, task oriented, contemplative and rather cautious while fulfilling his professional responsibilities. This was a good insight for me since I realised that it would be appropriate for me to conduct the coaching sessions across broad phases since it would allow Neel to work in a comfortable setting.
However the phases seemed to be only on paper since Neel somehow continued to carry this feeling that Ajay was being retaliatory towards him and hence he was reluctant to continue with the coaching process. As I coach I was to support Neel overcome these beliefs and enable him to have a positive impact on his position in the organization. When Neel and I reviewed his 360 report during our second session, some of the qualitative comments were rather overwhelming. Some of the key areas of development for Neel were:
- Delegation
- Achieving Results
- Interpersonal Relations
On the contrary his strengths were:
- Networking
- Customer Centricity
- Analytical
- Strategic Thinking
- Communication
At first instance Neel’s strengths far outnumbered his challenges. Neel was in a strategic position in the organization and it was critical for him to take the organization forward.
During the third session I asked Neel to narrate a few success stories and his feelings as he experienced them. It was obvious that Neel had a fond recollection of each and every incident as he drifted away into an alternate world while explaining every detail to me. How happy he was!