LAKIDA™ considers coaching as sacred space. The coach is one of the few with permission and access to busy executives in private settings, unearthing issues that may be deeply personal and sensitive. Thus, coaching is a privilege that requires extreme care.
Lakida’s primary focus is to instill leadership skills and organizational alignment in businesses by leveraging three of its core competencies: coaching, training and consultation. Since training and consultation is tailored to client needs, the space below has been primarily devoted to the coaching service line which follows a more predictable process. Detailed description of training programs such as coaching certification training, leader as a coach training and consultation on organizational alignment will be provided following a needs assessment call.
Coaching
Superior coaching occurs when there is permission by the client to enter conversations and territories that have been guarded and kept private. A coach with access and permission is admitted to a space of “most potential”. Remarkable insights and shifts present themselves and the client gains momentum, positivity, purpose and motivation. However, there are important conditions. These include:
Presence - does the coach mirror authenticity, curiosity, empathy, accountability, trust, care and flexibility? (Many of the same attributes that a great leader must carry in the 21st century and the requirements for human connection).
Cadence/Timing—in the western world we are wired with instincts for quick “get to the point”, “just the fact please” and let’s move to action and resolution as soon as possible. A 30 seconds silence is intolerable for many and the tendency is to fill the silence with words so as to ease discomfort. In over 10 years of teaching coaching one of the most difficult exercises for most trainees has been to cultivate their relationships with silence. In the coaching space the exact opposite tendencies are required. It is the cadence and readiness of the coachee that sets the tempo. This tempo cannot be choreographed from the outside. It varies with each individual and topic. Often the most meaningful insights occur around areas for which the client may not initially have words and conveys non-verbally or through other techniques such as tone, metaphors, stories etc.
Performance Mindset—Coaches must be able to resist the temptation to focus on their own performance while coaching. Not to interrupt, go on long diatribes masqueraded under a question or outright push and advice giving along the lines of where they feel the client should be pointing to. Effective coaching occurs exclusively in the service of the client. An accomplished coach can self-regulate his or her own ego. Asking short open-ended questions summarizing, noticing and creating a vessel for the client to reach goals in ways they can sustain over the long term.
Safety and Security —the coach must be seen as neutral, discreet, ethical and transparent. Coaching is not designed for those wanting to use the platform for personal fame, selling books/article or peddling other services such as consulting etc. The violation of confidentiality or inappropriate use of power dynamics that place the coach as one up and the coachee co-dependent are cardinal ethical violations. Coaches that do not follow these norms will quickly be found out and lose their traction in the marketplace
Heart and Backbone- Empathy, care, curiosity, support etc.) And keeping client accountable and holding up the mirror even when it reflects “you are not the fairest of them all”)
Learning Mindset— There is no blueprint for excellence in coaching across all clients. Each client is a new mystery that required experimentation and experiential learning. Thus, the coach is continuously learning through trial and error as does the client. “Guru” like coaches with stakes in particular methods or proprietary methodologies or ones interested in assuming the one up power positions coming from “knowing” are less apt to co create meaningful and sustainable insights in clients.
Leadership Coaching Process
Team Coaching
Not every group is a team with interdependent goals,mutual accountability and Outputs. LAKIDA™ will ensure these distinctions are clear to the client and design the appropriate intervention
Team coaching requires:
Team coach to be certified in team coaching and able to deliver many of the same skills as an individual coach with the added complexity of being present, curious, objective and responsive to multiple cues and dynamics emanating from numerous team members
His or her attention be on the room and not themselves
Not just creating a charter and conducting a“high performance team” workshop (working on the team). But equally, have the team work on their day to day business issues and be able to keep the process aligned to the established norms and charter of the team. For example, “what just happened?” or “How does that align with our charter and norms”, “what patterns are we seeing?” and “here is what I am noticing “
Team Coaching Process
Hybrid Coaching
Teams go through numerous stages of development. Thus, it is important to recognize the challenges that each of these stages present to different members of the team. The one size fits all model simply does not work.
Furthermore, the team coach is positioned and trained to observe many of the behaviors that require attention and development first hand. Rather than relying exclusively on interviews and research.
Thus, a bank of individual coaching hours is assigned to a team development journey assignment. These hours are not assigned to any one team member. Rather the team coach with agreement with the team leader/sponsor taps team members to individual behind closed door coaching as the need emerges. In case the individual coaching hours are not fully utilized, the client receives credit towards additional team coaching sessions.
Hybrid Team Coaching Process
We need great leadership now more than ever.
Of the 53M millennials comprising almost 35% of the US workforce, more than 70% state they are not aligned with their company's values. ~Gallup
70%
Not aligned with their company's values
73%
Do not believe in their company's values
77%
Believe that their company's values are not applicable
Of the 53M Millennials comprising 35% of the US workforce, more than 70% state they are not aligned with their company's values.
Compared to others, experiential organizations had more than four times the average profit and two times the average revenue.
Compared to others, experiential organizations had more than FOUR TIMES the average profit and TWO TIMES the average revenue. ~Harvard Business Review
