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Introduction to ICF Coaching International Coaching Federation (ICF) is the gold standard in coaching and coach training. ICF, however, is not just about a certification. There are 4 million coaches on LinkedIn as of August, 2022. Only 50,000 are ICF certified and credentialed coaches. ICF believes in the holistic approach to coaching and coach training. Regal Unlimited offer one of the best ICF-certified coaching programs. Many coaching institutes help learners with certification and nothing else. At Regal Unlimited, we believe in the golden triangle of coach training- Becoming a Coach, Being a Coach and the Business of Coaching.  For us, the relationship with our learner coach does not end with the certification and credentialing but goes beyond. Quality over quantity is our value. We believe if we cannot offer all round support to our learners, we are doing them a big disservice as they deserve the best. Ultimately our passion is to shape the BEST Coaches who can positively impact themselves and the lives they touch through Coaching What is Regal Coaching Certification? Regal Coaching Certification refers to the different levels of coach training and ICF-certified coaching programs that we at Regal Unlimited offer.  RCC Level 1 is our in-house program based on the ICF framework which lays down the foundation for your coach training journey. It also helps embed coaching competencies into your leadership style. RCC Level 2 is our ICF-certified  ACC  coach training program. RCC Level 3 is our ICF-certified  PCC  coach training program. International Coaching Federation (ICF) is the global gold standard in coaching. Borrowing from the credit card business, there is the only one more global coaching body, European Coaching and Mentoring Council (EMCC). There is no third player with a global footprint, an Amex equivalent. There are several local players, some of them very limited to a city, or part of a region. While ICF & EMCC are guided by pure and classical coaching, the other entities are flexible about the purity of the process. Coach-centric to stakeholder-centric, mixing a bit of telling/guiding to asking, mentoring to coaching, etc., which are a strict ‘no-no’ in the ICF approach to coaching. Regal Unlimited is one of the premier institutes in coach training, and mentoring for aspiring coaches. Regal Unlimited also offers ICF Approved Coach Specific Training Hours (ACSTH) program for aspiring professional coaches. While the ICF coaching competencies are at the core of all ICF-certified coaching programs, programs by Regal Unlimited stands out for the following 3 reasons, hence the golden triangle: Become a Coach – A professional Coach: The focus is on training and mentoring the aspiring coaches to use the ICF coaching competencies so that they coach within the framework. The ICF member/coach learns to coach the ICF way. Not tap into all the knowledge, wisdom, experience from the past, at work and beyond, to work with clients. The ICF approach to coaching invites the coach to park aside all ego-based conscious knowledge and use the ICF framework only. In our approach to the coach training, the coach uses the framework diligently. The hero of the overall coaching engagement and the individual conversation is the ICF framework. And the framework is not limited to the process/science of coaching. But transcends to the realm of art, built on a strong foundation of the science/process. If the coach is to inspire the coachee/client to take actions, doing and being, the coach has a responsibility to tap into the full potential of the coachee. The transformational shift happens at that level. One who goes through the rigor of Regal ICF-certified coaching programs will surely become a good coach. Hence the programs are deliberately spread over 4 months, with all its rigor, for deep and reflective learning.  ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.  The Business of Coaching : Professional Coaching is a serious business. We want to touch lives, help clients move towards their full potential. The hard work does not stop with the certification or credential. We focus on the business of coaching from the very first session. For example, we invited one of our learners to take a small step in the direction of her coaching business, in the very first training session. She was delighted to see the response she received, including conversations she had with two prospects.  We discuss the 4P’s of coaching, and beyond. A lot of coaches struggle with pricing, promo. Coaching is not like any other business either. We touch lives through professional coaching. For that to happen clients out there should know about the coach and her/his services.  Right through our coach training, certification, ICF credentialing, and beyond, we coach and mentor the learner-coaches to focus on the business side. Coaching is a very coachee-centric approach. The spotlight is on the coachee. We promote our services with grace so that future clients can find us. Not crude self-promos.  We also believe coaching can not be sold like a consumer product or service. It is about potential, hence it is a serious business.  Unlike representing a big brand in our corporate roles, managing a personal brand is integral to the training and mentoring process. As such conscious capitalism at its best. Transforming lives, slow and steady.  All our mentors come with business experience, having managed P&L. They have spent 10-20 services in previous corporate roles, managing big teams, businesses, and have experienced big success, as well as failures.  The alumni community of coaches (Regal Coaches) support each other not only in continued learning, but also in business collaboration. We openly discuss our success, and failures on the business side of coaching so that new learner coaches need not re-invent the (business) wheel! We share our case studies, and also get successful coaches to come and share their stories. With the new challenges affecting all businesses, the professional coaches have a bigger responsibility to manage their business side of coaching well now.  Being a Coach is beyond effort, action, emotions. The transition from #Good2Great. #Doing2Being. This is an experiential leg of the journey to be a professional coach. This is beyond the professional approach, customer centricity, ethics, et al.  ‘A lot of good coaches are not successful. But a lot of successful coaches are not really good coaches.’ Great coaches are not only good at coaching, but also on the business side of coaching. And they are life long learners, sharpening the proverbial saw, though deep work, and beyond additional ego-centric certifications. A successful coach is also about mindset, strategy, tactics, discipline, hard work, deep work, and a lot more.  What would make you choose the best ICF-approved coach training and certification to be truly Regal at work, in coaching, and life? New ICF Approved Level 1 programs for ACC and Level 2 program for PCC are starting soon. Write to us: info@regalunlimited.com or visit Upcoming Online ICF programs Benefits of getting coach training from Regal Unlimited- The Coaching School for the World 1. Regal Unlimited is one of the foremost leadership and transformation coaching institutes that seeks to empower individuals, teams and organizations to bring out the best in them by unleashing their true potential. 2. Our differentiation lies in our extensive work experience in the corporate world and also in the coaching domain. The Mentors and Coaches at Regal Unlimited are associated with- a. ICF– ICF, the premier accreditation and credentialing body for both coach training programs and coaches. As members, they support ICF’s initiatives to advance the art, science and practice of professional coaching. Also, they are part of local ICF chapters as volunteer-leaders. b. EMCC– EMCC exists to develop, promote and set the expectations of best practice in mentoring and coaching across Europe and beyond, for the benefit of the society c. inviteCHANGE, ICA– As alumni of these prestigious coach training organizations d. CoachSource– As Empanelled Executive Coach e. EMCC Mentoring Award 2016– “Highly Commended” 3. Regal Unlimited provides the best ICF-accredited coaching programs in India under the visionary leadership of Subash CV, who is an MCC (ICF) with more than 21 years of experience in the corporate and business world.  4. We are one of the best institutes for obtaining ICF-certified coaching programs and training. We have trained over 300 coaches (out of the 50,000 certified ICF coaches worldwide) in the ICF Credentialing journey!  5. Our flagship thought leadership in the domain of executive coaching and coach training is well established. We conducted first of its kind research on the Coaching Landscape in India wherein we interviewed over 260 coaches of India. Here is the link to view the ICF Research (Bonus, as an aspiring coach-this research will answer many of your queries) What are the different training and ICF-certified coaching programs offered by Regal Unlimited- The Coaching School for the World? Leader As Coach Program “What got you here, will not get you there!”- Marshall Goldsmith. Leader As Coach (LAC) Program is specially designed for leaders who- Believe people are their biggest asset and strive to build great work relationships Want their team to comprise of free thinkers who can think and do what they have never done before Find newer solutions to problems that they have never faced before Want to inspire people with whom they interact Stimulate great thinking Want to push the envelope and shift the game to the next level “Coaching is the future of leadership.”- Subash CV. Who should attend this program? Corporate leaders across all functions and all levels HR Leaders Entrepreneurs and Business owners Team and Project Leaders Middle level managers who are stepping up to be leaders Self-employed professionals To know more about the LAC program, click here . How to Become a Regal Certified Coach? ICF has curated a framework and process through which an individual becomes a certified ICF coach. For this purpose, ICF has accredited certain institutions and ICF-certified coaching programs that help and support individuals in their journey to become ICF Certified Coaches. Regal Unlimited is one of the foremost in them. The process of ICF-certified coaching programs for becoming an ICF-certified coach involves 5 basic steps- Coaching Education (Coach-specific training for a minimum of 60 hours) Experience (Coaching Practise for at least 100 hours) Mentor Coaching (10 hours with a minimum of 3 hours of one-to-one Mentor Coaching sessions) Performance Evaluation (Submission of 1 audio-recording and transcript of a Coaching Conversation to ICF) Exam (ICF Credentialing Exam) Regal Unlimited takes pride in nurturing a vibrant community of 300+ ICF Credentialed Coaches that collectively grow, learn, and celebrate. All of these coaches have gone through the best ICF-Accredited Curriculum, seamless delivery of high-quality content, and deep mentorship of experienced ICF coaches. Regal Unlimited’ proven track record is the best in the category of ICF Coach Certification in India which speaks volumes about the high-quality training and mentoring we provide. Become the best ICF Coach with the Best ICF-certified coaching programs. Hear from our alumni why they love us! We offer one of the best icf accredited coaching programs online. Write to us: info@regalunlimited.com . FAQs What is Regal Unlimited? Regal Unlimited is one of the foremost leadership and transformation coaching institutes that seeks to empower individuals, teams and organizations to bring out the best in them by unleashing their true potential. As the name ‘Regal Unlimited’ suggests, we uncover and unlock the boundless potential that lies deep within you, the potential that is most valuable to you and can help you overcome all obstacles, internal and external, and reach the pinnacle of success. The possible outcome may be ‘ Regal’. How to Enroll for Regal Unlimited Training and Certification? Regal Unlimited is one of the foremost ICF Coach Training Institutes based out of Bengaluru, India. Out of the 50,000 ICF certified coaches globally, 300+ are our alumni! You can visit our webpage for further details. You can begin your enrollment by writing to us: info@regalunlimited.com . Does Regal Unlimited provide Online or Offline Coach Training? Regal Unlimited offers online coach training for individuals and offline coach training for a group of leaders in an organization. What are the Different Credentials and Certifications Offered or Accredited by Regal? Regal Unlimited offers three levels of certifications- RCC Level 1, RCC Level 2 and RCC Level 3. RCC Level 1 is our in-house program based on the ICF framework and RCC Level 2 and 3 are ICF certified coach training programs for ACC and PCC. How is Regal Unlimited Different from Other Coaching Institutes? We have a 100% success rate in our learners getting credentialed as ICF certified coaches. You become an alumnus of one of the premier ICF coach training institutes. You become a part of a 300+ robust alumni community who work together to support each other through various initiatives Who can Enroll for the ICF Coach Training programs? Practicing (not certified though) and aspiring coaches Business Leaders, Human Resources (HR) and Line Managers and L&D Professionals Tech professionals in the areas of Agile, Scrum, etc. Self-employed professionals including trainers, counselors, and consultants Business owners seeking to complement their leadership journey All aspiring leaders Does Regal Unlimited offer coaching services beyond India? Yes, we do. We have over 1000 clients  who are spread across the globe including the America, the Middle East, Europe and Asia. We have also had corporate workshops and coaching engagements with over 50 companies with many being featured in the Fortune 100 list.  How will coach training from Regal Unlimited benefit in career? Two important quotes will summarize how coach training from Regal Unlimited will benefit your career. “What got you here, will not get you there!”- Marshall Goldsmith. “Coaching is the future of leadership.”- Subash CV The future workplace will have coaches and not bosses. In an ever changing world, future proofing your leadership and career is an obvious endeavor. Adding coaching to your arsenal helps you achieve that.

As a corporate executive turned entrepreneur, Friday is not of much relevance to me. Just another day! Corporate executives look for the weekend, especially in certain geographies with more semblance to work-life balance. I still prefer W-L ‘integration’, to balance . Fridays & Saturdays get busier, with our coach training and certifications for ICF and Leader as Coach, scheduled over the weekend. This Saturday was different.  I started my day with ‘living my purpose‘. Facilitated a workshop for young undergraduate girl students; over 60 of them. Session 3, and they were more tuned to the concept of ‘coaching skills for young leaders ‘Why should I be a leader?’ was an interesting question in session 2. The journey to self-discovery, including discovering the leader within, continues. That is what makes it ‘living my purpose’. Working with young students, mostly from humble backgrounds, getting the best, holistic education. Preparing them to be future leaders at the confluence of IQ, EQ & SQ Spiritual Quotient. Then it was a session on IKIGAI with one of the leaders of BFSI, Mr. Rajiv Bajaj, Bajaj Capital. Having met and interacted with one of the co-authors of the best seller, Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life , Hector, I was keen to hear more on IKIGAI from a BFSI leader. After all, we are in the purpose of helping people find their life purpose, and live it! What is your IKIGAI/life purpose? I checked the Hindi meaning, jeene ki wajah ! It is much deeper than that. It is about incorporating life-purpose into daily life. ‘Till you find your purpose, find your purpose in what you do’, was a powerful thought. The mind keeps reminding us how we are living away from an interesting life. And not look at the possibility in the future, or gratitude in the present. There is a misconception working for someone/being a corporate role is always lower than being an entrepreneur. Corporate executive or entrepreneur, both can be as fulfilling as the other. The example of two categories of janitors at airport restrooms. Some as proactive, alive, welcome the passengers. Whereas the others are there only at the physical level. Not seeing the customers at any level. The other example, how cleaning the bullet trains of Japan became a different experience for the cleaners. What would it take to elevate every work we do to that level?  We all are born twice ( dwij ), one biological birth and the other when we meet our Guru. We are so lucky who have met our guru, SadhGuru. Pandemic also a good reminder to simplify, focus, be family-oriented, get musical, commit/more to yoga. Back to basics… Whatever makes you happy is your IKIGAI. Mr. Bajaj spoke of how he has handled his distraction while eating . Incorporating gratitude for all the people and processes that enabled the delicious and healthy food to come on to his table. It was interesting to hear how he has started using chopsticks for all meals. That forces him to focus 🙂 Brahmārpañam Brahma Havir
BrahmāgnauBrahmañāhutaṃ, Brahmaiva Tena Gantavyam
BrahmakarmāSamādhinah. ( The act of offering is God. The oblation is God. By God, it is offered into the Fire of God.
God is That which is to be attained by him who performs action pertaining to God.) AhamVaishvānaroBhutvā
PrāñināmḌehamāshritaha, PrāñāpānaSamāyuktah
PachāmyannamChaturvidham. ( Becoming the life-fire in the bodies of living beings, mingling with the subtle breaths
I digest the four kinds of food.)    What is your IKIGAI/purpose? This is a good question to ask every day, whether we are living our IKIGAI, or arrived at our IKIGAI. Leave it as a question to the Universe, let the Universe come back. How: Meet yourself for coffee… ask yourself what is your IKIGAI. Additionally, let it come to you. They have come up with 10 pillars of life, Omnilife , which also includes your IKIGAI. Others being. food, movement, etc. McKinsey Study: Late in the evening, I was pleasantly surprised to receive the link to the McKinsey study on how employees are looking for their life purpose at work. Alignment of work purpose with life purpose is a clear expectation, post-pandemic. Check out Help your employees find purpose or watch them leave Connected with a friend, who has been a coachee and then an ICF mentee. He connected to share a service initiative he is leading with friends, an opportunity to contribute for me.  with a corporate leader taking the first steps to become an ICF coach with a corporate leader turned marketing consultant to discuss our marketing strategy The book, IKIGAI, is one of the most popular books in India. Hector was surprised maximum copies were being sold in India. Rajiv mentioned 33% of books sold in airport bookstores is IKIGAI! An indication, we are all consciously or unconsciously moving towards our life purpose? #Regal@60 is integral to our engagements, coaching or coach training is similar. We have a variant of it for businesses too. Check out www.regalunlimited.com for more

What Exactly is Life Coaching ? A life coach is a professional who guides people in achieving progress on their journey of personal or career related goals. The concept of Life coaching was founded in the 90s. Life coaching could also be defined as a skill one may master which would help and inspire people to achieve their goals and maximize their potential of hard work for the same.  It’s the extra push one needs to do in order to pursue their goals in life. Skills Required/ to Look for in a Life Coach A life coach is responsible for making effective strategies for their clients which would help them in accomplishing their career or personal goals in life. This would make their life more fruitful and fulfilled. Therefore, one needs to start listening carefully and empathize with their client’s issues. This would help them understand their problems in a better way and it would be easier to create strategies for the same. One also needs to have exceptional communication skills. These skills would be handy while understanding the client’s problems and explaining some strategies to overcome them. Why Should you Become a Life Coach If one wishes to become a life coach, they need to acquire various skills such as good networking skills, self reflection and willingness to guide other’s to their path of success. All these skills are developed through life coach training. Being a Life Coach in India can be fulfilling as it allows you to  inspire and transform one’s life. There are several training programs to choose from. Though why not train with the best one?  Regal Unlimited offers exceptional training programs for life coaching. Here’s how training as a life coach could help you on personal level: 1 . Self growth – Even though helping others reach their life goals is a glorious act of service, being a life coach is so much more than that. Training as a life coach would also help you on individual level to understand your inner desires and ambitions. It also gives you a clarity regarding your decisions in life. 2. Expanding your horizons – If you are someone who practices mindfulness, believes in spiritual awareness and wishes to perceive the subconscious and it’s capabilities, you should expand your knowledge through training as a life coach. Being a life coach allows one to understand holistic practises in a better way and to tap into the energy centres of a body. You can use these practices to guide the clients towards their end goals. 3. Listening better – The most important skill among the others mentioned above to become a life coach is ‘listening’. One needs to understand their client and their issues. When you talk to the client, you find their limiting beliefs and the root cause of the discontented life one may be living. By joining Life Coach Training with Regal Unlimited, you could enhance your listening abilities to another level. Life Coaching and its Influence in the Workplace An article from McKinsey on leadership abilities suggests that only the exceptional leaders are the one that can actually make a difference. Furthermore, their studies also suggested that the employees who have average capabilities or the underperformers could actually make a huge impact on an organization’s growth. Every individual has weaknesses and limiting beliefs that hold them back from working to their full potential. If the same individual is mentored and guided by a wellness professional to work on their weaknesses with effective strategies, they may work harder in pursuing their own personal goals and result in better company performance. Therefore, the Life Coaching  professionals could help their clients create and achieve their business plans. An article from The Entrepreneur India suggested that the high achievers who believe in vouching for life coaching are the ones who want to take charge of their professional and personal life. “People who are successful aren’t dependent on chances, they grab the chances by the horn”. Coaching would help you get a clear perspective about things and puts a stop to the unnecessary mind clatter. Now that we know what exactly life coaching is, let’s see the benefits of Life Coach Training In Bengaluru to achieve career goals. Let’s take a look at some points mentioned in a blog about ICF coach training by Regal Unlimited . 1. Let’s just say you are working in an organization for over 5 years though you still aren’t given any form of leadership responsibilities. Why is that? You may be a hard working employee though not everyone develops leadership skills during the course of their work life. The Life Coach Training In Bengaluru focuses on guiding the employees to maximize their critical thinking abilities, decision making skills and to polish their leadership skills required in a corporate environment. 2. If an employee in an organisation wishes to secure an important role, they need to work on their leadership skills. Bigger role means more responsibilities. One needs to be prepared for dealing with responsibilities with ease. The Executive Life Coach Certification Bengaluru would help an individual in successfully handling his/her teammates and could handle any difficulties they may be facing regarding the given tasks. Apart from assisting in reaching one’s professional goals, life coaching can also help you achieve several personal goals. Let’s see a few examples for the same. 1.Decision making – A lot of us find it hard to make important decisions in our life on our own. We tend to seek assistance from our family and friends to help us make our decisions. A life coach would guide you to work on your decision making abilities. This will help you to be more independent in life. 2. Confidence – So let’s just say you worked really hard in making a presentation for a client meeting but you aren’t confident enough to present it yourself. Your colleagues who presented it received all the appreciation and your hard work went unrecognised. In situations like these, your lack of confidence can be a great barrier in your path of success. Here, the life coach would help you build your confidence with some strategic tasks which would in turn make you feel more confident in yourself and at your work. The main difference between dreamers and achievers is the clarity. Both of them have ambitions in life, though the achievers have the clarity to seek their ambitions and build their success. Where Can you get Life Coach Training and Certification in India Regal Unlimited provided life coach training and certification in India. We have life coaching programs running in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and other prominent cities of India. We do occasional connections, hold workshops on Life Coach Training in various cities of India. We are also running a VIRTUAL Life Coach Training Program so that people across the globe can benefit. This is the first of its kind, first online Life Coaching Program in India . We have MAster Coaches who train you on the nuances of Life Coaching.

Coaching is for leaders, practicing and aspiring. A great follower becomes a good leader. Good to great leadership is a journey, by choice. Coaching helps immensely. But professional coaching only, not by mentoring, guiding, telling which is passed on as coaching. Coaching skills picked up based on rigorous training and certification (Only Regal!), credentialing by a global coaching body (only ICF or EMCC), experienced/with supervision, and continued learning/deep work. For a coach, lifelong learning is part of the journey to his/her full potential as a coach. Such a coach helps the coachee/client not only move from the current state to a more resourceful state but also go beyond manifest magic. It is the journey of a lifetime. But then, not all are ready for the transformational shift. Shifting gears to shifting orbits?  Are you ready to shift orbit? Space tourism may be the next big thing in travel. Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk today.  The future of leadership is coaching.   If leaders do not have coaching also as part of their leadership styles, you are not leading. You are not at your full potential as a leader, individual. You are not moving to your life purpose. Then is it worth living? ‘yeh jeena bhi koi jeena hai?’ Hence, it is essential to add professional coaching skills to your leadership, life. While you tap into the consciousness of a coach in your leadership at work, it has a positive cascading effect on your life – relationships especially. Hence, Coaching is about maximizing potential, personal and professional. (courtesy, ICF).  If you are playing below your potential, then again you are not playing, leading, living. Choose with awareness, not mechanically. Choose not just at a cognitive level, but also emotionally, and spiritually. A leader who operates at the confluence of IQ, EQ and SQ, spiritual quotient, is really leading. It is what Jim Collins speaks of Level 5 leadership (Good to Great). What is preventing us from manifesting our full potential?  Regal Coach Certification ( #RCC ) Programs: Coach Training, mentoring, and certifications with Regal Unlimited, the Coaching School for the World offers – ICF approved ACSTH programs (RCC-Level 2 & 3), – Leaders as Coaches for practicing and aspiring leaders in the corporate, business to NGO, – RCC-Level 1 to add coaching to your work and life, – Other specialized programs for corporate leaders, business owners, and professionals. Coach Training with the rigor of RCC is key to become a leader with coaching skills, or a professional coach. Become to Being: Our programs ensure you reach the #destination of your certifications, have a deep #journey to your full potential, and be part of the exclusive community of #RegalCoaches . Travel with the Best. As one of the experts in digital marketing says, don’t be cheap to your full potential. A new batch for #LeaderAsCoach  starting on 25th July/Sunday, and ICF approved ACSTH on 14th August/Saturdays. Registrations are open. Limited seats are available. To apply, visit ICF Coach Training & Certification or LeaderAsCoach or write to info@regalunlimited.com Regal Unlimited – ROI of Enchantment

Political Leadership: An interesting discussion on The Print by Mr Shekhar Gupta on high command politics, which thrives on ‘good’, old command & control leadership. That style belonged to an earlier era.  Interestingly the concept of leadership has evolved from the old leadership styles borrowed from the military to the industrial revolution. The consciousness is ready for more decentralized, empowering leadership. The political parties who truly adopt these will have an advantage over others in the near future. Factories and the military are discovering the power of more empowering leadership. Can politics lag behind? Afterall we can not solve the new problems from the same consciousness that created it! Leadership that is also based on emotions? There there are 6 primary styles, as Dr. Daniel Goleman reminds us in his HBR article. And not just one dominant style we tend to identify with and practice. The style that the situation and people truly demand. Hopefully, the millennials and gen Z will lead the transition to political leadership that is based on #IQ2EQ2SQ. SQ being spiritual quotient based on spirituality, not religion. Nor politics based on caste/creed/religions/language. 2. Sports: Interestingly Mr. Shekhar moved the discussion to the Olympics too. – What made1960’s the golden era for our track and field? – What did we lose thereafter? The modern concepts of leadership originated from politics, apart from the military. But then, The future of leadership is coaching. And the consciousness is ready. That is the leadership style future generations will accept, across geographies, areas of work.  And it borrows heavily from sports, professional and amateur. Coaching also borrows some of the best practices from psychology, management, to philosophy, spirituality, and therapy. Hence the preference for leadership based on coaching, in all areas. 1. Are our corporate and business leaders ready? They will get to play less politics too 🙂 2. How long will the political leaders ignore the writing on the wall? 3. Will the academics, services industry embrace this style of leadership? 4. If empathy is not part of your leadership, you are not leading.  The good news is coaching as a leadership skill can be learned. And we, at Regal Unlimited can help. – Leadership Coaching for corporate leaders, business owners and professionals. – ICF Coach Training – Counseling/Healing https://regalunlimited.com

When it comes to choosing anything critically important, do you go by a herd mentality? Do you go by what others ‘tell’ you, or suggest, recommend? Do you go by what others ‘tell’ you, or suggest, recommend? Even after you do all the evaluation, are you influenced by what others in your network have chosen? Even after you do all the evaluation, are you influenced by what others in your network have chosen? Are you even aware ? While making choices, or otherwise? Are you making a choice that would serve you better for your life journey to your full potential? Are you making a choice that would serve you better for your life journey to your full potential? “Coaching” comes into your life when you are ‘ready’ at a deeper level. This is truly a ‘Hero’s Journey (Joseph Campbell). It is a very personal and individual journey, different for each one of us. Not like engineering for a software job at the entry-level or a commerce graduate looking for the first banking job. (I did latter briefly) “Coaching” comes into your life when you are ‘ready’ at a deeper level. This is truly a ‘Hero’s Journey (Joseph Campbell). It is a very personal and individual journey, different for each one of us. Not like engineering for a software job at the entry-level or a commerce graduate looking for the first banking job. (I did latter briefly) Jaago coach, Jaago… Right coach training zaroori hai! Great that you have narrowed and found ICF Coach Training to become a coach, but unfortunately still people are continuing to make certain lapses in selecting the Right Coach training program!!!  Great that you have narrowed and found ICF Coach Training to become a coach, but unfortunately still people are continuing to make certain lapses in selecting the Right Coach training program!!!  1. The organization decides the ICF Coach Training program. Really? A young corporate leader was exploring various ICF coach training and certification programs. There was indirect/subtle pressure to choose the same entity wherefrom her senior colleague was pursuing her ICF certification. This lady explored all options, weighed all the ICF Certification programs, and resisted the pressure to chose a different ICF Coach training program (followed her heart and ). She was taking responsibility for her life choices. ICF approved coach training and certification program, Regal Coach Certification (Level 2 and 3) 2. Distraction is for Mediocre. Gain Mastery on becoming an ICF Coach first… An experienced/senior corporate leader was evaluating which Coach training program to take. He recently updated, ‘I have been recommended to opt for ABC’s coach training program’. The reason? Along with ICF training, someone has ‘bundled’ other services as well.  When you want to drink water, do you dig one well, or multiple wells? Why ride two horses, or bikes; as a Hindi actor made his sensational debut, riding two bikes! Why not Choose one area (ICF framework or the other), and gain mastery?  When you want to drink water, do you dig one well, or multiple wells? Why ride two horses, or bikes; as a Hindi actor made his sensational debut, riding two bikes! Why not Choose one area (ICF framework or the other), and gain mastery?  When it comes to choosing your Guru, it is better to choose one… a real Guru, who has and demonstrates unconditional spiritual love for you, even beyond ‘unconditional positive regard’ in therapy. When it comes to choosing your Guru, it is better to choose one… a real Guru, who has and demonstrates unconditional spiritual love for you, even beyond ‘unconditional positive regard’ in therapy. 3. What worked for them, will it work for YOU TOO? Another senior professional has just made the choice! Are you opting for a specific program just because your colleagues or friends have done it with them, are doing it elsewhere? Herd mentality? “What ties did you break this week?” “What ties did you break this week?” Sundar Pichai learned the question from his leadership coach, Bill Campbell. ‘Campbell wasn’t speaking about breaking ties as in cutting off relationships. Rather, he was reminding Pichai that he needed to break stalemates.’ ( courtesy Inc . ) What worked for them, need not necessarily craft magic for you. Every Coachee has a different reason to pick up ICF Coach Training, they have different aspirations and expectations from ICF Coach Training programs. At Regal Unlimited, we have seen some of our coaches who took ICF Coach Training for self-discovery, some for professional growth in their workplace, and some to transition to become professional coaches What worked for them, need not necessarily craft magic for you. Every Coachee has a different reason to pick up ICF Coach Training, they have different aspirations and expectations from ICF Coach Training programs. At Regal Unlimited, we have seen some of our coaches who took ICF Coach Training for self-discovery, some for professional growth in their workplace, and some to transition to become professional coaches At a deeper level, it is about breaking all the ties that are preventing you from moving towards your full potential. Disclosure: One of my healing certifications is ‘Cutting the Ties that Bind’. Disclosure: One of my healing certifications is ‘Cutting the Ties that Bind’. 4. ICF Coach Mentoring is key to this journey to Become a Coach Received two calls of coaches on their training journey, and heard about their struggles. The support you need along the way is key to mastery. Else, the learning would be like Prince Abhimanyu able to enter the chakravyuh, not get out. Here the coach will not help the future clients to make the transformational shift. Also not move from ‘becoming a coach’ to ‘Being a Coach’, for the coach. Neither will reach their full potential.  Received two calls of coaches on their training journey, and heard about their struggles. The support you need along the way is key to mastery. Else, the learning would be like Prince Abhimanyu able to enter the chakravyuh, not get out. Here the coach will not help the future clients to make the transformational shift. Also not move from ‘becoming a coach’ to ‘Being a Coach’, for the coach. Neither will reach their full potential.  The Right ICF Coach Training  Coaching is also about being courageous . It starts with taking responsibility for the choices we make. It does not come from following others blindly!  The right Coach training comes from self-evaluation; have a Coach trainer who resonates with you, understands your needs and expectations for ICF Coach Training and is willing to be your partner for the ICF certification journey and beyond. It is your journey, your life and it should be YOUR CHOICE. The right Coach training comes from self-evaluation; have a Coach trainer who resonates with you, understands your needs and expectations for ICF Coach Training and is willing to be your partner for the ICF certification journey and beyond. It is your journey, your life and it should be YOUR CHOICE. Schedule a call with the Coach-Trainer/Mentor to check the Coach-Trainer Compatibility  Schedule a call with the Coach-Trainer/Mentor to check the Coach-Trainer Compatibility  ICF approved ACSTH coach training program for aspiring coaches, uncredentialed coaches, corporate leaders, business owners, professionals: https://regalunlimited.com/icf-approved-coach-training-certification/

It was during the pandemic in 2019 – 20, I was thinking of upgrading myself. There was a loud thought as to what would fit me better, being a commerce graduate and having worked with different MNCs for 10 – 11 years in varied fields, I was literally searching for that one thing that would help me become a better person and be of help to the society and the environment. All these might seem dramatic though. How I got connected with Regal Unlimited? My husband is an ACC-certified coach and is pursuing his PCC currently. I was observing him when he was doing his coaching practice and was quite inspired and developed a liking towards it and that’s exactly why I wanted to do my ICF Coaching Certification with Regal Unlimited . The course was more inclined towards” Leaders as Coaches”. While in the process, I developed a sense of self-awareness. First and foremost was to develop the listening capability. I consciously started listening to people around me without interrupting their ideas or making any suggestions. Initially, it was a great task because I am a person who generally answers or gives suggestions based on what I hear. The challenge here was to not give any suggestion rather only listen. But consistent conscious efforts to do so will get you there. The second learning was to make contacts/develop a network. You get to extend your network and rope in like-minded individuals. In my batch, we had people from different geographic backgrounds (India and overseas). I would say the batch was very sweet and extended all support whenever there was a requirement. The coaching practices that we made during the weekdays were amazing and that helped us move forward and understand coaching concepts better. Coaching is more about self-realization; is what I believe strongly. It helps the coachee to analyze him/her and to self-reflect better. The job of the coach is to ask incisive questions to make the coachee self-realize. Lots of times the word “Self” was used in my sentence, which is again self-explanatory. In the current scenario, as an individual, we tend to get carried away by the environment around us and we miss self-reflecting on ourselves frequently. Coaching is definitely a great platform to rework yourself and evolve as a better person. To me personally, this coaching journey was amazing though it was more of a crash course that I went through still it was very effective. I would like to thank Subash and Rekha for the effort they have taken to coach the learner coaches and also my peer coaches who come forward to do the sessions.

The ICF Coaching Conclave 2021, India had a series of accomplished leaders sharing their most valuable insights covering a vast range of topics revolving around coaching. I also got an opportunity to listen to some of the brilliant minds of the Industry. I attempt to capture some of our collective key takeaways from the talks. The first session commenced with a  powerful address by Mr. Sridhar Vembu, the co-founder and CEO of Zoho Corp. In the last 25 years, Zoho Corp. has emerged as the largest software product company out of India. Mr. Sridhar is well known for taking software development functions from urban to rural villages in India, setting up Zoho schools that provide vocational software development education to rural students. In the world where most chase success, Mr. Sridhar chose to pursue excellence and purpose which was subsequently followed by success. “Pursue Excellence & Purpose. Success will eventually follow” A profound expectation from a good leader is that s/he must have a clear vision; s/he should know where s/he is heading in order to achieve the true purpose and to stand out as the best in the world. Mr. Sridhar supported this with an example; Indian steel, for example, isn’t the best choice for many foreign producers, though India started manufacturing steel even before Japan, which is now considered the best in the world. Indian products need to aspire to be the best. India produces great talent in the world, yet the absence of aspiration to be the best puts India at the lower ranks. I share his belief that we have to empower the academic system to bring awareness among the students, the future citizens of the country must ask themselves “Why is India still behind?” Most of the capital goods are imported into India. They embody the detailed knowledge of the production process. These technologies are used in many industries in India, but we lack the aspiration to understand the technical know-how, which increases dependence and restricts India’s self-reliance. “Only when we understand the processes well, we can resolve any problem and upgrade to advanced technologies”, he opines. India is perpetually behind when the production processes come to a halt at uncertain times or when there is a breakdown of machinery. Mr. Sridhar says basic products involve sophisticated industrial ‘Know-How’. It is crucial for us to understand the know-how, to become self-reliant. Self-Reliant Individuals create Self-Sustaining businesses which in turn fuels Self-Reliant Economies. An eye-opener for me, during the session, was when Mr. Sridhar outlined the belief of Zoho Corp. He said, that the company functions on the belief – “Making the code rather than Running the code”. Zoho Corp. runs independently all by itself. It makes the code, runs, and upgrades itself to match the standards of the advancing world. When the European Data Protection Regulations needed European data to be kept in their country, the Zoho Corp came to the fore. I believe that it is an incredible ability of Zoho Corp. to be able to dynamically incorporate multifarious changes and it was made possible because they controlled the entire value chain. This is a critical step that made Zoho Corp. self-reliant. Companies that progress and blaze the trail are the ones that embrace the culture of Innovation. Mr. Sridhar clarifies the bedrock of Innovation is Failure. Zoho as an organization allows and accepts failures. He adds, “I understand how crucial it is to adapt to the culture of accepting failures as a pathway to success, in order to create confidence for building “Writing the Code” behavior. R & D cannot succeed without failure.” As Mr. Sridhar puts it aptly, “It’s not like a train running on time. Rather it’s laying the track on an unknown terrain”. Another key learning from this session was how leaders inspire confidence in the teams. The essence of leadership is to get down to the floor, meet the production workers, understand the problems and provide solutions, from mere lecturing to actually demonstrating how to do it. Mr. Sridhar has exemplified this, visiting the cubicles of his employees, having candid conversations with the coders, and no need to mention the story of the watchman, who became a coder at ZOHO Corp. And all of this was made possible because of inspired leadership It’s tough to believe how Mr. Sridhar, though a successful business person, has been living in a village of Tamil Nadu for over 2 years, only to understand the lives and the problems of rural people, which has helped him in being rooted and finding his true purpose. It was a wise decision to start a business to solve those problems. He personally felt, in order to create jobs, being in business was necessary. He is an engineer but was not a natural-born businessman. He taught himself a business and created a tech business. The prevailing problem was that the agricultural incomes are low in India. He desired to boost the income and add more value by understanding the pains of the farmers by himself, which he shortly calls “Learning by Doing”. Our country has a renowned heritage. Therefore, as its citizens, we must look deep into the Indian heritage, which has a lot more wisdom than the management textbooks of the world. Quoting Swami Vivekananda Mr. Sridhar added, “India can be the light to the world”. India teaches contentment and humility, the core of our heritage that is visible in the villages. The “enough mindset” creates excellence. Excellence, that provides better solutions to the problems. That is when leadership gets transformed into Servant Leadership – leadership for the sake of service, something that Sridhar Vembu embodies. In his address, he mentioned this, “Mr. Srinivas Ramanujan solved innumerable mathematical problems not to earn awards but because he was interested in providing solutions to problems, which was his purpose. When we aspire for the best from the world, we also need to give the best to the world.” Apart from making an outstanding presence in the field of business, Zoho Corp is actively involved in a lot of social works. It has established schools for building self-reliant citizens of the future nation. The focus is on preparing students to be confident to face the future and not feel insecure about obtaining a job. They want to create a Job creating mindset rather than Job seeking one. The education system followed at Zoho Schools is as per the National Institute of Open Schooling. They are not pressurized with exams, but the students develop projects. Zoho schools are placed in a rural setup; the students are taught farming, handling equipment, and using surroundings as a way to learn. I have had the pleasure of looking at and experiencing the Education system of India from the grassroots level – the real Indian Education System, the Government schools, the amenities, and the implementation of schemes. After hearing Mr. Vembu, I feel the Indian Government must take a leaf or two from the success stories of Zoho schools and replicate the same to improve the status quo. Mr. Vembu concluded his address with this quote, “Beginning of wisdom comes from eagerness to learn” A leader should be humble to learn even if it is from the subordinates. Unfortunately, in the world today, we put leaders at a level above all and expect them to know everything, and unfortunately, the leaders too pretend to know everything, while the reality may be different. Humility is the key to remaining rooted and serving society to the best.  Finally, I will conclude this reflective post with this! The root word of ‘Business’ is actually ‘state of being busy’ or so we were taught. But hearing about Sridhar Vembu sir’s daily schedule in the village offices has changed the philosophy of business. For me, it has become prioritizing purpose over profits, and that would mean, being happy over being busy! Yes, he shared his daily schedule, and one day I aspire to have a similar schedule and mindset:) Till then  Ciao

Business excellence as studied in my MBA had two critical elements, organizational performance, and organizational climate. While many leaders focus on performance, the research indicates that it is the Organizational Climate that catalyzes performance. Hence, Business Excellence, or BE as we commonly called it, is achieved when organizations look at every employee as an invaluable human resource. Professional coaching enables employees in leading themselves, teams, and organizations towards purposefully achieving sustainable growth. As part of the ICF Coaching Conclave, we got an opportunity to listen to some of the best leaders in the Industry. One such session that caught my attention was a Power talk by – Nitin Paranjpe, Chief Operating Officer, Unilever, and business coach – Myles Downey, who shared their valuable insights on how coaching can improve employees’ potential and leadership can be maximized in transforming and achieving business excellence. Company, Brand, and the Purpose: Mr. Nitin has been associated with HUL for over three decades. The philosophy, belief, and purpose of the organization play a pivotal role in the retention of employees in any organization. In my MBA case studies, HUL was just an FMCG company with strong distribution and socially compelling campaigns, but as I heard Nitin Ji speak passionately, I realized that the vision and the purpose of HUL as an organization are much larger. In Nitin’s words, organizations like HUL’s purpose is to create a sustainable common living space and the ambition is to demonstrate that sustainable business and high-performing business aren’t contradictory, they go hand in hand. Mr. Nitin expounded on the three crucial beliefs at HUL to pursue the aforesaid statement. First, “The company with purpose lasts” “Brands with purpose will grow” “People with purpose thrive” He mentioned that the employees are made to identify their purpose and understand what adds meaning to their lives by curative programs. Manager vs Entrepreneur A famous quote of Mark Twain says, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why”. When work in life has a meaning, magical things happen. Millennials and Gen Z are increasingly looking for meaningful work at the workplace as well. Hence, looking for entrepreneurial opportunities to contribute.With the word Entrepreneur, I recollect another remarkable insight from the session. Dr. C K Prahlad, an eminent professor explained the difference between Manager and Entrepreneur to Mr. Nitin and his classmates. He said the only difference between a manager and an entrepreneur is the relationship between Aspiration/Ambition and Resource. “A managerial mindset is where ambition is equal to the resource. If the resources are increased, their work increases and vice versa. Whereas, an entrepreneur does not correlate both. They work for the best regardless of the availability of resources, such that the inequality converts itself into equality and that’s the only way innovations happen”. “Wow”, I exclaimed at the clarity of the definition of the term ‘Entrepreneurial Mindset.’ This was an eye-opener for us, especially for entrepreneurial companies who are looking to run big. How can we inculcate and nurture the entrepreneurial mindset in us and amongst our employees is a big question. Are you still operating from a Managerial Mindset? This left me reflecting!!! Crucial Human Insights I recollect my prof telling us in one session, that managing business is actually managing Wo/Men. Understand the wo/man behind the wheel and the journey is taken care of, he advised us. A similar thread was shared by Mr. Nitin as he explained the three crucial human insights that need to be present always for magical outcomes. The first insight is that all people seek meaning and purpose in their life. Therefore, businesses need to create organizational visions which are collectively inspiring and individually relatable. The second insight is that all people want to do heroic tasks. The businesses must have goals, the process of achieving which must excite the employees and offer a chance to do heroic tasks. Third, to create a safe space, a space where everyone is comfortable, which is based on trust and the employees know that they have the back of their boss, where they can have the courage to dream and pursue the dream. Let’s pause and reflect, how many of our organizations provide the aforesaid three things, how many leaders are even aware of these crucial human insights? While we chase targets and strict deadlines, we need to understand that the bottom line is “we are leading human beings.” Coaching puts the focus back on the “Being” Myles Downey: Essence of Coaching Myles Downey is an acknowledged authority on performance, coaching, and leadership. He has authored three classics: Effective Modern Coaching, Effective Coaching, and Enabling Genius. He is a leading business performance coach in Europe. He established The School of Coaching in 1996. His focus in the field of coaching revolves around Leader Performance, helping people achieve results. Simply put in Mr. Myles’s words, “I like to win and I like to help other people win”. Many times we are asked how Coaching fits in the Organization. Though there are many answers available, I find Myles’ stance intriguing. Mr. Myles feels coaches do not need to go around employees coaching them all the time. Instead, a simple conversation between a manager and his subordinate on how the person would approach a task, how he would solve a problem is Coaching. This is how coaching fits in the organization. Recollecting his master, Timothy Gallwey, the author of “The Inner Game of Tennis”; he said that his entry point into coaching was when he read this book. He was fascinated by philosophy and the way it was written.  The Inner Game of Tennis is a phenomenal read and every aspiring – professional coach must take it up to read and absorb the learnings from this book. Lead – Manage – Coach Lead, Manage and Coach are the three critical elements of managerial skill. Coach stands at the core of the circle, Manage forms the outer band for Coach and Lead is the bigger circle that encompasses these. One key takeaway from Myles talk for me was the tri-circle model of Lead-Manage-Coach. He says, “Lead is about ‘Why’, Manage is about ‘What’ and Coach is about ‘How’.” As a leader, one has to make the team understand the “Why of the organization” – the purpose, the vision, and the context in which the organization operates. This is the first level of alignment of the participants with what’s happening in the organization. The second level talks about “What of the organization” – the leader has to decide upon what quality and quantity of performance they would look forward to; the goals, the tasks, and the projects. The employees need to understand the connection between what they are doing with why it is important. The final stage makes greater sense when the first two are understood well. The coaching domain is slightly different. It completely depends on how an individual does it. While coaching a person, the thought process which first rests with the coach has to shift to the person being coached. The authority pertaining to Lead and Manage rests with the organization and the authority of Coaching rests with the individual self. When authority is left with someone, they do it their way, with passion, excitement, they do it with responsibility and accountability. When they fall short in their progress, they do not ask for help to solve it for them; but tend to think for themselves. When the organizations align the command and control to the vision, mission of the organization and enable the employees to use the authority, business excellence can be achieved throughout the organization. Set Goals from the Heart I was talking to my MBA mates, those who work in famous MNCs, in coveted roles like consulting, advisory, marketing associates, etc. In one such conversation, I asked him, “How’s your manager?” His reply kind of revealed a lot. He said, “Bro, they all are very good people, but once the targets come. They CHANGE. Yes, but the targets before they and managers CHANGE.” We know organizations are number-driven. Goals and Targets are often discussed in the meetings. Speeches are given to stretch and scale the targets, achieve the goals, etc. But Mr. Nitin on answering a query added, “Set goals from the heart and use the intellect of mind to find ways to achieve them”. A person must judge depending on his credibility while setting audacious goals. I think leaders have to take cognizance of the fact that merely driving numbers dries the spirit of the organizational purpose. Goals must be audacious, must stretch the individual/team potential, but should they be driven humanely? Let’s reflect!!! (Too much to reflect, isn’t it) During my coaching journey, I have always wondered, can a coach wear multiple hats at the same time. Mr. Nitin answered this query of mine, he believes that a person may be a coach, a leader, and a manager on different occasions. In such cases, wisdom and judgment play a crucial task in deciding what role to be taken on what occasions.  When asked in the Q&A on how to create a learning opportunity where the organizational culture doesn’t have the conduciveness to work and explore, Mr. Nitin replies it is a great opportunity if an organization can help do that. Even in the case of its absence, if a person is willing to learn and has such a mindset, any interaction that triggers thinking, is an opportunity to learn.  For me, it was an eye-opener. I understood how coaching is not an exclusive area away from the mundane work. It overlaps with different activities where one is involved at the workplace, helping in discovering the purpose and passion of an individual. Coaching can then be used to align the individual’s passion with the organizational vision and prompt the leaders to set Ambitious goals with heart.

Life is a roller coaster ride with ups and downs. One word that separates those who plow ahead through adversities and those who fall by the side is – resilience. Abraham Lincoln said, “It’s not about how many times you fall, but how many times you get back up”. Nothing has tested our resilience like Covid, in recent times. The pandemic has not spared any individual or organization. Nevertheless, success narratives have emerged while people grew stronger (antifragility in action). Resilience coaching has contributed in great measure to these narratives. Courtesy of the ICF Coaching Conclave 2021, India, I got a chance to listen to the stellar thought leaders from the Coaching & Personal Development fraternity. One such session was by Dr. Srikumar Rao, CEO, The Rao Institute. He has helped thousands of entrepreneurs and executives achieve a quantum breakthrough, reaching new orbits of success and rediscovering joy in life. Dr. Rao is a sought-after coach for persons seeking spiritual growth. Coach – A Friend, Philosopher, and a Guide I liked the way Dr. Rao announced that he has a different approach towards coaching rather than the conventional way of identifying the key traits in a person and coaching them accordingly. He believes in the concept of “Coach as a Friend, Philosopher, and Guide”. He recollects the relation between Alexander and Aristotle. While Alexander was a wilful child his father did not know how to deal with him. Aristotle was called upon and was requested to help Alexander. Aristotle did not teach him what was to be done to be a better king, he did not tutor him on the nuances of warfare or lecture him on politics. Instead, he spoke of humor, poetry, the meaning of life. At the end of the year, Alexander achieved all that we have heard of. Similarly, Dr. Rao believes in helping a person in creating an outlook that raises his consciousness rather than coaching him in a particular skill. One thought that seeped deep into my consciousness was that Internal problems cannot be solved by external actions. Such a powerful thought! We see this manifesting every day in our mundane lives where individuals are battling to control their external actions while the problem is deeper, it’s internal. Coaching helps to treat the root cause (internal) than providing a bandaid to the symptoms alone. That is why resilience coaching, like any other type of coaching, provides long-lasting results.  Flashlight of Awareness Dr. Rao points out an interesting concept of what he calls, “Flashlight of Awareness”. When we consider our life, we focus this flashlight on what we think are problems in our lives. Since we have focused the flashlight of awareness on them, they gather our attention and emotional energy. Instead, we must shift the focus onto many beautiful things in life and we eventually get to the emotional state of gratitude and appreciation. This is a great way to develop resilience when problems hit us. Dr. Rao narrated an enlightening story whose moral was that, when some incident occurs in our life, we do not know whether it was for good or bad. Only with the passage of time, will we know the real reason for its occurrence. When this kind of attitude is developed, “We move from the realm of despair to the realm of gratitude”. “No incident is Good-Bad unless we put a label on it. The label we ascribe to the incident defines the nature of the incident.” He emphasizes while we strive to be the best in various roles that we play in our life, we become better individuals. While a person is helping another, in the process the person is working on himself as well.  He elucidated that Coaching works on two levels. (1) First at a relatively superficial level, where we try experimenting with new methods and go ahead. (2) Second at the subliminal level, where the presence of the coach itself has an impact upon the person being coached. Generally, coachees tend to relapse to their way of thinking. Therefore, there is a need to change their outlook and not merely coach them. Dr. Rao advocates extreme resilience, where we bounce back very quickly from adversity. The pace should be such that others who observe might not even know we suffered an adverse event.  Resilience coaching can enable us to achieve this kind of extreme resilience. It is difficult for most of us to take our eyes off our troubles. A resilience coach can help us shine the flashlight of awareness on the good things in our life and develop an attitude of gratitude. Emotional Goal Setting Often we set goals, try hard to achieve them and we succeed. There are also instances where we fail. He suggests that we set an ambitious goal and ‘just forget about it.’ The benefit of setting a goal is to establish a direction. Once the direction is established, do not think about the goal. Instead, we need to pour all of our emotional energy into finding the way to meet the goal while we focus the flashlight of awareness on the main task. When this is done, irrespective of whether we achieve the goal, we fully enjoy the journey towards the goal. In simple words, “Invest in the process and not in the outcome, which is not in our control.” The benefit of setting a goal and trying to achieve the goal is the learning and growth that happens to us and in us as we try our level best. If we could achieve the goal, it’s a bonus. But if we fail, the learning and growth have already happened. Dr. Rao reiterates the words of a basketball coach, John Wooden, which he often told players to ask themselves at the end of the match, “Did I do the best that I was capable of? If yes, the results don’t matter”. This, Dr. Rao, says is the perfect articulation of investing in the process and not the goal. How much time does the mountaineer stay at the summit after scaling it? It’s always about the journey, and what we become during the journey. A resilience coach can keep us focused on the journey rather than on the results, thus lowering the impact stressors can have on us. The second speaker in this session was Miss Aparna Kumar, IPS, DIG, Dehradun. She DIG Aparna comes with considerable experience and achievement as a successful women police officer and Indian IPS officer. She is a passionate mountaineer. She has scaled several mountain peaks around the world. She holds several titles and awards for bravery. As a mountaineer, she explained that life is like a mountain. We go up, reach the top, come down, set a new goal, and start the journey again. The mountains are not only covered with rocks and snow but also dreams and desires. She translates “Where there is a will, there is a way” into “If there is a way, I’ll find a way; if there is no way, I’ll create one”. There is always a way when one is committed. She compares 3 basic rules of mountaineering to life.  It is farther than it looks  It is taller than it looks.  It is harder than it looks. This is life in a nutshell. Life is hard, life is tough, life is unfair. DIG Aparna shared how she was initiated into mountaineering and her training experience while fulfilling her duties as an IPS officer. She narrated many incidents from her life attempting to climb various mountains and Mount Everest as well. In many instances, DIG Aparna had to trek with people who were younger than her. She stresses, “We are as young as we feel”. Age should not limit our potential or willingness to learn, as she feels age should not be considered as a reason for not growing. She believes that success is driven by the mindset of an individual. “Failure is not a crime, lack of effort is”. To be successful, we need to train ourselves to handle failure, pain, and crisis. DIG Aparna always asks herself She inquires for herself, “What stops me from doing what I want to?” She says we need to break the barriers and shatter those self-limiting thoughts which hold us back. We need to have faith so that we can beat our self-doubt. She says we need to expect changes, and uncertainties because we are bound to come across them. Moreover, we need to accept and adapt to the situation, which helps in overcoming it with a pragmatic approach and confidence. The tips and strategies shared by DIG Aparna and Dr. Rao are invaluable in building resilience to adversities. Having a trusted friend and confidante during troubling times is half the problem solved. A resilience coach can fill these shoes aptly. If you want to know more about resilience coaching and how it can help you, go through the FAQs given below Regal Unlimited’s ICF coach training program. Regal Unlimited is a premier coaching training institute based out of Bengaluru, India. We have trained more than 300 coaches and mentored 1200+ coaches over the last 10 years.  So if you want to increase your chances of becoming a successful coach, if you want a nurturing, empowering community of coaches you can call family, begin your coaching journey with Regal Unlimited. Begin your journey to becoming a Resilience Coach NOW! What is resilience? Resilience is the ability to adapt to and overcome challenging life situations through empowering mental, emotional, and behavioral adjustments. These challenges could be related to relationships, the workplace, health, or financial conditions, to name a few. When the going gets tough, resilience coaching is an effective way to toughen up and get going! What is resilience coaching? Resilience coaching is a one-on-one engagement with a resilience coach who can partner with you to co-create a customized process to become resilient to challenges.  What does a resilience coach do? A resilience coach can help you build and strengthen your resilience muscle by  Acting as a mirror to increase self-awareness (identifying strengths and weaknesses) Working with you to develop skills and strategies to manage stressors Creating a positive mindset that nurtures resilience  How can resilience coaching help you? Resilience coaching can help you successfully navigate low points in your life or career. It can significantly reduce the bounce-back time and enable you to move ahead with renewed spirit.  Resilience coaching can fortify you against mental and emotional breakdowns. Resilience coaching is not restricted to those facing major setbacks. Resilience coaching can be used pre-emptively to equip leaders with skills and strategies to effectively tackle challenging business goals. Leaders who take up resilience coaching can manage change more effectively. Leaders who take up resilience coaching can manage change more effectively.  How to become a resilience coach? Resilience coaching is a niche of professional coaching. The ICF coach training program is the first step to becoming a resilience coach.

A growing number of organizations build a coaching culture that offers employees at all levels the opportunity to grow their skills, enhance their value and reach their professional goals while building a high-performance organization. Coaching culture in organizations creates an environment, where employees are encouraged to find solutions themselves rather than look for directions from supervisors. This increases the overall capacity of the organization. The three-panel members – Janet M Harvey, Krishnamurthy Shankar, and Jaynene Hapanowicz gave their insights for this topic. Janet M Harvey is the best-selling author of the award-winning “Invite Change – Lessons from 2020, The year of no return”. She is the CEO of inviteCHANGE, ICF Thought Leadership Institute Director. Janet has trained and coached leaders at fortune 500 companies across six continents for more than 25 years. Krishnamurthy Shankar is the Group Head, Human Resource Department at Infosys. With 30+ years of experience, Shankar has facilitated transformation, capability, led HR transformation into a strategic partner.  Jaynene Hapanowicz, CTO and SVP of Dell digital, lead technology transformation and services development. She has spearheaded numerous strategic initiatives, the Dell/EMC Integration, and numerous technology conversions. She is a collaborative leader strengthening interlocks across teams and agile frameworks that rapidly deliver value. Janet M Harvey who moderates the panel discussion recalls the session as a very important subject and expresses her pleasure in joining the field of coaching as an executive and working in coaching education since 1996. Below is my attempt to recollect and pen down some of the key takeaways from this panel discussion so that it can continue to add value even beyond the event. Why do organizations need coaching? Why is it the need of the hour? Janet gives a four-pillar understanding; Coaching fulfills rigorous professional standards. The majority of the organizations use the criterion: has the person received professional training? Have they done peer review? Is there any evidence that they have demonstrated competency in coaching? This is a simple professional standard in every organization. Professional standards give a uniform baseline and yardstick to measure. Does the coaching address key strategic goals? Organizations always prefer their customers first. While every person in an organization contributes to that enterprise, they help themselves on the path of being more successful, hence the heightened need for employee-centricity. The coaches always have these two objectives for developing capabilities through coaching. To redesign the texture of Organizational Culture. Organizational culture is shaped by everyone at all times – the way people collaborate, team, understand. These are relevant points that coaching concentrates upon. Does it yield a discernible and measurable positive impact? Miss Janet’s 25 years of organized coaching has brought discipline to this; translating what is often seen as soft skills, development of humans to be more active personally and professionally. Having a discernible action-oriented approach to create positive outcomes is expected from Coaching interventions Miss Jaynene was introduced to coaching in her early career. It was used as a mechanism to help high-potential leaders from different levels of their careers in those days. It was not formal. “That is how coaching was looked at, 20 years ago”, she adds. It is progressing. Now, coaching is a priority because the benefits are tangibly visible. The coach leads the team, sets goals and strategies, motivates the employees, and enables them to perform the best. She shares her learning from coaching – “Putting Right People in the Right Position”, helps in achieving success. Two objectives of Coaching in Organizations Krishnamurthy Shankar was employed with Unilever when he started to attend coaching programs. He recalls the title “Performance Development Plan” that was used earlier for coaching.  Mr. Shankar believes there are two aspects of coaching.  One, what we define as coaching – People management, direction setting.  Two, what coaching truly is. He feels coaching done by leaders isn’t done quite well. While some sincerely do it, others do not. Mr. Shankar has a few reasons why he believes this happens. – People look at short-term results while benefits of coaching are seen over a period of time. – Lack of capability. – View of the people as career mentoring rather than performance coaching. As Mr. Shankar was listing down the aforementioned points in his talk, I was able to completely resonate with all of these points. The myopic view of various teams to meet targets and short-term results cannot justify the ‘Coaching approach’ because to be honest, Coaching is a long-term game. Also, the lack of professional and certified coaches in the market is another cause. Evidently, leaders use Mentoring (Telling and guiding) instead of Coaching to get the desired performance.  Mr. Shankar emphasizes making coaching a simple, easy-to-do concept rather than specialized stuff that only a few people could do, by creating psychological safety, discussing and solving the issues, and exploring new options.  Further in the discussion, the panel expounded on the vitality of Coaching as a Developmental Process. Here is what I remember from the discussion! The two important business objectives for an organization are Capability and Capacity.  Capability is the power and ability to do something Capacity is the amount that something can produce A coaching culture driven by a leader can increase capability and capacity. How does this happen? The type of culture a leader builts in his team and the way the team is treated helps in the betterment of the whole organization because the teammates to reciprocate the same in their attitude. Mr. Shankar tries to explain with three simple steps.  Exposure of leaders for coaching. When an organization wishes to have a development program, it must have coaching as a part of it. When executive leaders undergo coaching there will be a great difference in the way they perform.  Building safe spaces in the processes for coaching. Many companies have implemented “Performance check-in”. This is a kind of mini-coaching, where the managers have regular conversations with employees about work progress and goals.  Building capability and capacity of the people. Organizations must train the leaders while creating an inner feeling that coaching makes them better. They must recognize their results and show that coaching has indeed helped them. This way, the leaders can build better capability and capacity. Miss Janet labels the conversation beautifully as progress from “Talent Management to Talent Development to Talent Experience”.  Coaching should be made simpler Coaching is envisaged as a coveted skill for senior executives and senior leaders. Somehow I also feel that Coaching should be made simpler, the halo around it must be dimmed, and Coaching as a skill must be professionally learned to create the desired impact.  Mr. Shankar opines capabilities take a longer time to build. Coaching has to be made simpler, by translating elements of coaching into activities done in day-to-day work and routines; training people, and ensuring that they develop leadership commitments. He says different people have different needs. Not everyone wants a coaching discussion but few want career advice and mentoring alone. Therefore, it is important to have a broader inclusion of not only coaching but meeting the other needs too.  Janet Harvey also recommended a book: Enterprise-Wide coaching – The Ten Commandments, by Dr. John Hoover to understand and grasp the nuances of Coaching for Organizations  One question that I distinctly remember from the discussion was when the moderator asked, “How do the two participants of the panel justify the change in leadership behavior and coaching in an organization with the value proposition?” To which, Jaynene’s answer revolved around the term results. She feels outstanding results are consequential to the behavior of the leader and how he leads a team. As a leader, one must create a space to produce those results and also the chance to fail. Mr. Shankar talks of the importance of coaching.  Janet outlined two key nuggets from the panel discussion.  Invite organizations to have a Culture Journal. What would the organizations hear differently if they adopt a coaching way of mindset, without making it too complex? “Coach a person out of the team gets transformed into Coach the team to rise to their best for a project” then it is seen as a useful intervention to raise capacity as against eliminating poor performance. The organizations must create a medium to narrate the experiences of coaching, where people can share what they have learned, how they performed better so that it spreads organically among everyone else in the organization.  How to have access to Coaching? While answering a question of how to have access to coaching while it may not be available at all organizations, both, Mr. Shankar and Miss Jaynene feel that an open mindset and eagerness to learn, allows learning (to be coached) even from normal conversations, while it also becomes a way of life. Miss Janet adds, “If every human in an organization could say ‘I don’t know, can you help me?’, there would be ongoing peer coaching happening daily”. She further says, believing a coach to always be a stereotypical personality doesn’t allow people to explore the opportunity of learning.  Mr. Shankar says people prefer outsourced coaching primarily because of the experience in the field that can help in bringing significant transformation. But he feels coaching is best done by the internal leaders, who are always around, because they are well aware of what happens in the organization. While 90% is done internally, 10% of outsourced coaching is necessary. When I was contemplating on this, I find that leaders can definitely coach their teams as impressed by Mr. Shankar, but there has to be a prerequisite, and that is only if Leaders are well trained and certified in the coaching competencies. Coaching seems easy to do but difficult to learn unless professional handholds throughout the journey. That is where, outsourced Coaching brings in professional expertise, fresh pair of eyes for outlook, and an unbiased view to ‘fix’ habits, behaviors of leaders and change the outcomes.  Miss Janet has a thought-provoking point where she says organizations want transparency and openness to pinpoint what’s wrong, justifying to the superior why something is not desirable. But organizations do not have such psychological safety yet. External coaches help build courage, competence to have that quality of conversation rather than doing what the leaders say, though a person may have a different, better solution.

At the outset, let me confess that I was personally looking forward to this session, and I must commend the organizing team of ICF Coaching Conclave 2021, India to have included a diverse set of speakers for the event. Amongst listening to the vibrant topics like coaching, strategy, Business of coaching, Team performance coaching, etc getting a chance to listen to the serene and calm voice of Sister Shivani added another dimension to this conclave. I recollect listening to sister Shivani around 7-8 years back. The content back then did not make much sense to me because of my young age and lack of good knowledge of English. My mom specially used to enjoy her talks and I would just be a mum spectator, trying to figure out the cosmic level ‘gyaan’ she is giving. But today I gleaned in excitement as I got an opportunity to hear Sister Shivani, her common-life tips, simplicity of the message, her powerful listening, and communication, all made a tremendous impact on me (after all, all of us mature and beginning to appreciate the ‘gyaan’ we once ignored:) I am making this attempt to anchor some of the learnings from her phenomenal talk at ICF Coaching Conclave 2021. This reflective note is more for me than it is for anybody else. In this session, sister Shivani shares a unique set of contrasting yet closely related experiences and insights into how coaching can extend from individual to societal development, thus enabling us to tap into our collective potential for the betterment of all humanity. Sister Shivani is a practitioner and a teacher of Rajyoga Meditation that is at the heart of the teachings of Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organisation. Her popular television show – “Awakening with Brahma Kumaris” has completed over 2000 episodes, empowering individuals to overcome stress, depression, addictions, low self-esteem, and unhappy relationships.  What transforms the individual – Words or Consciousness behind the words? Sister Shivani firmly believes that the language of empowerment is not expressed with words. Words heard from someone do not change the destiny the next day. Destiny changes only when the words emanate from someone’s power; consciousness empowers the vibration of the person receiving, leading to a change in the consciousness which in turn brings the change in destiny. The energy that radiates to the other person changes the mindset and that person becomes an agent of change.  Emotional empowerment is one, that is sought by the whole world today. The world has accepted various emotional stresses as natural and part of life. In addition to stress, depression, diabetes, divorce, unhealthy conditions of life are considered normal. Time has arrived to bring a change. We need to learn the language of a new way of thinking, speaking inside, to emotionally and mentally empower ourselves, be the coach for ourselves to eradicate mental health issues. In her words, We must say; “Happiness is normal, compassion is our nature, unity is the way of being. Competition is not life. Caring, sharing, kindness, and cooperation are life. This is the need of the hour.  I feel that this attitude has to become our vibration. Who we are is what will be radiated to people around us. The first among them are our family members. The children may be achievers, will they be happy, will they have a stress-less future? Questions sister Shivani. Therefore, we need to take charge of our minds.  Change Lifestyle to move from Stress to Stability Sister Shivani shared lifestyle habits to shift from stress to stability, fear to faith, competition to caring, the complaint to gratitude.  The sleep cycle: Lack of sound sleep leads to an increase in irritability because the mind is tired. For someone who empowers another as a coach or as a friend, he/she must have high vibrational energy. The mind has to be calm, creative, and intuitive. The vibration that is radiated attracts better than the quality of one’s presentation. Sister advices about the timings for sleep: 10:00 PM – 02:00 AM is the highest energizing time for mind and body. This duration has got the most healing power. Unfortunately, if the 4 hours are missed, the best energizing time is lost even if we sleep for 8 hours after 02:00 AM. To have a deep sleep starting from 10:00 PM, we have to disconnect from work at 08:00 PM. Otherwise, our body may rest but the mind continues to work until relaxation. We feel we are saving time by working late at night. Factually, we are wasting time. We are not energized, we are not at peace when we wake up. People belonging to a few decades earlier slept for 5 – 6 hours and were energized within that time. The reason solely being, they slept at the right time. The last one hour, i.e. from 09:00 PM, the mind should be taken slowly towards the alpha stage where when we lie down we must quickly go into the delta stage. We must have a light dinner so that digestion is finished before we go to sleep. Therefore dinner at 07:00 PM is the best time.  “Dedicate 15 minutes to yourself before going to bed. First 5 minutes for writing a diary journal; Pen down all the uncomfortable emotions of the day, apologize and forgive people. Next 10 minutes to consume positive content; fill the mind with acceptance, gratitude. These thoughts will radiate during sleep. The last thought before we sleep and the first thought after we wake up is responsible for creating magic in our destiny.” added sister Shivani.