5 things to know about ...how to be a professional coach and facilitator

Raatha Ganesh is the Disruptor in Chief for Resilio. She co-creates (un)learning solutions designed to help leaders and their organisations shift the way they think about building positive, resilient workplace cultures and customer experiences. Throughout her 13+ years of business consulting and talent development across Asia-Pacific, Raatha has found herself energised by personal growth journeys and is always on the lookout for signs of it in every interaction. Her intention with every interaction is to leave people (and the world) better than when she found them.

To support with creating safe and brave spaces for her clients, Raatha is a certified organisational coach (Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership), a Genos-certified Emotional Intelligence Practitioner and an internationally certified positive mental health and wellbeing instructor (i-act independently accredited by the Royal College of Psychiatrists UK) for the workplace.

1. The best way to know the future is to co-create it 

The majority of the topics and solutions (i.e. creating a sustainable learning and wellbeing culture) I consult with my clients about have yet to be tried, tested or proven in their organisation. Therefore, what ends up happening involves a lot of experimentation and iteration. As you can imagine, I can’t achieve any of this without ensuring that any relationship I cultivate is based on trust. This involves listening intensely on not just what is being said but also what isn’t. Instead of coming to the table with a solution and being right, I listen with curiosity and empathy so that I can get it right. The ‘right’ solution ends up being co-created with the client to include a variety of perspectives, roles, ideas and resources to help connect the dots between what is needed in the moment and alignment with their overarching business goals and resources. 

2. Widen your network, tighten your circle

To ensure I am constantly expanding my mind, I choose abundance when it comes to my professional network. I actively choose to follow or pursue connections I may not necessarily meet inside my profession or personal circles. Instead of staying in my own lane, I choose to welcome every ‘outside’ connection with renewed energy. This has helped me create opportunities where I can impact more people. Alternatively, my income, my mindset and my health are directly impacted by the 6–8 people I spend the most time with, so I’ve chosen my inner circle wisely. Or, as I like to call them – my personal board of directors. Instead of splitting my time and energy across a large group of friends, I choose to spend time with a handful of fiercely loyal, just-like-family confidantes I can count on in the toughest of times.

3. Manage your energy not your time 

Time is finite. We only have access to 24 hours in a day, nothing more, nothing less. Energy, on the other hand, is infinite. So, instead of focusing on getting more out of my day, I focus on ensuring I am bringing my best self to everything I do. Understanding what gives me energy and what depletes my energy helps me design my working day to be in service of the humans in my life. This self-awareness has served me in being 100% present when I am with a human and allowed me to stay true to my intention – leaving people better than when I found them.

4. Focus on the 1% tweaks 

Owning the role of a Disruptor in Chief means figuring out what I need to get done to tackle BIG topics such as mental health, empathy, leadership and organisational wellbeing cultures. The metaphor I’d like to borrow here is the proverbial ‘elephant in the room’. And how does one eat the metaphorical elephant? One bite at a time. Instead of trying to tackle the problem head-on, it is about focusing on the 1% tweaks to kickstart the journey from ‘no longer’ to ‘not yet’. For example, instead of trying to fix the problem, we’ve focused on creating spaces (virtual and physical) for discourse to take place. This has helped shift the needle of what’s been possible for change to happen and created a sense of safety for brave voices to speak up. 

5. Grit vs. quit

Being really clear about what I/we stand for (i.e. values and intention) is really important to understand what to fight for and what to let go of. It can be very easy to get distracted by new shiny opportunities that may help us get short-term gains. Since the launch of Resilio, which was in the pre-COVID era, we’ve had to pivot drastically to serve our clients but we’ve never shifted from our reason for being. Clearly identifying the kind of clients and opportunities to work with and which ones to say no to has been important in ensuring that I/we are staying true to the course of co-creating solutions that transform lives and not only in it for a payday.