Executive and Leadership Coaching in India
Executive and leadership coaching in India. How does executive coaching help the leaders in India? The difference between executive coaching in India and the USA? How to hire the best executive coaching services in India?
This article is about executive and leadership coaching in India
If you want to know about executive coaching read the article – Everything you wanted to know about executive coaching
If you want to know how to choose an executive coach, read the article – How to choose the best executive coach for you or for the leaders in your organization
Liberalization and brief economic history of India
India had pursued a more socialistic approach since its independence in 1947 all the way into the early 1990s. The business environment was steady, and changes were slow. Exposure to the outside world was limited. Businesses operated in a relatively protected environment.
There was little competition, usually from a few local players. As a result, business practices and technological advances in India lagged the United States and Europe. Since the independence in 1947 up to the early 1990s, this lag was almost two decades and sometimes even more.
Then in 1991, Prime Minister Narasimha Rao took a path of economic liberalization. The purpose of liberalization was to make the economy competitive, more market-driven and more service-oriented. The country encouraged privatization. It allowed foreign investments.
Since then, India has never looked back. Multinational companies have not only arrived in India in a big way but now consider India as one of their key markets. Indian companies, especially in the IT and pharma industry – like Infosys or Sun Pharma, grew and have become multinational companies operating all over the world. Indian manufacturing and automotive giant Tata Group acquired giant companies in the UK – Corus and Jaguar Land Rover. And these are just a few of the many examples of the progress of homegrown Indian companies.
The benefits and costs of liberalization and globalization
Today, Indian companies compete with multinational companies both locally and globally. The gap in technology and business practices between western companies and Indian companies has now reduced to a decade or less. The open business environment has both benefitted India and brought the following challenges faced by companies worldwide.
- Global competition
- The fast pace of change is getting faster
- Leaner and flatter organizations
- Shortened business cycles
- Constantly increasing and changing customer demands
- Competition for good talent
All these factors have put more and more demands on company executives and senior leaders to deliver results in a dynamic and complex environment. The demands on executives are relentless and from all stakeholders – customers, employees, and investors.
Executive and leadership coaching in India
Executive coaching has arrived in India. Slowly, steadily and surely, to help senior executives with these challenges mentioned above. We can attribute its popularity to its effectiveness. Executive coaching is probably the most effective developmental method. It works even when most of the other developmental methods like training programs, executive education, self-learning through books and courses, etc. cannot achieve a sustained change in the behavior or performance.
Although executive coaching in India is in its nascent stages, it is growing at a rapid rate. Initially, as it was in the Western world also, people considered executive coaching to remedial – meant for someone who had to be “fixed”. Seniors executives were unwilling to hire a coach. Even if they hired a coach, they would not admit it openly. The perception was that coaching was for weak leaders. Strong and capable leaders would not need any external help!
In the United States or the United Kingdom, leaders consider executive coaching a badge of honor. However, there is still a stigma attached to it in India. Although more and more executives are hiring the services of an executive coach in India, there are very few executives who openly admit to having a coach. But this perception is transforming.
How does executive and leadership coaching in India help the leaders?
CEOs and C-suite executives often are lonely at the top. Despite the tremendous pressure to deliver results, they cannot openly discuss problems and issues with others, for the fear of being perceived as weak or not in control of the company. An executive coach provides a safe space to discuss issues, problems, fears, and limitations in an environment of total confidentiality.
In addition, as the company grows, there are different demands put on the executive that require different competencies. To quote Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s bestseller book – What got you here won’t get you there – executives need a different skillset and mindset as they move up the corporate ladder and as the company grows in size. The skills and competencies that have brought the executive and the company to a certain level will not be sufficient as the company grows or as the executive moves up the career ladder. An executive coach helps the leader develop new perspectives and skills to meet additional demands that come with a change in responsibilities.
Providing candid feedback to the leader
As a leader moves up the corporate ladder, the less likely she is to get candid and useful feedback that can help her get better. People around a powerful leader only give positive feedback. Negative or constructive feedback is often rare and watered down.
One of the most important tasks of executive coaching in India is to help leaders get candid feedback from all team members so they have an objective view of their own performance, their own strengths, and their own improvement areas. A skilled executive coach helps the leader create an environment of openness that allows people to share feedback (especially critical feedback) with the leader and others without the fear of being reprimanded. This culture of openness and sharing feedback allows the leader and the teams to change, grow, and innovate.
Read my article on Everything you ever wanted to know about executive coaching
In the article, I have answered the following questions
What is executive coaching?
Why do companies hire executive coaches?
What is the difference between executive coaching & leadership coaching?
Who is the best executive coach?
Cultural differences in executive coaching in India vs. the United States (and the Western world)
The US and UK have more informal and open interactions within the company employees irrespective of designations. A junior employee can call the CEO by his first name. Sharing feedback is also more common as compared with India.
In India, things are much more hierarchical. Most employees will address their boss as “sir,” or “madam,” although it is changing with the arrival of the multinational environment and culture. It is in the culture to respect people who are elder or in senior positions. And that often means agreeing with them (yes sir, you are right sir, etc.). It also means sharing no critical feedback with them.
Feedback is often a one-way street – going down from the boss to the subordinates and not the other way around. Because of the lack of candid feedback, executives often think everything they are doing is fine. They have difficulty in changing and improving. In a fast-changing world, eventually, it creates problems. A skilled coach can help address these cultural differences with executive coaching in India.
How to hire the best executive and leadership coaching services in India?
Executive coaching is the most effective development tool for leaders–bar none. Three main reasons for the effectiveness are customization to the leader’s specific needs, confidentiality, and support. However, to get these benefits from executive coaching in India, or anywhere else, it is important to select the right coach, the right coaching company, and the right coaching method.
Today, there are hundreds (if not thousands) of coaching companies that provide coaching services in India.
As executive coaching in India is unregulated, there are few set standards and processes if any. Although there are organizations that profess to qualify and certify coaches, few people accept or recognize their authority. Many coach training companies will certify anyone as a coach. Anyone who will pay the fees and attend a weekend workshop on coaching! The coaches themselves also come from varied backgrounds–Human resources, psychology, counseling, and many other disciplines. There are also hundreds of coaching methodologies and models offered as the “right” coaching solution!
With so many variables and uncertainties,– how does one choose the best coaching company or the best coach in India? Read my article on How to assess and select the right executive coach for you or the leaders in your organization in India How to choose the best executive coach for you or for the leaders in your organization.
In the article, I outline the criteria and questions you should ask a prospective executive coach in India, to choose the best executive coach for you (if you are the leader) or for the leaders in your organization (if you are in Human Resources or senior management).
The fundamental problem with executive education, leadership development, and executive coaching in India and elsewhere
There is a fundamental problem with most, if not all, leadership development tools like – training, executive education, and executive coaching in India. What is the fundamental problem that reduces the effectiveness of any leadership developmental initiative?
Well, it is ignoring the basic paradigm that knowing is not the same as doing! It is true for all areas of our lives. Although, we know a lot about many things we consistently do very little of what we know. Let me give you an example I use with my participants in any leadership development program. I ask them I am trying to lose a little weight, a few extra pounds, and inches around my waist. Do they have any suggestions on how can I achieve my goal of losing weight?
And I get all kinds of answers – go for a walk, run five miles, join a gym, reduce my intake of calories and fat, eat more fruits and vegetables, and on and on. These are useful suggestions. Then, I ask them to raise their hands if they routinely implement these suggestions in their own lives! Very few people raise their hands in the answer to that question! Most of us know a lot about what do we need to do to lose weight and get fit! Knowing is not the problem! Doing it consistently is!
Knowing is not the same as doing neither in fitness nor in leadership. Leadership knowing is not the same as leadership does.
Read my article here on the Fundamental problem with executive education and leadership development programs
For any leadership development initiative including leadership coaching in India, to be successful, it has to overcome this challenge of converting knowledge into action.
We should approach leadership development like a fitness regime
We should approach leadership development needs like a fitness regime. If we want to get fit, a one week routine at the gym once or twice a year, will not work! We need to work out regularly, probably daily. We should base the exercise routine on our individual needs and not a standard curriculum of one size fits all. Sometimes we will miss going to the gym. We should prepare for it.
Failing, dusting ourselves off, and getting “back on the wagon” should be part of the design of the fitness routine and shouldn’t come as a surprise. Why? Because this is how human beings learn and form habits. Losing weight and keeping it off is a process and not an event. It takes time, effort and commitment. Hiring a personal trainer for our fitness regime increases our chances of losing weight and getting fit by a wide margin. How wide a margin? Research studies have shown that hiring a personal trainer increases your success rate by a whopping 1100%!
Get a “personal trainer” for your leadership development
Our leadership coaching program using Marshall Goldsmith’s stakeholder centered coaching process is like hiring a personal trainer for your fitness regime! Here, the coach is the “personal trainer” for our leadership growth! He will help you shed leadership fat and build some leadership muscles – help us reduce or eliminate leadership bottlenecks and build on our leadership strengths. And best of all – it guarantees results. If there are no improvements in leadership behavior, there is simply no charge. Period!
We offer Marshall Goldsmith coaching in India, the middle east, and southeast Asia. It is the best coaching program in India because it is exactly the same executive coaching process used by Marshall Goldsmith to coach CEOs of Fortune 500 companies worldwide. In addition, we guarantee measurable leadership growth or you don’t pay at all.
Here are some features of the Marshall Goldsmith executive coaching program in India
- Guaranteed, measurable leadership growth as assessed–not by us–but by the leader’s own stakeholders
- Unlike leadership training or executive education programs, it will involve the entire team while doing their day to day work
- The leader becomes the coach, and it has a cascading effect on the team increasing the team effectiveness and improving organizational culture
- It is a system for continuous improvement for leaders themselves and their teams – although it is leadership coaching for the individual leader; we realize the benefit of team coaching through the involvement of the entire team
- In a study of 11,000 leaders on 4 continents–95% of the leaders using this leadership coaching process improved!
- This is the exact same executive coaching process that has been used by 150 of the Fortune 500 companies to grow their leaders through CEO coaching and leadership coaching at C-suite levels
- Hence we are so confident of the process we work on a no growth no pay basis (don’t try that with other vendors, lol!)
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