Hi everyone, here’s what we have for you this week:
Building authentic business relationships is a must-have leadership skill. In this week’s episode of The Everyday Leader, Neha Kumar shares her best practices from her Product Partnership role at African fintech startup Stitch.
Not sure if its a good time for you to work with a professional coach? We share 4 strategies to consider if your CoffeeChat Coachability Index score indicates a reluctance to work with a coach.
Read on for more details…
Building authentic relationships with business partners, the shift from time-based to outcome-based work, and how the process of hiring a team can lead to valuable reflection
Here are a few highlights from the conversation with Neha:
Recruiting for a team is an opportunity to look within your personal and team’s soft skills: While working in Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs in London, Neha found herself for the first time needing to hire others. In order to hire a cohort of interns, she found herself needing to screen specifically for soft skills as all of the finalists were extremely well qualified. This process made her realize that how you show up and behave on the job is so much more important than your past extracurricular and academic achievements.
Building authentic relationships will consistently produce value throughout your leadership journey: Neha has held several different types of roles, some requiring that she manage large teams while her most recent role is mostly focused on building external partners. She noted that the theme across all these roles has been the ability to establish and maintain authentic relationships with people that result in open lines of communication and mutual benefit. In a remote work setting, achieving this with new partners has been more challenging but still achievable through increased efforts in upfront alignment around shared goals and making sure to document conversations well.
Remote work has rewarded managers who are efficient at producing results: Neha has noticed more broadly and personally preferred the shift from performance management being less about “time at the office” and more about tracking output and outcomes. She says this has also shifted management styles towards empowering individuals and teams to be accountable towards goals with less day-to-day micromanagement.
Professional coaching is an experience that requires strong alignment and commitment between an individual and a coach. Our CoffeeChat Coachability Index includes ten questions that serve as a gauge to determine whether you are currently in the mindset and position to work with a coach in a conducive and constructive environment.
If you score lower than expected or feel that you are not coachable at the moment, here are some ways to begin your journey towards becoming more coachable:
Take a free personality assessment. This will begin the process of greater self-awareness about your own tendencies and create space for further self-reflection. We recommend using www.16personalities.com
Start a daily journal practice. This habit can unlock new appreciation for growth and gratitude. We recommend trying the Five Minute Journal App at www.intelligentchange.com/products/five-minute-journal-app
Speak to your manager or mentor. Ask them about the growth areas they would recommend for you and whether coaching could be a good fit for you right now or not. The act of seeking feedback is the first step, and you might be surprised by what you hear.
Re-think your schedule. When people feel that they are too busy to take on coaching, often it’s a false choice between a coaching session and catching up on work. In reality, one common benefit of working with a coach is finding ways to make decisions faster and become more efficient with your time. In fact, we often assert that when your work feels most busy or you are in the middle of major projects, this is actually an ideal time to speak regularly with a coach since there are plenty of growth areas to reflect upon and rapidly apply new strategies and insights.