Meet our Coach Members
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Asha Sridhar
Credentials: Certified Professional Corporate Coach (Progress-U) |
What led you into coaching?
I have been in the field of training and development for 17 years. I always said that I loved training. Till the day somebody said to me, "all training is useless". That statement made me realise two things - training is the start of a journey and it is the entire journey that excites me. The journey of change¡K I love change! I see change as something exciting; something to look forward to. I know that for a lot of people change is a time of uncertainty and it engenders a fear, panic and nervousness. I believe that for an individual to complete the change journey and not get off mid-way, ongoing support is necessary and what better support mechanism is there than coaching.
Tell us something unique about your coaching style.
Each individual is unique and my strength is in being appreciative of that uniqueness and not questioning it. I have also been told often that I am approachable and it is easy to build rapport with me. I also have a lot of experience working with multiple cultures and I use this experience to the benefit of my coachees.
What is your favourite coaching tool?
I am big on processes and I always like to start a session by understanding the coachee's goals for that session. I have found the GROW model to be very useful in this. During the first session, if the coachee is not really sure what they want, I have used tools like the 'Wheel of Life' and the 360 assessment. These are useful as they get the coachee to reflect and focus on an area they think is important. I intend to explore using other assessment tools going forward.
What do you do to build on your skills as a coach?
I use 'life' to build my skills. Life is the best teacher and reflecting on all the little experiences I have helps me build my skills. I also practice my listening and questioning skills every occasion I get.
Sharing experiences and information with others, reading and meditating are a few other things I do to build my skills.
What makes you a great coach?
I am able to make my coachees introspect and reflect. They usually end up with identifying solutions themselves. Thus they take greater ownership of their issue. This combined with my strength in building rapport makes me a good coach.
What is your greatest accomplishment?
During the past 3 years, I have run leadership and behavioural training programmes and workshops for over 500 people of 7 nationalities. I have also done a lot of group and individual coaching with people of different nationalities.
What are you reading at the moment?
I rarely read just one book at a time. At present, I am reading 3 books 'Self leadership - the One minute manager' written by Ken Blanchard, 'Coaching with NLP' written by Joseph O'Connor and for light reading, Stephanie Meyer's 'Twilight'.
What do you feel passionate about?
I hear a lot of people talk about being powerless; about being forced by circumstances into doing things they would rather not be doing. I strongly believe that this can be changed. I strongly believe that all of us have the choices and we choose to retain the status quo or to make the changes required. I believe that the day an individual starts to make those choices consciously and at every single cross-road of their life, they are truly empowered.
The other thing I am passionate about is working with young adults and children. I have a dream of working with under-privileged children and supporting them in taking decisions that are right for them.
Did you set any New Year's resolutions for 2009?
My New Year resolution is the same as the past few years. I want to LIVE every moment of my life to its fullest. I want to read more books, take some of the best pictures of my life, make more friends and touch more lives positively.
Contact Asha:
Tel: 6473 7109
E-mail: asha26@gmail.com
