Coaching Chronicles with Vijay Srinivasan

Author: Team xMonks | Published on: Mon, 07 Jun 2021 11:53:14 +0000

In a world where coaches are constantly presented with opportunities for further training, what truly cultivates coaching mastery? Erickson's coaching module provides an ideal environment for coach development. You can enroll in the module, assess its effectiveness, and take it from there.

Our graduates have each embarked on their unique journeys to become coaches. However, it's always insightful to understand what motivated someone to abandon the conventional and pursue the untrodden path.

About the Interviewee: Vinay Srinivasan

We had a fantastic conversation with Vinay Srinivasan, an aspiring Coach. Enjoy this insightful read about his journey on the coaching path and how he's forging his way.

Vijay is a software engineer. A Bangalore University alumna, Vijay has worked for over 20 years with leading companies. He is an experienced DevOps and an Automation, Performance Engineering Professional.

Let's start by learning a bit about your journey so far. How did you begin your coaching journey?

I started on this particular path last October. That's when I took the art and science of coaching by Erickson in October. Currently, I'm working for a company, which is a business analytics practice. So my experience has been in the IT field until now. I am responsible for processes and implementation for the organization to standardize those processes. And that's pretty much the work. I completed The Arts and Science of Coaching, and finished it on the 29th of November last year. So that's how it started. I'm just four months old in this journey. And I am on track to get my ACC by the end of this year, which is work in progress as of now.

Is there any incident you'd like to share that made you feel you could embark on this coaching path, leaving the ordinary behind?

That's interesting. One time I was discussing with an acquaintance, and I always had that urge to do something of my own. So I was exploring that with this type. He said, why don't you look at coaching as an option? He recommended that I talk to Erickson International. I said, fine, I'll do that. Let me give it a try and explore it.

As I proceeded, I had a talk with the members of the xMonks team. I had a discussion with them, I tried to understand. Rather, they understood what I wanted. I connected with Gaurav as well just to understand how exactly this coaching journey would be.

This served me as an alternate career path. It was per se from a career point of view. Then Gaurav made a very pertinent point when I asked him what exactly I would achieve at the end. He said something that stayed with me. Something along the lines of 1001 reasons why you will be able to achieve how many I would like to know.

He said it would just help you to be a better version of yourself. That actually made me think. Somehow there was an instant connection with Gaurav. Before that, I had an extensive talk with Archana as well, and it resonated. So that's how I landed on this path.

How would you describe your transformation with Erickson?

As I started this coaching journey, I thought we would be learning some skills. Typically when we talk of any learning, we talk of acquiring some skills. And then we are going to put that particular thing in practice. In fact, Gaurav was our facilitator during the course. Gaurav made a very well-thought and a very particular point, and that resonated with most of us, including me.

He said, "The journey of a coach is the journey of a human being."

Before you coach anyone, you will have to understand the transformation yourself. Another thing that came in during this process of coaching is about asking some powerful questions. And before you ask them, it is better that you ask yourself. Once we got into this particular course, it was exactly a 360-degree reversal, that it's not about us, it's about you.

As it progressed over a period of time and by the end of the sessions, those notes actually produced some kind of magical effect. That's pretty much how this course has helped me transform.

What is one belief you broke out of during the journey?

I will be as vulnerable as I can be (which we appreciate). I am the kind of person who starts a lot of things but never finishes. That is typically what I would say I was. And that's not exactly the observation I was talking about. What if a client is coming with the same set of problems, what do I do? How can I ask him or tell him that he has to do something when I am not doing it?

That's when the shift started happening, once during the course and more specifically after the course. The first thing I thought for myself is I have to get rid of this habit or improve on that habit. I will not get rid of it. I started exploring how I can take coaching to the next level. I enrolled in a few of the other courses on the internet. How can you reach a larger audience, and all those things that they again made me make a fundamental shift in terms of my thinking. Slowly but surely, something was happening.

I was not accomplishing much. I was someone who was starting and not giving up. I was realizing that I am actually much more focused, laser focused I would say, and I was completing things. So I started doing that particular course for the last 45 days. I would say I am on a consistent basis. There are some inherent fears that I was having like, "Hey, I want to communicate my ideas to the world. Is there a better way of doing that?"

I started writing blogs, which I was not doing because of the fear of people. What will people think about me if I go wrong, or whatever the case may be. In one of the one classes that I was listening to, the person said, the biggest problem that all of us are facing is what people will think of us. Yes. And he said, he didn't stop there. The other person about whom you are thinking what he will think of us, is also thinking the same way, what we have and what you will think about him. Like a mirror.