I had the opportunity to meet with the CEO of a large company on “creating a coaching culture “ within the organization . When we started discussing the “As is “ situation ,he was clearly troubled about the fact his executive leadership team was not on the same page regarding –achievement of “agreed upon” targets for this year .According to them, he had taken on a very ambitious target which was way out of reach for the team and they were stretched on several counts. Surprisingly, he said the existing team was the one the had grown massively against all odds the previous year.

When we asked him – what was the leadership strategy ensured last year’s success –He said “extremely aggressive” and smiled .The same strategy was clearly not working this year, as was evident from the fact –there were attrition and people management issues

But at the core of the issue –The belief orientation was just not there!! All the artifacts around the Office seemed to say –This team in a show of congruent thought designed the values and mission statement –this still seemed like a cerebral exercise and that change had not registered at a core emotional level – There was no war cry call for action and change.

When my colleague and myself started with the diagnosis –some of the thoughts that went through us:

How do we build Beliefs? Are they something that happen? How can we consciously choose to believe something we don’t? How will this fool our brains and propel us into action?

Roger Bannister was the first man to cover a mile in 4 mins in 1954, the following year – 30 people broke his record, they had enough reference to show that it could be done! What’s the way forward in the absence of any references? Where does one draw empowering beliefs for oneself and the team??

Interesting challenges that coaching attempts to solve! Watch this space