Page 44 - Connect 2022-23

Report on Between the Lines at IMDR

th
on 19 May 2023

“A coach is someone who actually does coaching”. This
one line left the audience bewildered for a while before Ms.
Jayashree Kirtane Executive Director, Alchemy Management
Consultancy, clarified that coaching is not about ‘mentoring,
advising and consulting but goes beyond it to partner with the
client to maximize their personal and professional potential’.
She was speaking as a panelist at the 88th ‘Between the
Lines’ event held at Deccan Education Society’s Institute
of Management Development and Research (IMDR®) in
collaboration with NHRD Pune Chapter, ICF Pune Chapter and
Upohan Management Consultants on 19th May 2023.
The event began with a customary introduction of the program by Mr. Adwait Kurlekar of
Upohan. It was followed by a short video message from Saurabh Mukherjea, co-author of the
book ‘Unfiltered: The CEO and the Coach’. Mr. Eklavya Malhotra of Upohan then summarized the
contents of the book that covers perspectives of the Coach Ana Lueneburger and Coachee
Saurabh from their first interaction a few years ago to the present day. Various elements of
coaching like credibility, integrity and intimacy have been covered in it. This journey wasn’t easy
at first with Saurabh’s leadership style being all about ‘Cash Generation’. Ana coached him to
communicate better, allocate responsibilities, invest emotionally and avoid politics. The end
goal was always to enable Saurabh to know himself better.
This summary left the audience asking for more. For many of them could relate to the different
dimensions covered in the book. Mr Kurlekar then took over as the moderator for the panel
discussion that comprised of Jayashree Kirtane, Mr. Dinanath Kholkar, Sr. Vice President and
Global Head of Partner Ecosystems & Alliances, Tata Consultancy Services and Mr. Ashish Goyal
Co-Founder of Fibe India.
Mr. Kholkar shared his experiences of being coached for the first time. He discovered a few
logistical challenges associated with coaching in a large group. He shortlisted candidates from
two levels of leadership in his organization and ensured that they were coached. Personally, he
wasn’t comfortable with the online method of coaching although he believes that the mode
depends on the comfort of the participants.
Ms. Kirtane was concerned about the time invested in coaching as the process may reach a
dead end if relationship between coach and the coachee doesn’t transform to the next level. For
the relationship to work she emphasized on the need to set a few goals in the initial meetings.
She also spoke about the ‘impostor syndrome’ and how coaching is a co-learning process.
Mr. Ashish Goyal spoke about his journey from a small to
a large company. He had specific expectations from the
coaching process – it should be interactive with no pre-
defined set of frameworks, it shouldn’t be in the online format
as there’s no personal touch and that one individual shouldn’t
coach multiple people in the same team as it would lead to
further complications.
The event ended with a felicitation of all panelists by NHRDN
representative. Overall it was an enriching experience for the
audience.