About the Interviewee: Sanjay Kshirsagar

Sanjay is a Proactive Operation Director who specialises in high quality work of Supply Chain/HSE /Manufacturing/Quality/Procurement.

With over 25 years of experience, Sanjay has demonstrated expertise in cultivating and managing exceptional teams to meet and exceed demanding targets. He is currently pursuing his ACC accreditation from Erickson International.

With his problem-solving skills and deeper understanding of organisational challenges, he is on a mission to bring a change in work culture. At present Sanjay is an internal coach and has touched upon lives. His belief is that small changes bring a greater one and he is succeeding in bringing his vision to life.

Tell us about your journey up to now.

In terms of professional journey, I have around 25 years’ experience, in the field of supply chain, manufacturing quality and procurement. It was during the pandemic I was thinking about my real happiness in my present job and after a lot of introspection, I reached the conclusion that I am enjoying the process of coaching and mentoring my team especially about career development and life and that was also part of my job.  Also, to challenge myself, I thought that let us learn this process because this structured process of coaching will help me to deliver in a better way. After some research on coaching, I got some information about ICF( International Coaching Federation ) and then connected with some of the people from Coaching Industries, Archana was one of them.. I am really thankful to Archana, she guided me very beautifully and clear my all doubts and connected some old students of Erickson international.  One of them was Vijay Srinivasan.

During our discussion, Vijay had used one sentences and that change my entire perspective about coaching

“ Forgot about Coaching, let us became good Human Being”

At the end of the day I took that statement home. For me coaching is also self-awareness. It is to know who you are and how you are going to coaching.  And below statements also I had learned and have my mantra for day-to-day life.

“The journey of a Coach is the journey of a Human being”

How long have you been coaching?

Currently I’m coaching more than three or four people from my organization. It was a great experience. What happened was I was talking to one of my colleagues. In those moments of discussion, we realised that there are issues such as lack of proactiveness. If we talk systematically, he needs improvements. So, I took his self-assessment and shared my views with him. He made a big progress and is more proactive now. That is a great value addition from my side as coach.

How has Erickson India helped you in this journey?

Erickson has helped me stay consistent and not lose my track. Every week we are reminded of our role as coach.

People like Archana and Aishwarya stay connected to you. The weekly sessions have been very helpful. The session with Gaurav was very effective. I wish to meet Gaurav personally. For me he is a role model. I do find some connection with him as we both come from engineering backgrounds. But he had chosen the path early. I want to do more constructive work in the field of coaching, so that I enhance and give in better way to improve of life of coachee

Have you been following any other role models as well?

At present along with Gaurav I am following other people as well. I’m trying to connect with as many people as possible from the coaching industry, so in short, now I’m repeating what they say, building ground for me to jump into the coaching industry maybe after four years or five years. I am preparing myself for that, because it is not easy. Industry already has a lot of big champions. At the end of the day, you have to remember that you are unique.

How transformative has this journey been for you?

I coach on Saturdays and Sundays. But to give my 100%, I need a lot to learn. The process also involves unlearning my ego. I am in this industry for more than 25 years of experience from operation, that builds an ego. With coaching I learned a lot about self-awareness and self-acceptance. Lot of things are going on.

I am really thankful to Archana and Erickson. I am now able to understand myself. so putting up that extra hour means I am trying to understand myself. Otherwise what after 50 years? What’s my purpose in life? Finding the purpose is very important. In terms of finding inner satisfaction I would say I am on the right path.

I’m taking my time as well in this space. I’m just at the KG level in the coaching industry, a lot of things to learn . I’m trying to walk. But I’m confident about that process and the journey also.

In order to be a coach how much do you think certification matters?

Accreditation is required because when you enter in the industry, it will give you an identification. I am currently working for my ACC.

Have you developed any strategies for your coaching practice?

One of my friends told me that the best practice is to invest in that one hour and put your 100% attention. Generally, I prefer to do it on Saturday and Sunday because I mean, other people also have free time.

In terms of environment, I prefer to give 100% attention during my conversation.

That is again a benefit I got during the training program. I also started meditation in the morning. But before coaching, five minutes before I concentrate on myself. I also take care of all the distractions. I will switch up my mobile then also turn off all my notifications on the laptop. I put all my mind into that conversation and just focused on the discussion.

At times we have a lot of bias as well, so I clear my mind before entering the coaching space.

Is there something really remarkable that you want to share as your client experience? with us?

It’s just one small example that is hitting my mind now. One of my clients felt more proactive after the sessions. He started finding time for reading books. Even his family feels that there has been a development. It felt good to me that they were very satisfied. As he began reading books, his daughter started along too. Thus, also creating a lot of exposure in the environment. And when I heard that, I thought that let’s look at the mind in such a moment. I am not expecting big changes, but small stable changes.

Do you live by a code or a key message that you tell your client, especially that this is your key mantra and all your clients?

I want to connect with the values. I’ll give you an example of what it means.

One of my coachee, was discussing his problem with his listening skills. We were discussing it.  His problem centre was communication skills and speaking. We came to the conclusion that we need to improve his communication skills. One way to communicate means understanding how listening supports you.

I asked him the question, “Compare the discussion between him and his father compared to other men. Who’s the best in terms of his listening skills? Why does it happen?”

He came up with a very good answer. Respect. That’s the one value we have that impacts our listening. If I am listening to anyone, it is because of the respect.

From that discussion he gained the learning that whenever you’re sharing the space, watch how the values are connected with the next human being. As a coach, we are able to test those values now.

How do you envision your coaching journey?

My vision is very clear. I want to support everyone to perform to their potential as a coach. I wish to change management. I want to create a 360-degree change in the entire organisational approach from lack of accountability, no performance culture to a place where people are motivated to work and bring order.

I would like to quote the metaphor of battery. I am a battery. I should be fully charged, otherwise I cannot give enough power, so self- awareness and self- learning is the key for me,  and I strongly believe “Who you are is, how you Coach”.

Before going please share a message to the coaching fraternity.

Just enjoy the journey. I am sharing my observation because a lot of people are completing so-called coaching hours or training journeys for the sake of it, for the money behind. No one is seeing the effort that is required to succeed like Gaurav, or anybody else.

Your journey or my journey can be different hence enjoy the journey.

So just to give one example, maybe I want to move from Mumbai to Pune. And somebody else wants to travel from Mumbai to Delhi. Conclusion is that the path can be different, all we can do is enjoy the journey.

In my view coaching is as per below quote-

“If a stick is floating down a river and gets stuck, it doesn’t need years of therapy. It just needs a little nudge and it will get back into the flow of the river.” ~ Michael Neill