Zubin Shah

Habit formation is deeply rooted in neuroscience, involving cue recognition, behaviour execution, reward feedback, and the strengthening of habit loops over time. Coaches leverage habit psychology and neuroscience to help clients build self-awareness, set goals, deconstruct habits, reinforce positive behaviours, track progress, and overcome challenges in their professional habits. The habit loop has three components which are essential for any habit change: cue, routine, and reward.

This article title is quiet flawed in a way talking about feedback and coaching hand-in-hand. Clients approach mentors to seek advice about specific pre-determined issues, where feedback is involved. However, this feedback is not a loop. Unfortunately, traditional (unsolicited) feedback is quite ineffective so mentors provide advice and feedback based on pre-determined questions from the client. On the other hand, coaches do not provide direct feedback. Coaches are not prescriptive. When a client gives permission for the coach to provide guidance, this comes in the form of working on their existing strengths and not in the form of a loop.

Firstly, not all introverted individuals are under-confident. Every mentor should be aware of this and should ensure the client of the same too. While supporting an introvert personality to develop more confidence, it is important to find out what high-energy activities work for them. It is important to leverage the existing energy from a task which the client is already good at. If they are good at a particular task at work, ask them to do that task more often. Building on existing strengths can help one build their self-confidence.

One of the biggest areas an executive should focus on during any transition is to believe in themselves. This is the biggest but the most ignored element of any career transition. While you network and develop skills, it is important to envision yourself in the specific target role or company. This can be done with journaling, having honest conversations with a coach/mentor, or speaking to the company alumni and potential senior colleagues. Adaptability to the culture and honing the vision comes as a part of any coaching relationship, but it is first important to be clear on your intentions with the potential new role and it's characteristics.

A real coach is concerned less about the models and the accuracy of these and more about the client in front of them. These models are god in theory, but almost always unusable as every situation and client challenges a coach in a different way. A good coach will think on toes how to shape a session based on the agility and depth in a conversation at a certain point in time.

Instead of relying on some outdated practices like SMART and SWOT, coachees can use the support form coaches to use RAG (traffic signal system) to identify the match between their existing competencies and future state/roles. The colours provide a clear picture of where a coachee stands today and where they aspire to be. This naturally flows into the next step to create a learning strategy.