Stirfry MBA

Ramdas Shenoy from Stirfrymba.com in conversation with Rusudan on Soft Skills

Tell us about your journey as a coach?

My first touch with coaching and decision to stay in this profession came up together. The fastest opportunity of shaping desired futures, by combining unmatched expertise, capabilities and a desire to help people overcome the challenges and navigate through change was the main motivator

Behind the decision, there was a goal to become a professional coach and milestones of growth in the new field. This journey was really interesting, gaining new knowledge, new skills, filled with self-discovery. It was really a different experience. The coaching world is very helpful, empathic, having intension on co-creation and development of each other. 

I have got my PCC certification from the International Coach Federation and am working on my Ph.D. thesis. 

How do you think it is different in your country vis-a-vis the global scenario?

Coaching in Georgia is a new area compared to the rest of the world. The main challenge is to raise awareness, set correct perception, standards of the profession and show benefits of coaching. 

What are the challenges of people in today’s world? 

We are living in the era of globalization, uncertainty. That means living in high speed, constantly being in survival mode, trying to control everything. We do not have time to take a deep breath, think about ourselves, so we lose the ability to be happy here and now, to be mindful of answering the question: For what I live? This is the biggest challenge. Enhancing emotional intelligence and developing soft skills is the other area that we need to focus on.

Tell us something about your training program? 

My training programs are designed to develop soft and hard skills by coaching techniques, enabling self-awareness, self-development and changing the mindset. A helpful environment, constructive feedback enhances better outcomes, higher results. Coaching methods allow you to work both on a group and on an individual level at the same time. This is the main feature of my various training programs: Leadership development, coaching for managers, program for managers, coaching in personnel development, goal and priority setting, communication skills, feedback, presentation skills, art of negotiation, conflict management, stress and time management, service and sales are my other areas of focus.

In which markets you operate?

I deliver training in different fields: government, local and international business, non-governmental organizations, education… wider experience paints a wider picture, makes possible to share experience from different markets, this is getting really important nowadays. 

What would be your advice to aspirants who want to get into this business?

Never stop improving, by continuous learning, perfecting competencies, self-observation. You can make a real breakthrough–change people’s mindset.    

How important are soft skills in the present digital age?

Soft skills have always been important, even if they were not given as much attention as they are now, but they are becoming more essential as technology and artificial intelligence replace humans almost in all types of work. In a new era, our real strength lies in soft skills. Hard skills are setting fundamentals, but no matter how good you are in those skills, you cannot begin to grow in your career if you don’t have the soft skills – leadership, complex problem-solving ability, communication, creativity, collaboration, and so on. Hard skills are needed to do the job, while soft skills are what helps you get the job done better. 

Any incident you recall which has impacted you or the other person which you would like to share with us?

They are happening all the time. We need to keep our minds open and be ready to reflect. Our willingness to look at a particular situation from different angles, trying to walk in someone else’s shoes, help us see more and grow more. Something is constantly happening that can have a big impact on us. We need to be more observant.

(Rusudan Kvachantiradze is PCC ICF coach, soft skills and business trainer, lecturer. Working with local and international companies. Photographer — Irakli Shalamberidze from Georgia)

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