admin Effective leaders are the most crucial asset for any organization. They embrace conscious leadership and their success is directly correlated to organizational success. Nurturing the next generation leaders requires a dedicated and meticulous approach with a long-term vision and comprehensive programs to achieve the same. Obsessed with the idea of a leadership pipeline building, a professional Coach, Anu Wakhlu, has been working in the field of Leadership Development and People Capability for the last 30 years.
Through CoachMantra™, she has achieved her dream of developing and nurturing future leaders. “It was my dream to create a coaching program with a stellar team of coaches with qualifications and experience unmatched in the industry,” evinced Anu.
CoachMantra™, Creating the Next Generation of Leaders
Pragati Leadership is the result of Anu’s dedication and hard work which was started in 1988 with her husband. With a focus on Leadership Development, the company was started with a modest budget which was used largely to create the brand identity. “While as a company, we have been coaching people for over 15 years, our brand was not strongly associated with coaching. So, we decided to launch CoachMantra™, a new Business Unit whose focus was purely on using Coaching as the process for developing Leaders and Managers. The prime reason was to give the Coaching practice focus and to create a strong coaching culture,” revealed Anu.
CoachMantra™, a subsidiary company of Pragati Leadership. CoachMantra™ is equipped with a highly talented and diverse pool of coaches with an average of 25+ years of industry experience. It enables them to easily relate to the challenges faced by the coaches and offer highly customized process. “We offer ‘carbon-neutral’ coaching delivered anywhere in the world through video calls as well as Face to face meetings for coaching,” said Anu.
Getting into coaching was a natural progression! I see myself as a person who is strong, resilient, entrepreneurial and willing to learn and grow. My values are lifelong learning, conviction, balance and that has made me who I am today – Anu
Key Driving Force to Become an Entrepreneur
“Conviction, Coaching is something that is required by almost every person in the world. While there are many people offering coaching as a free-lancer, there are very few coaching companies dedicated solely to this practice. This was the prime reason. We saw an opportunity, had the skills for the same, and the passion, there was a market need and Voila!”
Building a Successful Customer base
Anu opined first we need to identify our business canvass. Who are we reaching out to and why should they come to us. “For us, our segments were the corporate sector with a focus on Top Talent and Women Leaders. We created a strong value proposition on the same and the reached out with the same to both our existing customers and new clients. This was done through personal meetings, social media, and other marketing platforms. We also focused on projecting a brand around Thought Leadership around Coaching. For that, we published articles, blogs, V-Blogs, and spoke at professional forums.”
Creating a Passionate Work Culture
Passionate about creating a strong company culture, Anu believes that creating a powerful goal/vision and a Strong Culture are both important to create a powerful and respected brand. These factors are deciding how you want to be seen by customers and experienced by the internal team. Once you have the basic attributes in place, you need to make the same explicit and known to everyone. What is the DNA of the company and how is it important? How does it matter? Once these questions are discussed and conversed around, the culture of the company starts getting created. “Of course, the Leaders then have to champion the culture, role –model the same and be willing to take a stand on the same. HR processes need to mirror the same,” she said.
Biggest Motivation, ‘Sense of Purpose, Meeting Commitments, Making a Difference’
Reflecting on motivations Anu says, “All my motivations are intrinsic. I am hardly motivated by external factors. My greatest motivations, therefore, are a sense of purpose, meeting commitments, making a difference. These help me to stay on the course and persist despite ups and downs”, “The greatest inspiration for me has been the simple saints of India like Kabir, Nanak, Sant Gynaneshwar whose simple verses and lifestyle are so inspiring. They help me to stay grounded.”
Each situation has a challenge and we need to work around it. Reframing a situation helps you not to panic but take a systematic problem-solving approach. It also helps to consult with others and seek their advice. We try to do what is best and then whatever happens –happens for the best – Anu
Formula to Become an Entrepreneur
“I am not sure if there is a fool-proof formulae-but there are certainly some common attributes that most entrepreneurs seem to have. These are Risk-taking, Courage, Opportunity Search, Passion, Customer centricity, Hard work, and being Pro-active.”
Biggest Failure, ‘Couldn’t Reach to Target Segments through CoachMantra™’
While discussing the biggest failure Anu thinks it has been around not being able to reach the other segments that they had wanted to reach out to through CoachMantra™. “We wanted to make coaching affordable and accessible to SMEs/MSMEs and Start-Ups. While we wanted to do this, our cost model was not suitable for this segment. So we have hardly got any significant clients in these very important areas. We still have not come out with a clear go-to-market strategy for this.” said Anu
Expansion from B2B to B2C
The company already established a strong presence in India and now Anu’s goal is to expand to every city in India through CoachMantra™, a shift from B2B to B2C. She also plans to start coaching internationally since they are promoting virtual coaching.
Working Style, ‘Maintaining a Balance in Personal and Professional Lives’
Anu works between 7-8 hours a week and a few over the weekend. “It’s not just the hours that matter in this business but the strategy and the plan. I also have a lot of other interests and commitments. I like to ensure I balance my personal and professional commitments well. The motto we have always used is that Business is for Life and Life is not for Business alone!”
Work-life Balance
The initial challenges are typically about work-life balance and managing priorities. “I think if you identify your stake-holders in the family early enough and speak to them about what you are trying to do, get them on board, then it is not very difficult. Since work-life and balance is also an important value for me, I ensure that I don’t go overboard on work-related activities. Week-ends for example are strict no to client-related telephone calls or assignments. This does sometimes lose clients but we need to have some boundaries in life!”
According to Anu, entrepreneurs must have invested their time in networking and collaboration, building a scaling-up model which is sustainable for the business, and client interactions.
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