Hivin' N Vibin' With Dr. BB
Home to Hivin' N Vibin' with Dr. Bb, a podcast hosted by our founder Dr. Banya Barua. The show features a variety of coaches and leaders as our guests who give their insights on their areas of expertise.
Hivin' N Vibin' With Dr. BB
Navigating Change with Sarika Goel
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Meet Sarika Goel, leadership coach and HR professional who helps people navigate change with compassion and courage. Drawing on two decades in corporate leadership and her own migration journey, Sarika empowers clients to reframe challenges, quiet self-doubt, and take one step at a time toward purposeful growth. Through mindfulness, storytelling, and self-compassion, she reminds us that resilience isn’t about strength alone — it’s about awareness, reflection, and celebrating the small wins that lead to lasting transformation.
Hyvin and Vibin with Dr.
SPEAKER_01Bibi. Welcome to Hiven and Vibe with Dr. Bibi. I have with me today Sarika Goel. Sarika Goel is a resilience coach with over two decades of HR leadership experience in global organizations. She's certified by the J Shetty Certification School and accredited by the Association for Coaching. She helps immigrants, expats, and entrepreneurs navigate change, overcome setbacks, and build lasting confidence. Sarika's coaching blends compassion, practical tools, and a deep understanding of the unique challenges faced during transitions. Beyond coaching, she contributes actively to the community service, leading HR strategy at MYND Initiative Incorporated, volunteering with elder rights advocacy to reduce loneliness among the elderly. Having migrated to Australia in 2023, Sarika draws on her own journey to empower others to grow with resilience and purpose. Welcome Sarika.
SPEAKER_00Thanks, Lanya. Thanks for such a lovely introduction.
SPEAKER_01I have loads of we have loads of common areas. So let me start by asking you what are your guiding principles as a coach?
SPEAKER_00Reframing your stories. So those are a few things that I look at. Breaking down bigger tasks into smaller, uh actionable steps. So those are a few things. And I see my clients as whole and complete. So when I start coaching them, it's a partnership and a journey we are on together and not something that we have to fix. So those are a few things I go into coaching with.
SPEAKER_01And how did you discover these principles?
SPEAKER_00Good question. So of course, A, it was part of the certification school that we did learn a lot. And when I brought it into practice, uh I saw that in action that they really work. So for example, when I see a client as whole and complete, it makes me non-judgmental. And when it makes me non-judgmental, it makes them feel more safe to bring up their thoughts and ideas. So when I saw that happening, those that started forming as my principle that okay, they are whole and complete. And then I would um I would say that when they would share, if I was not compassionate, um, okay, let me track back. So I saw first self-compassion was needed for myself. Um, I would uh make mistakes or something would happen which I didn't want to happen. And when I brought in self-compassion for myself, I was able to be more compassionate to my clients, and that's exactly what I uh share and kind of try my clients to build within themselves. That self-compassion uh helps you build everything around you, the relationships around you, and and all of that. So those are experiences that I saw, and when I saw changes in my clients with using those, it made all the difference. So I can I can share a story of a client. Um she was trying to, uh she was very nervous. She was very nervous about she was taking up a new job. She was in New Zealand, taking up a new job, and felt like she would never pass her probation period. And uh and then she would look at this another colleague uh who was vibrant, who was um vocal, and she felt like she were she doesn't compare anywhere. She was this girl who was very quiet, nerdy, so to say, and that made her anxious. When we started working on looking within and being compassionate to how she was, she started seeing that she brings more strengths in many other ways than that particular colleague she was comparing herself with. Um, and that built her confidence.
SPEAKER_01Lovely. So, before you talk about how you built your clients, let's talk about how you built yourself. Let's start from when did you discover the coach in you?
SPEAKER_00When did I discover coaching? Um, so there are two parts. One is I wanted to be in coaching. So at least 15 years back, um I ICF was still new in India, and uh there were organizations who were certifying you under ICF and they were reaching out. And I still remember my mailbox having a folder saying coaching in my office mailbox where all these mails would come and I'll keep them parked there because I had no time. Um, but my uh team members used to feel like they feel heard. Um, I'm able to support them, but I never made made time for uh coaching and getting certified. Um then I enrolled myself into a program. Uh uh, this is an uh India-based program, Iron Lady, where we started working on your big goals and etc. etc. And my mind immediately threw the big goal as coaching, but I still did not make time. Uh right, and they gave us all the tools that I could how I could become a coach, but uh how they didn't give me tools on how I could become a coach, but they gave me a structure. If I had used, I could have done what I had to do, but I still did not. And then um life has its own ways. So if you don't take that decision, you don't take that step, I believe universe throws you towards it. Um so my way came the redundancy of the role I was in for 17 years. I was in that role, and that just shook everything up. For once I felt like I don't know what to do, but then I knew exactly what to do. And I I simply went ahead and signed up for J Shadi certification school. So yeah, it could have been a little bit of okay, I need to manage myself as well, uh, understand my own emotions with this redundancy, and also I wanted to be in coaching, so everything kind of fitted it well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, okay. And were there any moments of doubt when you first started as a coach?
SPEAKER_00So I yes, I would be lying if I say no, right? Uh moments keep coming up where you do doubt that am I good enough? Do I know enough? Um, yeah, so that does happen, and very quickly you can go into a spiral. And what I've learned is uh our mind gives us reasons to support it as well. So when you start thinking about that, it'll give you all the possible reasons to support yes, that yeah, you don't know enough and all that. Yeah, so I did build my own kind of um smaller steps to help me navigate through those moments of doubt. And it started with a pause. So whenever that comes in, uh I have to pause. Okay, where is this coming from? And then I realized why and where is not helping me, so I changed that question to what? And the question was, okay, it is coming, what can I do about it? And as soon as I had a simple action to it, and action could be anything, action could be, look, this is looking too big, you can't do it alone. Reach out to a friend and talk to a friend, or sign up for a coaching program because you need a structure. This is this is not helping you. So as soon as I had a what and smaller actions to do go with it, that helped me kind of pull me out of those uncertain times.
SPEAKER_01Ah right. So in a way, you are saying that you did you did you did suffer from pangs of imposter syndrome.
SPEAKER_00I did, I did, and um very interestingly, when I had landed in Australia, one day I had to go and meet all these uh group of ladies in a five-star hotel. And uh it was very interesting. I started to look at what to where, and then suddenly from what to where it went to why am I even going to a five-star hotel? And that's when I stopped, and this was early on when I was in Australia. So I stopped myself, where is this coming from? You've been to multiple countries, you've been to multiple meetings, multiple five stars. So, what is happening? And I realized brain can sometimes do this to you, and yeah, so I've learned to pause there, step back, and just shift the story.
SPEAKER_01Right, and how do you shift that story?
SPEAKER_00The biggest is first is knowing that that story is playing. So a lot of times we the story plays and you let it play for a long time. Um, the first thing is as soon as I'm aware that the story is playing, I can do something about it. And then I ask myself, is this a fact or is it this is an assumption? It depends what the situation is. For example, in this um five-star hotel story, um, it was not the question was yes, is it a fact or an assumption? It was an assumption which was playing some kind of assumption, a fear, uh, fear of a new thing and uh new place, so uncertainty playing up there. And then I change that from change that to what? What can I do? So, in that situation, my what was it's okay. I don't need to speak, I don't need to do too much. I'll just go there and see how things are. I'll just listen.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so let's talk about uh you you worked, you have an HR leadership experience in global global organizations. So let's talk about how that two decades of leadership experience has actually shaped your coaching practice.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so um I got a lot of learning uh from those two decades.
SPEAKER_00Um a lot of it was startup. So I've worked through seeing an organization start in complete chaos to growth. Um I've also seen a lot of politics happen within the organization, and now when I see, I can also see how we limit ourselves, um not speaking up, what holds us back. So when I'm coaching my clients and they're sharing their journeys, uh I am able to understand empathize with them, but as well as bring up and challenge them with different tools, um, so that they can they can actually shine. Um I saw this with one of my clients who was so unhappy in his organization, and but he thought that's that's the place which is good for him. It's giving him opportunities, and it took us six months to figure out a strategy and a plan that okay, fine, this is good. It is giving you opportunity, build your own kind of portfolio. Let's do one thing, and that was through challenging, it was not like an advice, but he decided himself and he surprised me after one week of meeting. He had gone and met 10 different people from the industry just for coffee ketchups, and in through that, he could see that there's more than what he's kind of thinking, and he's limiting himself. So now that comes from the exposure that I've had in my journeys. So that's that's what I would say. I would I've seen employees who have taken that initiative and not take that initiative to employees who are scared that if I say that, my manager will be unhappy and therefore my job will be impacted. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So okay. And how did that, I mean, how did obviously your past experience and you know your your experience has made you choose to be a resilience coach. Now, why a resilience coach? That's a very good question.
SPEAKER_00Why a resilience coach? Um, so if I look at my uh corporate experience, um I joined startups, both uh noctri.com. I worked first in Noctri.com and then later in GLG. They were both uh kind of startups, and uh it really requires you to be uh resilient through uncertainty. So there was a lot of uncertainty, there was a lot of ambiguity in both the organizations. Um and I wouldn't say it was because of the organization and the leaders, because I love the NOPRE leaders, uh it was more because it is it was growing so fast. And um, when I joined, I didn't have an HR leader, I was just myself with no experience in HR. So there was uh immense amount of uncertainty. So I did learn through those experiences, through the that uncertainty, that you just need to keep taking one step at a time. And that's been my mantra since then. That just keep taking that one step at a time. Um, starting from okay, do I have all the resumes of the current employees? Let's get the records straight first. Then we'll think of the next step and the next step and the next step. Um, I did make a lot of mistakes in that in the process. Like I remember I gave uh somebody flexibility on income tax fees uh to give me records later, the proof of investments and all that. And on the deadline of the financial year, I was panicking. He had not given. I was calling him up, he was not answering, so I realized how big a mistake I've made not to do that. So uh, but I didn't I did realize these mistakes happen as part of learning. So I had to be compassionate to myself. Uh so that was my early experience. Um, even at GLG, I had not worked with international four people. I was very India-based, and that's why that's where my exposure to work with all multicultural people started. And how different they are, but at the same time how similar they are. So each of my office, so I was overseeing in each of my office, be it Singapore, be it Sydney, uh, be China, said one statement consistently head office would not understand what we need. We are different. And that all that made me realize that everyone wants to be seen and heard and valued in that way, and they want to be appreciated for their uniqueness. Uh, but coming back to resilience, there was a lot of again, uh in my role at GLG, there was a lot of learning, setbacks, and then stepping again um into building more and more uh good processes for what works for employees. So yeah. So what I realized was just sitting down and feeling like I can't do it, or oh my god, there's no way out, I made a big blunder, couldn't work, wouldn't let me move forward. Um yeah, so that's where I think I built my resilience. Uh, one of the feedbacks I used to get is you have a growth mindset, which I did not understand because I had not read the book back till then. But I understood it later. Um, but yeah, so I think because of that, and then in my personal journey, when I saw setbacks, um I realized that we are all resilient, but there are times when, and this is what has become my strong belief: there are times when things are uncertain, things are changing, and it's just those uncertain times and difficult times when we need some support and space, but otherwise, we are all very resilient.
SPEAKER_01I agree. I agree that resilience is there in each individual. It's just that it's not awakened at times, and at times it's really fast asleep, deep asleep. Yeah, so coming to your choice of community service, you work with MYND initiative.
SPEAKER_00Do you want to talk about that? Yeah, so we don't call it MYND, we call it mind. It's just that the mind is spelt differently. All right, it's mind. Okay, my bad. All right. Uh yeah, so um, so mind initiative. Um as soon as I came to Australia, I kind of looked at where where I can volunteer. It was deep inside me that I want to volunteer. And mind is all about creating mental health awareness, especially amongst communities. Um, what we realized is that uh in several communities, it is not okay or understood uh to talk about mental health. Uh, for example, we'd be told what you guys like our generation that you would say that you are uh having depression or you're low or anxiety, these are just made-up problems. Start working hard and these problems will not disappear. So they don't want to talk about it, and it's very difficult to for them to understand that when you are in that phase of uh feeling, be it any kind of mental health awareness, uh mental health issue, uh even if you want to, you're not able to, and that's what needs support. So we want to mind initiative wants to create awareness around that and make it normal to talk about mental health issues.
SPEAKER_01Fantastic. And then why did you decide to mind in mind initiative? I now understand why you're why you joined that. And what made you make Time for elder rights advocacy?
SPEAKER_00It was very, very personal. So when I came to Australia, uh I felt very lonely. Felt very, very lonely. My daughter would go to university and uh with her friends, and my husband would go to work, and I was sitting there alone at home, extremely lonely. Um but but what I had learned was what can I do about it, right? So I said, how can I make my pain into power? And that's what made me search a little bit, and I found loneliness being epidemic amongst the elderly, and that's where I can contribute. Uh, it was just two months, sorry, three months. Uh, I had lost my mother, and they interestingly, they attached me to an elderly lady who's in a bed. I almost felt like I'm getting an opportunity to meet my mother in a different way. So I yeah, so it was very personal in that manner. Um, yeah. When I used to see her, she was so nice, and I felt like, um, is she helping me or am I helping her? I I don't know.
SPEAKER_01I get it. Yeah. So that's a very personal choice. Yeah, it was very personal. Okay, so uh coming back to your what is your coaching practice? What is the approach that you take for your for your clients? Do you have a methodology that you follow?
SPEAKER_00Uh so I would say uh one is I look at narratives, so stories. So there are two things uh which stand out. I do listen to stories patiently, mirror it back to them, and then I remain solution focused, which is why this change from why to what and taking one step at a time, one step at a time helps in the solution focused. So when I'm hearing the stories, uh, instead of getting wrapped in the story, I try and try to bring them out of that and reframe. Um, to reframe, I use stories again. So I would share different stories depending on the situation. Uh, and for solutions, uh I look at how I can break things down into smaller actionable steps. Um, and compassion and celebration stand as big pillars and within that is so like for example, one of the clients, she was trying to journal, and she said, I asked her, I said, what does journaling really mean to you? How much will you have to journal? Because she's been wanting, but not being able to. So she says, at least two, three pages. Said, okay. Uh so since you've not been able to do it, can you uh kind of reduce the pressure and do it shorter time, a shorter page? She said, Okay, one page. Uh, she decided, but and but next day, she next week she came back and she said, I haven't journaled. So we explored, okay, can you keep the journal in a place which will remind you and all that? We did all of that, but when nothing worked, we said, okay, how about just writing two, three words? So she said, Yeah, that sounds good. I said, and what is the time you could do? And she's she figured that when she's traveling, two, three words, she can even write on the phone. So she will use her phone to journal. And I was surprised how that changed everything for her. She started journaling regularly. Um, even though she had started with two, three words, it didn't state at two, three words. She started journaling properly, and which gave it gave her insight, confidence, and all of it. So, yeah, so I look at breaking things down into smallest, easiest possible action.
SPEAKER_01Right. So you almost said you almost spoke about one of your breakthroughs then when you you know when you're speaking about this. Is there any other breakthrough, a significant breakthrough moment for you as a coach?
SPEAKER_00Um, this one was big. Uh another one, but I what I did, I'll have to think about that. But another one was when a client said, when I started speaking to you, um my approach was or my attitude was glass half empty. And this was about I think the fourth session or the fifth session, and he said, and now my attitude is glass half full. Although he went ahead and said, I don't know, but what you did, lovely.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but that that was big, that was a big shift for to see. So, what does Sarika do for herself? How do you sustain your strength? How do you sustain your energy?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, uh that's a good one. Uh, why I say that's a good one is recently a friend I was reading a book, and a friend said, now do some real work. And I kind of stopped and it's like all this is part of my work. Uh, when I go for a walk, that's part of my work, and uh when I listen to music, that's part of my work. So those are things I I meditate, I journal, uh, walks, being part of the community that's big for me. Uh and when I say I meditate, I basically try and observe what's important for me and what's not. So there it doesn't mean that I need to meditate for hours. Sometimes it's just calming myself and real seeing, okay, what's working, what's not working, and what do I need? And how is my energy with this? Um, I do also approach and get myself oached. Uh, because I do realize that I can see what I can see, and what I can't see, uh, I need somebody else uh to kind of show that to me. Um yeah, so these are a few things, and I can't I love learning, so I keep reading books and doing different courses. Uh yeah, but for my energy, it's meditation, walks, journaling.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so from one meditator to another, even I'm even I practice meditation, which practice really helps you and you know gets you into the zone of meditation pretty quickly.
SPEAKER_02So uh yeah, I've tried so many.
SPEAKER_00Um what gets me into meditative state is I I focus on my forehead, third eye.
SPEAKER_01Third eye.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I can and that's what gets me into that zone quickly. And what I've seen recently is if thoughts are coming in, I let them float in balloons. That one worked very, very well for me. That when I let thoughts float in a balloon, suddenly there is a blank space, and then I'm looking, there's no thought. So yeah, that really works for me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so true. Yeah, what would be your share of wisdom that you would like to give, you know, to fellow coaches?
SPEAKER_02I would say not only to fellow coaches, but this is for I guess everyone, uh which is continuing to take one step at a time with compassion and celebrating each small win.
SPEAKER_00That is what I would say, because uh when we celebrate every small win, our mind starts shifting and seeing those positive things and more flowing, and you are able to see those opportunities then. So, yeah, that's what I would say.
SPEAKER_01Fantastic. How would you like your our listeners and our audience to connect with you?
SPEAKER_00LinkedIn. So I'm most active on LinkedIn. Um LinkedIn messages, DMs, um, etc. Otherwise, my email address is also there if they want to reach out and send me an email, uh, which is contact at sarikagoil.com.
SPEAKER_01Fantastic. Um I think this has been a fantastic session. We have learned a lot about your transition, while also you are, you know, you shared how you have how you go about you know telling stories about your your clients as you know, has made I'm sure it'll make other coaches you know reflect on what they have gone through and how they have gone through it. So this is fantastic. I have just one more question to ask you, and that is uh almost wrapping it up with this question that you your target clients you choose to work with immigrants, expats, and entrepreneurs. And you're very specific that you know to navigate change or to overcome setbacks. What why did you choose this particular target segment of people to clutch?
SPEAKER_00Uh I felt like I can bring most value to them. Uh and change is one thing. Um so, first of all, why change? Change is one thing that most uh a lot of people struggle with and get anxious with. I still remember a colleague, we shifted her desk from this corner to this corner, and she was anxious. So um I have seen personally how change can be difficult for a lot of people, and I went through a lot of change myself. So I can empathize and see and realize where they're coming from. Um, why immigrants and expats? I have worked. Uh, one, I have an experience myself. Being my previous role in the corporate role, um, for the last five years, I was heading mobility, which included changing jobs from within the organization from one role to another, plus moving from one country to another. And I remember talking to people and how difficult it was, how difficult that change was, even though they have moved earlier. Some of them said, I have uh traveled and I have moved countries earlier, but every time it's equally difficult. So yeah, and um, and I had seen tempers going up, I had seen all of that. So I know how important uh that period is for expats, immigrants, uh, and even later when they have moved this identity shift, identity conflict. Am I from here or am I from there? Um because of which they are not able to show up that well in the organization, in the corporates. So given all that experience that I bring with myself, I felt like this is uh a community where I could bring in value to, and they need it. Um whether they're actively looking out or not. But yeah, that change, I could help make that change a little more easier.
SPEAKER_01Fantastic. Thank you, Sarika. And with this, I think we are at our end to our interview session. And I really thank you for sharing your insights and your experiences. I'm I hope that you know it will empower our audience and our listeners with your wisdom. Thank you so much, Sarika, for being with us.
SPEAKER_02Thanks, Vanya. It was really my pleasure to be here.