Season 6 Episode 5: The Word on Coaching - Discovery

In this episode Krishna Wall, Agency Field Specialist Manager shares some serious wisdom related to the word - Discovery.

This episode is easy listening as Krishna talks about the power of coaching and discovery.

As you listen you will hear how leaders can use coaching as a practical leadership style versus coaching being just another activity.

She practices and teaches coaching as a way to solve hard problems.

We hope you enjoy this episode.

Contact Information:
(24) Krishna Wall | LinkedIn

 Recommended Books in this Podcast Episode:

Amazon.com: You Win in the Locker Room First: The 7 C's to Build a Winning Team in Business, Sports, and Life (Jon Gordon): 9781119157854: Smith, Mike, Gordon, Jon: Books


Check out our best-selling book The Word on Coaching.  Buy a copy for yourself and copies to share with others. It is a great resource for one-on-one and group discussions.

Amazon.com: The Word on Coaching: 9781737643807: Neely, Debby, Auger, Joann, Fuselier, Kevin: Books

Also, please check out quick guide about powerful questions: "Embrace the Power of Questions!"   A Quick Reference Guide to Getting the Answers You Need.  

Transcript

Debby 0:04

Hi everyone. Welcome to the Word On Coaching podcast. I am Debbie and I'm here with Kevin and Joanne. Hey guys. Hello, good evening. We are coaches three. We are three friends with years and years of leadership and coaching experience, and we wanna share our passion with you. Our podcast, the word on coaching is for leaders, whether you have that formal title or not, because let's face it, we know a lot of you are out there leading without that formal title. And what we do is we focus on one word that relates to leadership and coaching. And we know leadership is hard. So we, along with our guests, we're gonna give you some tips, some information, maybe a different perspective on things, and always a lot of support. We've got your back. So today I'm very excited to welcome Krishna Wall. So let me tell you a little bit about her. So Krishna is a leader at a Fortune 50 organization. And I was really excited that Krishna said yes to being one of our guests. And because I feel like Krishna, you have a unique perspective and that is that you've held some unique roles in your organization that I think is really gonna come into play tonight when you talk about your word. You are an internal coach and your organization, that was your job. Like your job was to coach, which is really cool. And then you went into a formal leadership role. So you have a team. But when you do that, you lean into your coaching style as a leader. We call that a leader coach. So that's the second role that I think is really exciting. And then there's a third one, so you kinda have the trifecta, which is why you, you guys hear excitement in my voice. The third role is I would call you a mentor coach because I feel like you model coaching for others and you support them in building their coaching skills. I've been around Krishna for a while and I also know a lot about people on her team and if you talk to anyone who knows Krishna, you'll hear things like, you know, she makes me feel like I can do things like she empowers me. If I can't figure things out, she gives me that space and that support to figure things out. It's okay if I make a mistake, she'll help me how to get past it and get the learning from it and move on. And when I'm with Krishna, I get results. So those, those are signs of a true leader Coach Krishna. That's a lot of stuff. You've been on a great coaching journey. What, what else would you like to share with us about you? What should we know about you?

Krishna 2:29

Wow. Thank you, Debbie. That's awesome. And, and very touches my heart. So thank you. Certainly excited to be with you all today and appreciate the opportunity. And as you said, It's been a little bit of a journey, a coaching journey for me, so I look forward to sharing more about that later. I've really been, been blessed. I've had my 26 year career with the same organization, served in a variety of roles in several departments and market areas, which has been really cool cuz it's allowed me to work with a lot of amazing people with different skill sets. Many of whom I've become family or friends who have become family and like family. And I'm passionate about making a difference in all that I do and, and really in the lives of the people I touch. That's really important to me to make a difference In them, and it's really what fills me up. It's what gives me energy, and I'm super blessed to work with a fun, hardworking, caring, and very connected team. I love spending time with my family and friends. I enjoy traveling with my husband, thrive on being active and enjoy watching sports and for me sports. I, I played sports growing up. I love watching sports in person and, and on television. I really believe there's tons of life lessons and leadership lessons that we can learn from both, both playing and watching sports.

Debby 3:44

Okay. Do you wanna give a shout out to your Georgia team?

Krishna 3:47

Oh, yeah. So, you know, I, yeah, I, I was gonna leave that out. But yes, I am very proud to be a fan of the two time reigning National Championship in George Bulldogs. I see Kevin over there with the Boo.

Debby 4:01

So for today's episode, the word is discovery. Now, I shared a few possible words for today's podcast with you, Krista, but when I said discovery, when just the two of us chatted, you immediately said That's the word for you. That's the word that you wanted to talk about. So what does discovery mean to you? Yeah.

Krishna 4:20

That's a word that feels very big to me and I think it feels that way because for me, discovery represents like an awakening of possibilities. And it brings out, for me, it brings out like I feel empowered and I get confidence out of discovering you know, making it a self-discovery. And sometimes it can be scary cuz sometimes you discover things that you're. That were in there and you're like, well, I didn't really know that that's how I was feeling about something. But when it clicks, when you have that discovery of just, it, it's that thing inside of us that it's likely always been there. And it can be really magical and it can compel us to act and it can compel us to not act depending on what that discovery is. So that's, that's what it means to me. Very

Kevin 5:07

interesting. Discovery. Well, let's see what we're gonna discover tonight. I would like you to take us back to where you first discovered coaching. What, what drew you to coaching? And help us understand how did you develop your coaching skills?

Krishna 5:24

Yes. I mean, again, I've, I've been always, I've played sports, I love sports, so had a lot of exposure to coaches growing up and but really in my career, it started about 10 years into my career and it was because of a leader that I worked with. This person, it was very well respected, got results, extremely connected to the team and the people that they served. And when I first went to work for this person they really spent time getting to know me, what was important to me what I was looking for in a leader. And I don't know that I'd ever been asked that question up, up to that point, which I thought was, was pretty cool that they wanted to know what I was looking for in them. I. They shared what they expected from me so very, you know, very transparent about what those expectations were, and then outlined how we would work together collaboratively. So I was pretty excited about that because I, I immediately felt like we were a team. I certainly did not realize that that person at, I didn't realize at that time that that's what a leader coach was. I just thought it was pretty cool. I knew it felt different and that I was really excited and I felt extremely supported in my role. And this leader hurt what I call her caring trademark. She is extremely committed to developing everyone around her. That was, that was her passion. And it didn't matter whether you worked for her or you knew her in some other, you know, some other way. She was gonna, she was gonna do something to develop you. And because of this, I had the opportunity to, Attend my first coaching work workshop in in Chicago. It was a two day workshop. It was very intense and I was hooked. I walked away knowing that whatever I was gonna do in my career, whatever that was gonna look like, it was gonna involve being a coach in some way. And I just looked. I continued to seek opportunities to develop and I really made career and personal moves., I made decisions in my career and in my personal life that would help me fill my passion for coaching and really allow me to continue to develop those skills. Well, I love

Kevin 7:31

listening to your answer when you're talking about the person who inspired you. Oftentimes we'll talk about, some people say they're doing coaching. Versus being a coach, because to me, coaching is a way of being. It's not something that you do mm-hmm. Or do to someone. It's a, it's a way that you are who you are when you show up. We say that a lot, but it's more about being a coach than doing coaching. I, I heard that in your answers. Thank you, Krishna.

Krishna 7:59

Yeah. And

Debby 8:00

I hope people have pen and pencil right in a piece of paper where they're writing some stuff down here. Like some of those questions that that leader asked you, those were great questions that you can ask

Krishna 8:11

somebody else. Yeah, she definitely, I mean, she talking about being, she that's, that's who she was day in and day out. And what's really cool about her, this person is that she, retirement went to the retirement party and. Witnessing the room full of people and the lives that she impact and, and talking to people and that impact that she made on them. And then we still, we meet several times a year for dinner, which is, is pretty cool. Wow.

JoAnn 8:42

That's, that's what a legacy, right? Mm-hmm. And you know, one person, and we say this often as coaches, you know, one person can make a huge difference, can make a huge difference. And look what the difference she just made in your life and the difference you're making in other people's lives because of her legacy. That's, that's wonderful. Well, you move from being an internal coach into form what we refer to as formal leadership. So. Tell us what being a leader coach means to you, and how would you define it in your, in, in your everyday leading

Krishna 9:20

coaching? You know, I think for me it's it's being who I am. It's showing up in my authentic self. And you know, really, I guess. Doing what that leader did for me. Understanding what your team brings to the table, understanding what individuals, what strengths that individuals have and how those strengths fit into the team. And then allowing space individually and collectively for them to leverage those strengths for us to achieve, right? The vision and the priorities that we're set out to achieve. You know, when I started in my leadership role, I was very committed. I knew I wanted to be a leader coach because of my experiences. Working through the leadership development program, that's really where I, I had the opportunity to learn and apply some of those skills. And then later coaching that program really deepened that understanding. So when I came to this leadership role, I, I knew that's the kind of leader I wanted to be. And I had the benefit of being. Having relationships with the, the majority of the people on my team that I was gonna lead, so some of that relationship foundation was already there, and yet it can be tricky, as you all know, when you are leading people that you know, and you have prior relationships or service appear, that can be tricky. So I wanted to, I knew I needed to develop a relationship in this new role, in this new relationship dynamic, and so I spent a lot of time. You know, with my team, building that relationship, building this trust in this new way, knowing their skillset sets individually, collectively, how all that work together. And then, you know, I feel like it's setting the vision, making sure we're clear on our priorities and desired outcomes. Empowering them to build the process. I feel like vision priorities are the bookends and all that stuff in between. That's the stuff they get to build cuz they're, they're the ones doing the job and they're the ones that have the unique skill sets. And then I'm just there to coach and guide them along the way. I have this saying, like, the answers in the room, you've all probably heard that and said that, right? Right. The answers in the room. I don't have the answer. I don't really wanna have all the answers, and quite frankly, my answer isn't gonna be near as good or creative or as effective as what they come up with. So once we know the problem and what we're trying to solve in our desired outcome, I just try to get out of their way and let'em go. And it's really fun to sit back and watch all this magic happen and what they produce, because what they build together, they, they take ownership for and they take a lot of pride in. I

Debby 11:55

love that you brought up authenticity, Krishna, because I think sometimes people think that to be a leader coach, it has to look one way, kind of like one, you know, one size fits all and it doesn't, you know how there's the Krishna wave of being a leader coach. There's the Joanne way, the Kevin way, the W right there. We all have our own little nuances and, and how we bring our strengths to that role. And I think sometimes that can also scare people. Away from it, thinking it has to look one way when it doesn't. Mm-hmm. Which, that actually leads into a, a question I had for you, because that could be good a barrier for people. So we, we get to coach leaders a lot where maybe they wanna move into that leader, coach space, but they're not quite sure how to do that. And they'll get on their own way. Right. They'll throw up their own barriers and they'll say things like, well, You know, that means I have to give up control or, you know, I, where I, where I feel like I add values, I'm the expert in this. Or maybe they understand the coaching style, but it, it's counterintuitive to the workplace culture that's in place. Maybe the workplace is a lot more command and control, so they, they feel like they'd be going against that. Or we've had people just flat out say, you know, coaching's kind of fluffy. And, you know, it's, we don't wanna be all fluffy and, you know, touchy feely, we wanna get results. So when you hear leaders or other people kind of throwing up those barriers and, and those self-limiting beliefs that get in their way, what is some advice or tips or maybe a different perspective that, that you would give them?

Krishna 13:25

Yeah. I mean I can certainly, I can certainly understand how they feel that way, and I think I, I think the thing I. Gravitate a lot is right. That need to be the expert. I think we oftentimes, I think we define our value in being the expert or being, you know, the appearance of the expert and, and coach. In coaching, we don't, we don't know the answer. We're just asking the questions, right? And so I think for a lot of people acknowledging that, and for a lot of people that. It can be uncomfortable. Right? And we know that, that, that feels uncomfortable and, and probably unnatural for a lot of people cuz we're used to telling, right? We're used to problem solving and telling and giving the answers. So I think for somebody who may be feeling any number of those things, my advice would be to connect with other leader coaches. If they've got leader coaches in their circle, and then I know someone to connect with them and. Find out why they chose to be, to take that route or to, you know, to lean into being a leader coach and, and what benefits and results they've seen from that approach. Because I know a lot of barriers. You know, I don't, it's fluffy. I don't know if it gets any results. I can't quantify it. Right. And I think they would tell you that not only do they get results, it's more fun along the way. Right, and people have greater joy and empowerment in the work that they do. So I, I guess I'd just encourage them to talk to leader coaches, do some research around coaching development. Read a book and list the help of a coach like yourselves. And, and you know, if it's something they wanna lean into, you gotta be willing to try it and, and fail forward. Because as you all know, it takes time and practice. I continue to, hone my skills and look for ways to be a better coach day in and day out. And then just be patient. You gotta practice, be patient and give yourself grace.

JoAnn 15:12

Yeah. Such good advice. Christian, I, you know I was reading The Gallup organization, they put out a report on the workplace yearly. Right. And one of the things that and, they are very pro coaching. And one of the things that the new generations that are showing up in the workplace, they want to feel empowered, they want to feel engaged. And study after study shows that coaching of all the skills that we have. Coaching is what is the best approach. It empowers people, it gives them that space to look at things and, and it you know, helps them build their skills. I am really admire what you said, and I really do hope that some of those, our leaders out there who may be teetering and like, I don't know if coaching's for me, coaching's for everybody. So thank, thank you for that. I really appreciate it. I have another question. You know, one thing because we happen to know a few people that you lead. So we ask questions and we know for a fact that you not only coach those that you lead, but you support them and encourage them and into being coaches themselves. So can you tell us a little bit about what that, that support looks like? And and how you help them discover their potential. what do you do specifically that could help a leader if they're trying to encourage those that they lead to become coaches?

Krishna 16:37

I think the first thing is modeling it, right? You have to be, you have to model it yourself. And then I think sometimes it's, I, I think it's okay to s i, I mean, I went, I went in and I was very transparent about the way I wanted to lead and I talked about coaching and what it was and why it wasn't important to me to do it that way. And so I was really transparent about that and how I thought it could. Impact our team and impact them individually. And so then modeling that, right, like walking the walk so I try to let it grow a little bit organically and you get, I get questions and so then being there to support, providing the tools and making sure that I had resources. We were very blessed as a, as a community to get some coaching training, formal coaching training. So I was able to build off of that and then individually identify. What are the things they like about coaching? What are they, you know, their, what do they like? What are their concerns or potential challenges? And then where do they, where they might need to, to they want to, or they need to dig into work. So giving them the tools. The time and a safe space. That's the other thing, a safe space to learn and practice. And so we would practice as a team and we would pr I do a lot of, you know, when I'm meeting with my my team, if I'm meeting with someone one-on-one and they're having a chat, I'm like, okay, let's, let's, let's role play. Let's practice it. Let's scrimmage it. And so, I enjoy doing that. I don't know that they always loved it because it can feel uncomfortable and sometimes it feels on the spot, but I, I did, I have one, one person on my team who's actually she has moved in North Carolina and taken another position down there, and I'm so proud of her because it's something that she really wanted to do, and, but she will tell you that. You know, we'll be talking through a challenge and, and she goes, okay, I know it's coming. I know it's coming. I know you're gonna wanna scrimmage with me. And she always say, she says, I hate it, but I love it. I hate it, but I love it. So really just making sure that I. They feel comfortable and giving them permission to not feel comfortable. And if it's, and let, and then let's talk about that. So we do, we do we do practice as a team. One of the things that we do at the end of the year is we say, okay, what do we wanna start, stop, or adjust? And one of the things the team asks for, which I thought was really cool, was they wanted more scrimmage time together. So we added an hour of scrimmage time. One we added one hour a month of scrimmage time. But we get together, they come, they bring their challenges. It's very organic and we coach through it as a team. And it's kind of like a hot potato. It just kind of goes around the room and they build off of each other. And that's been a lot of fun. We're still, you know, we're still honing that, but I think they're enjoying it and they're getting a lot out of it.

Debby 19:23

Yeah. I think one thing I've heard from your team, Krishna, And I love what you just talked about because they, they talk about that, but it's, it wasn't a one and done. Like, you just didn't say, here's, I'm missing this workshop. You're gonna learn these skills and then move on to the next thing. But it's bec it's a bit a continuous learning. And although you're modeling it and supporting them in it, they're also doing that for each other. Mm-hmm. You know, and they're figuring out. I think the biggest gap that we'll see is people will go and they'll learn something, but it's then how do you transition it out of the classroom or out of your head into real life. And I feel like that is what your team has gotten really good at, is. To be able to say, Hey, this worked for me and this, this is how it played out, or, or this didn't work. And so someone helped me figure out what went wrong and you guys kind of sa I like you call the scribble Doug, call the sandbox. Right. You kind of sandbox it and play around with it and I think that helps your, everybody on the team, even though it may have been one person's success or one person's challenge, you know, it benefits everybody and. I think that's a great thing that peop, that other leaders can take away is how do you keep it going and how do you, you can't do it by yourself. Right? So how do you get the team to support each other in that learning as

Krishna 20:36

well? Yeah. Yeah. And that really, that that recommendation or that, that request from the team came out of our, session that we do in the fall where we get together where. You all know someone from my team leaned into what they were learning from your book and brought it and said, I really, I think we can benefit this. I think we can really learn from this. And, and that's organic. That's when you know that you've got people, you know, engaged and wanting to learn. it was one of the most robust, dynamic conversations. And everyone came to that session, that workshop, having done their homework. And, and ready to, and it was almost like we had to cut off the discussion because it was so robust and they really then from there, then they built like, what does this look like moving forward? Yeah.

Kevin 21:26

That's the, to me, that's the power of coaching is at a certain level we're trying to help people become self-reliant problem solvers. And as the leader, when you're not with your team, will they still be able to solve problems? If they can coach each other. You can be gone from your desk for a day, a week, a month, maybe even. And if your team is skilled in coaching each other and being self-reliant, problem solvers and knowing how to escalate something when it needs to be escalated, you don't have to sit at your desk and watch everyone work. You can be away from your desk. And to me, that's just the power of coaching is helping people develop that skill. Mm-hmm. And we've talked about coaching as a way of being. So we've talked a little bit about professional, your professional life, but how has coaching shown up in your personal life? Can you share some stories or accounts or things that you do with coaching in your personal

Krishna 22:25

life? Yeah. So and I, I don't do this, I don't do this as much as anymore, but when I was really, when I was coaching from the, the development the leadership development series, I was also leaning into being a fitness instructor which was a new, venture for me, but allowed me to take those skills and use it in that role. So I went from being, instead of you walk in and you teach a spin class and you leave. That, that rolled into, I started doing some fitness and nutrition coaching at the, at the gym. And then I got to, you know, I was through that coaching. I'm using some of those skills and we're not just talking about food. We're talking about what are the things that drive the food, right? What are the, emotions, right? And so it just allowed me to get really deep with my clients. And so I, had that opportunity. I don't do that as much anymore. But I, I really, it is just allowed me to, to make that part of who I am. And I, and I really just bring that to, to my friends, my family, my colleagues, and I, it helps me really just, I've developed deep relationships on such a deep level and so connected with people and relationships that I've had over the years and. It brings me a lot of joy in my work and freedom in that. So you talk about being away from your desk and being away from your, and you know it's still happening. So it takes that pressure off and it gives you the freedom to lean into some other spaces with your people that you might not otherwise have time for because, you know, they're, they're doing those pieces on their own. So it gives me a lot of work life balance. I get to live my passion. And I know that this is what I'm supposed to be doing, which gives me a lot of peace and I've, I've shared this with Debbie, but I'll share it with you all that. My husband he he's also leaned into the coaching space through, through my leadership development. When I was coaching that program, I, you know, shared a lot with him. And so he's a great listener. I think he picked up on a lot of tips and, and he started to use some of those concepts with his, the project team that he coaches and. He was in my office one day and it's not been all that long ago, and he, he found the, the book, the Word on Coaching, and he comes out and he says, Hey, where'd you get this book? And I said, well, I've had it. And he said, well, can I have it? I said, No, you can't have it, but I'll, I'll get you your own copy. And I bought him his own copy and he's read the book and he's, he's using the concepts and, and leaning into those deeper with his project teams. And it's really added a neat dynamic to our marriage and just a connection that we, you know, we now have that we didn't necessarily have when we first got married. And. Mixed for some great conversations on Friday nights as we're debriefing our week.

JoAnn 25:08

That's great. That's just great.

Debby 25:11

I love it. Yeah, Kevin, she was saying that, you know, now her husband knows all her tricks. She can't, she can't use her coaching tricks on them anymore.

Kevin 25:19

Oh, hey, it, it makes for rich conversation, right?

Krishna 25:24

Yes. He says, no more Jedi mind tricks. I know what you're doing.

Debby 25:29

So, Krishna, before we let you go today, we have three questions that we'd like to ask all of our guests. So the first one is, what is a book that you think a leader coach should read?

Krishna 25:40

I'm gonna lean into my sports enthusiasm and it's you win in the locker room first and it's the seven Cs to build a winning team in business, sport in life. And it's by one of my favorite authors, John Gordon. I, I really like his, his work. And Mike Smith, he partnered with Mike Smith. He's a former head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. And It's, I, I like the book because it aligns so much with the Seven Cs. I won't go into them, but they're all the things you need to be a great coach. They're all the concepts that you need. So there's a lot of, a lot of alignment. So whether you're in a formal leadership role or not, there's, there's so many takeaways from that book.

Debby 26:19

Okay, so a little teaser there. If you wanna know the seven Cs, you gotta get the book right. Check it out. So Christian, what's a question that you were asked that maybe made you stop and think it gave you pause or it made you go a little deeper into thinking about something? What was

Krishna 26:34

that question? What's the worst thing that can happen? That question from me because I, I can tend to build things up in my head. I can make these fears much bigger than they are. And that's a question that I was asked at a very. Just challenging time in my life and it, it really gave me pause and made me think, think through and verbalize what were, you know, what was the wor, what were the worst things, and verbalizing and talking through them. I realized they were not near as big as I was making them. And it removed those barriers for me to be able to move forward. And so that's a question that I've continued to gravitate to when I'm struggling with something or I'm, I'm not moving forward, I just keep saying, what, what's the worst thing that can happen? And sometimes I have to ask, get people to ask that for me so I can, I can go through that.

Debby 27:31

A lot of times it's the fear running underneath that that's got us stalled. Right? So that, that question helps you address that. That's great. So besides discovery, the word that we talked about today, what is your word on coaching?

Krishna 27:45

My word is inspire and it is my life word. So it was, it came, you know, pretty easy to me, and I, I, and it's because I believe through coaching that we can inspire people to achieve more than even they thought possible. I love that word. Yeah.

Debby 28:03

That word fits you. Totally. Yeah, for sure. Okay. So Krishna, Joan and Kevin, sad to say it's time to end our podcast, but it's been a pleasure as always. Thank you to our audience for listening. We appreciate you all so much. Check out more of our Wordle Coaching podcast. We're in season six, so if you missed the first five seasons, they're still out there. Check those out. You can connect with us on Facebook. We have a Coach's three page, and of course, as we've mentioned a couple of times, we have our book, the Word On Coaching, which is available now. And we recommend that not only do you buy a copy for yourself, but you, it's a great book to share with others. So mentees, your team a young person you see a lot of potential in or anybody can benefit from the book. So buy it up people. So until next time, everyone, that's the word I'm coaching.