A Coach with a Learner Mindset and Emotional Intelligence
B orn and brought up in the city of Kolkata, Namrata Prasad spent her formative years primarily with her maternal family. She realised that though its tough to alter our own behaviors and beliefs, its possible to influence thinking and change behavior/actions provided we are open to the idea and are prepared to put in the effort. She is a graduate with a bachelor’s degree in commerce, and whilst working, she studied for a Post-Graduation degree in Sales & Marketing and Business Administration. Currently enrolled in a Master’s Degree in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health, she looks to further understand the depth of the human psyche and behaviors. Working with companies like Vodafone was like attending an institute for higher studies, which instilled strong work values and a people-centric approach in Namrata for the first solid 6 years of her career. Later, she came to the UAE and brought in bouts of uncertainties of a set career left behind but also hope of expanded possibilities. “With an open mind, I grabbed opportunities which came my way, shifted my vertical from customer service to Human Resources, learnt on the fly from scratch, worked my way up and again built my credibility in a foreign land.”
Since her teenage, she had discovered a natural interest in coaching. Coaching and mentoring became an organic process throughout Namrata’s career, and she used to proactively seek opportunities to share knowledge and feedback and learn together with her teams and colleagues. She shares that “Since I had transferrable skills through my past experience, my current organization has helped me develop this competency even further, and nothing makes me feel more purposeful and fulfilled than helping people/teams learn, develop, and positively impact self and others.” From her early years in a trembling voice demonstrating to students how to effectively communicate, ironically, to now facilitating sessions for hundreds of people as a qualified Leadership and Team Coach, Namrata Prasad has truly come a long way in the last 20+ years by transforming her major weakness into one of her top strengths and still believes that she has a long way to go.
Consistency and selfawareness are Namrata’s key disciplines. Consistency builds trust and dependability, which leads to a good reputation, confidence, and excellent customer service. Selfawareness is the key to success and fosters honesty in our relationships. Understanding our values, beliefs, ambitions, blind spots, and hidden strengths helps us harness our strengths, accept uniqueness, manage biases, communicate effectively, adjust to feedback, welcome constructive criticism, and nurture authenticity. These traits create a competitive edge, meaningful relationships, and a strong personal brand within the organization and social circle, explains Namrata! Leaders grow individuals, teams, and organizations, she exclaims. Empowered leaders provide a psychologically safe environment for people and teams to learn, make mistakes, and develop. One of the most significant skills a manager can develop is the ability to coach their people coz that’s where magic happens.
A culture of coaching, learning, and feedback has the potential to create superior business results and provide a sustainable win-win situation for everyone.
The balancing act of managing guilt and establishing clear boundaries for work and personal life were two of her greatest challenges. Being a working mother, she focused on the importance of spending ‘quality time’ with her children rather than striving for a ‘quantity of time’. Prioritizing self-care and being fully present for her children whilst reducing parental guilt, practising self-compassion, and letting go of perfectionism is the key to happiness. Parenting and leadership are intrinsically connected. Namrata believes that the skills, qualities, and approaches required for effective parenting frequently overlap with those required for effective leadership, and it is in this area that she strives to apply her knowledge by gleaning wisdom from both realms. “I consider my career journey holistically, and I continuously reflect on my daily lessons: Did I have a positive influence on someone today? Am I nurturing my offspring and caring for my family a little bit better? Am I a better person at work and home today than I was yesterday?”
She has been the recipient of the ‘Outstanding Leadership Coach Award’ at UAE’s Next Mastermind Awards 2003 and multiple awards by Vodafone, such as ‘Leaders of Tomorrow’, ‘Hutch Star’, ‘Champion of the Month’ and several others.
Learn-Apply-Reflect-Repeat! Lastly, she explains that learning is a lifelong process and adults learn best by reflection. Till we consciously transform our learnings into action, we cannot see any positive changes. We have the responsibility to grow our employees and also our children to become empathetic, courageous, strong, value-rooted leaders of tomorrow. Hence, investing today in our mental/ physical well-being through continued learning, applying and reflecting is so critical. There is every possibility to further evolve, develop our growth mindset and become better and better!
