Becoming an Enterprise Design Thinking Coach: Jumping into the deep end and learning to swim.
Just a few weeks after joining IBM Design, getting adjusted to the culture, and assisting in a few workshops, I jumped into the deep end of Enterprise Design Thinking — I received a request to deliver my very first client-facing workshop.
It was scheduled just two days out and would include over 12 client participants and a few more folks from IBM. Needless to say, all I could think was, “I’m not ready to do this at all!” Heart pounding yet? Let me back up a bit and explain why I was both nervous and exhilarated by this opportunity.
I joined IBM Design in 2015 and went through the requisite on-boarding activities for Enterprise Design Thinking. I participated in my very first workshop (loved it) and was part of a rockstar team. I found myself hungry and curious to learn more. After all, I was being exposed to processes and methods for design — many of which I inherently understood and practiced but had never actually applied as a formalized approach to problem-solving. IBM’s thoroughly unique approach based on existing external methods intrigued me.
Back to the client workshop request — my palms were sweating just thinking about it. I hadn’t ever prepared for one of these on my own and had simply been a “shadow participant” in 3 other workshops. “I’m not ready to do this at all! And I still don’t really understand Enterprise Design Thinking,” I told myself. “You’re ready,” the IBM sponsor told me with a smirk and a hand on my shoulder. I was completely outside of my comfort zone, in un-chartered waters, and felt somewhat uneasy as to what to expect and how to prepare. But people were counting on me… and the client had already arranged travel to our studio. There was no turning back.
Two days later, I found myself still trying to memorize slides before the client kickoff. Naturally, we were in a room that was way too small for the 16 participants we had. And of course, we had a couple additional people call in so I had to learn to project slides simultaneously on the TV in the room and for those who participated remotely—which meant I lost my “presenter display” (and therefore my speaker notes). Feelings of panic and stress overwhelmed me as I periodically stopped looking at slides to welcome clients into the room one by one as they arrived, trying to introduce myself confidently. I had just jumped into the deep end—without a life preserver.
Any of you who know me personally know I’m hyper-vigilant about details—a perfectionist at times—and this causes me to be hard on myself especially when I’m leading client engagements. After all, I’m here creating awareness about developing ideal end-user experiences… to a group of clients that are effectively my own end-users. So even though I become the “face of a workshop,” I tend to care less about how I am personally perceived and care more about the positive experience the workshop produces for my participants. These are, and continue to be, my driving motivators: “Give them an unforgettable experience.” “Leave the world better than you found it.” and “Provide value at every opportunity.”—everything I’d been taught in the course of my career.
As it turns out, this first client workshop was a success. As I presented slides, shared personal anecdotes, stories I had learned, and real-world examples, I realized I had retained a lot more than I thought I would. As for material I had forgotten or skipped… well, the client didn’t really know. We were able to breeze through what seemed like an aggressive agenda in a way that spawned tremendously insightful conversations, sparked collaboration, and uncovered a whole lot more that we didn’t plan on. These outcomes were born of Enterprise Design Thinking magic and I had gotten it done.
In just a few short years, I’ve racked up experience leading a multitude of internal and client-facing workshops using Enterprise Design Thinking in the U.S. and throughout the world. No two engagements have been exactly the same and each came with its own set of challenges. I got here largely because of that first workshop experience… that first jump into the deep end.
Four years later, I get to coach and mentor peers. The tables have turned and I am the one who activates others as Enterprise Design Thinking Coaches, guiding them to the point where I say, “you’re ready” — and challenging them to take that leap.
It’s important to know that having someone shadow you while facilitating-in-action tends to surface insights that otherwise wouldn’t be clear in a typical 1:1 conversation. For example, I was once told by a shadowee, “You answered that question completely different than I would have approached it, but the response from the audience was significantly better than I would have expected.” and “The question the audience just posed seemed to catch you off-guard and I was keen on observing how you’d respond to it.”
When we coach in 1:1 settings, we tend to focus on ideal, scripted scenarios, but when we observe others in action we find ourselves dealing with “in-the-moment” scenarios that are not always ideal or scripted. Being exposed to those moments over time is what helps develop acumen and the ability to think on your feet — those humbling moments that feel honest and real.
So, if you’re an aspiring Enterprise Design Thinking Coach, give yourself the opportunity to shadow others as much as possible, and then after a few of those, consider co-leading with someone that has more experience. You’ll be ready then — even if you don’t feel ready. There will come a time when an internal or client engagement will require someone to lead others and no one else will be available. And it will be up to you to make it happen. Consider mother bird nudging baby bird out of her nest. Baby bird falls out of the nest and innately figures out — in that moment — it needs to fly, and starts flapping its wings. It may not be a smooth and graceful flight initially, but it gets the job done and helps baby bird realize it is capable of so much more. So don’t be surprised if, at some point, someone gives you a nudge. The results might surprise you.
What did I learn from this experience and how does this apply to those curious about becoming Badged as an Enterprise Design Thinking Coach? Whether you’re aspiring to become a Coach, or are already badged as a Coach and working to bring others up to that level, here is a Top Ten list of mindful takeaways to consider, including experiences I’ve had along this journey as well:
- You’ll always be more ready than you think you are. Becoming a good Coach takes time. With all there is to learn, know and become familiar with, it’s easy to tell yourself, “I’ll do this when I’m ready,” and get caught in a continuous cycle of learning in small increments. With this in mind, remember that we live in a world where “everything is a prototype” and by that sense, nothing is ever really done or completely ready (including ourselves).
- Practice Enterprise Design Thinking principles on yourself. Treat every opportunity to apply your skills as a Coach as a prototype for your next opportunity. Then, restlessly reinvent and continue to take yourself through the proverbial loop… always observing, reflecting and making along the way. This way, you can polish your craft and use each engagement as an opportunity learn, grow and share your knowledge with others.
- For every person that knows more than you, another knows less. Use this opportunity to teach and mentor others. Learn from one person, apply your learnings and then teach others what you know—this is one of the best ways to entrust new habits to your mind. Most importantly, don’t harbor your knowledge to yourself when you see an opportunity to share it. This is how you gain credibility and trust.
- In-person Coaching is extremely effective. And it should be supplemented by other forms of Coaching. Compare the last time you took “online training” versus “in-person training.” Which provided a better experience for you and which one taught you more? In-person coaching allows for “experiential learning,” observation of body language, expression, talking style and eye contact — all important in building rapport and trust among others. Periodic calls, WebEx meetings, Mural sessions and huddle groups are great at further exploring learnings or teeing off new concepts. But in the end, in-person work is the most effective way to teach — and learn.
- Learn by shadowing others and then get yourself shadowed. We all have different styles of saying the same thing. This is what makes us unique and, in some instances, a good choice to lead certain types of client engagements. But keep in mind that as much you learn by shadowing others and their style, you’ll learn just as much, if not more, when you allow yourself to be shadowed and ask for feedback. A “fresh” perspective by someone who hasn’t had the same experience you have will question things that are unfamiliar to them, and you’ll quickly find yourself thinking about those things from a different angle — often times with superb insights.
- Coaching is not binary. Much like design isn’t right or wrong. There may be opposing points of view on how to execute a particular exercise or how to handle an inquisitive question from a participant, but there also exists a lot of grey area in between. So how we react to situations in workshop settings, coaching scenarios or client engagements can be widely varied yet equally effective. Knowing your audience and responding in a way that they can relate to will almost guarantee you’ll leave a positive impact.
- Be confident. Be proud. Be humble. Often times as a Coach, you’ll find yourself in situations where you’re the face of the workshop, but not necessarily the face of the overall client engagement. Keep that in consideration when you interface with stakeholders. Respect the chain of command while maintaining confidence in the value you’ve been asked to bring to the table as an Enterprise Design Thinking Coach. Be proud of that!
- Stay hungry and curious. I’ve had — and continue to have — the privilege of working with some of the best minds in the industry. Not only for Enterprise Design Thinking but at IBM as a whole. Every team I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of has been a “rockstar” team. Some of that credit goes to those who have made hiring decisions, but the common thread between all of them is that each of those “rockstars” have been hungry to learn and curious to grow… curious to solve problems, make an impact and provide value in areas that typically might provide mundane results. If you’re hungry and curious, you too can be a rockstar.
- Co-lead with others whenever possible. There is value in leading an engagement with someone else. Differing leadership styles, different personalities and the varying voices people hear are all positive for the overall experience — not to mention the redundancy in having two people ready to go in case one becomes incapable (I lost my voice for a client engagement last year but that’s something I’ll save for another time!). Ultimately though, working with someone else gives you a chance to lead/teach as well as follow/learn in the same instance. It’s a very effective use of time and exponentially increases the rate at which both of you learn.
- When someone says “you’re ready”, see point #1.
Maybe jumping into the deep end isn’t so bad after all.
