A Re-introduction, Part 1: How do culture-building and coaching align with my hopes for a more mindful, equitable and livable society?
Reflecting on how this new-ish place I’m in makes sense in my personal and professional journey, and embracing it, as one of several ways of being and moving through this world. :)
When I relocated to Dumaguete early in 2022, I had to face something that I didn’t find all too pleasurable: introducing myself to new people. I usually found it somewhat awkward, even in pre-pandemic social gatherings — the whole having to introduce oneself, primarily on the basis of what one does for a living or what preoccupies the most of one’s time.
Having then only been a year into my coaching practice, and also having just been asked to lead Haraya’s culture practice, I felt all sorts of impostor syndrome. Now, a year later, I’m still challenged on how to explain what I do in a simple way that can be delivered in 30 seconds or less. :D
Add to that my identity crisis of sorts, as I shifted from something that I had been nurturing for 10 years — Muni, which had become such a big part of my life, my identity, and what most of the people that I met in the past decade would come to associate me with — to something else, which I feel connected to, but may not always seem to directly relate to what I used to do or who I used to serve.
Through the community we built through Muni, we sparked reflection and conversation on creating a more mindful, equitable and livable world. Through the work that I now do at Haraya Coaching, the route feels less direct in some ways.
However, I do believe that transforming organizations and workplaces to be kinder and braver at the same time, and to be both values-led and impact-driven, can contribute to a more mindful, equitable society in the end — especially with how much of people’s lives are spent at work, and how much this sector influences society and policy overall.
So, if you’re still here with me, allow me to mull over the question I pose in the title of this post by reflecting on the journey that led me to where I find myself at this point.
0: Connecting with community through conversation
It’s safe to say that the value of connection is something that’s been important to me throughout the course of my life. I find satisfaction in sitting with my own reflections — connecting ideas and insights I pick up day-to-day, and relating that to myself, my identity, my values and goals.
Another way I live out my value for connection is by building bridges with others. And in the years of gathering community and building bridges for conversations around sustainability from 2012 to 2021 through Muni, we met many inspiring people — whether they be small startup social enterprises, or trailblazers in bigger multinational organizations, volunteer-advocates, NGO or government workers, or freelancers, students, etc.
I hoped that the people we spoke with would flourish and thrive (individually and organizationally), because I believed we all shared a dream for a better world.
And I wanted to see them succeed, wherever they were, playing their own part in their own organizations — in doing work that could meaningfully contribute to:
Improving the quality of life for marginalized sectors
Regenerating our planet’s finite resources
Cultivating a mindset shift towards kinder ways of moving through this world
The desire to support these individuals and organizations sparked my curiosity in exploring the questions:
What makes them start caring about their work?
What makes them continue caring enough to do the work in spite of roadblocks?
1: At first, I looked at individual leaders.
In 2019, as part of my Masters degree in Sustainable Development, I conducted desk research and one-on-one interviews with 16 sustainability leaders in the Philippines — to understand more about what motivates them into sustainability or development-oriented work, and what motivates them to stay in it in spite of all the challenges.
* You can read more of my personal, non-academic reflections on that research here, or see “Developing A Framework on the Motivations of Sustainability Leaders in the Philippines” published in 2020 in The Journal of Management for Global Sustainability here.
Through that, I learned more about authentic and transformational leadership, the critical life events that started their journey as a sustainability leader, and how a space for reflection and conversation (and a community, or even just a single person to connect with) was key in driving these leaders to pursue social change and positive impact.
But something was still missing for me. I came to see that the framework I developed — while grounded on existing theories, and modified based on the data I gathered — still lacked a more systemic lens beyond the individual leader.
2: In 2021, some of my curiosity had begun to shift from individual leaders towards teams and culture.
I found a lot of personal growth in learning and practicing coaching skills for one-on-one coaching, working with my individual clients, and with the women social entrepreneurs in Ashoka South East Asia’s DIWA program, which Haraya ran leadership workshops and group coaching for. (Group coaching differs from team coaching in the sense that group coaching still works on individual goals and challenges, but in a group setting; while team coaching is focused on a team’s goals and challenges as a whole)
But I also recognized that they could not sustain and scale their work by improving their own leadership alone. They would still have to contend with challenging stakeholder dynamics, and systems or structures that may not be values-aligned, whether internally within their own team, or externally with their clients, funders or regulators. And it’s a lot for an individual leader to tackle alone. It can feel very lonely.
On top of developing their personal leadership, what I heard they also needed was to find or create systems and structures of support, or both. And while a coach may serve part of that need, it could be established even stronger with better ways of relating, communicating and working with their team and other stakeholders.
In 2022, through the “Ka-Linangan” or culture-building programs we’ve run at Haraya Coaching, plus the episodes we’ve produced for The Imaginable Workplace podcast in the past year, I’ve come to learn more and more about the role of teams and culture in driving purpose-led organizations do their impact-driven work more effectively.
To be continued…
I speak to more on this in my next post (Part 2). In the meantime, you can learn a bit more about Haraya Coaching’s culture work or Ka-Linangan coaching program in The Imaginable Workplace’s 8th episode: Imagine your ideal company culture. 😊
Speaking of culture and community…
Haraya Coaching and PumaPodcast are hosting a live LinkedIn audio event for The Imaginable Workplace on March 16, 11:30AM-12:30PM. Join us for Biscuits with the Boss: Culture-building Lessons from Ted Lasso!
My co-host Carl Javier and I will be having a chat with Haraya Coaching's managing partner and chief instigator and Ted Lasso superfan Jackie Cañiza about lessons on leadership, culture-building and nurturing healthy teams, as inspired by the Apple TV series Ted Lasso...just in time for Ted Lasso's season 3 launch. 😁
Join us and invite your friends and colleagues to listen in via the LinkedIn event page, and RSVP there to add it easily to your Google calendar.