Over the last two decades, economic developments in India have put the focus on how to prepare leaders to manage in our growing economy. While top executives are willing to bet their money on leadership development and cite that as their single largest agenda – what does today’s new leader look like? As increasingly more people are moving into managerial and leadership positions much faster than the last decade, young, high potential managers & leaders, with limited experiences and exposure leading very busy lives – are trying hard to prove their worth – to move to the next level.
These young leaders have an interesting challenge. They are being promoted to large role at about the same time they are experiencing other changes – like becoming a parent for the first time. Different from their predecessors who would get to ‘senior’ roles, while they were settled in comfortably in a city and a home, had invested in relationships with spouse & kids, were socially connected and had support systems – a lot has changed for these new leaders. Despite the plethora of leadership development interventions now available, there remains a significant question as to the extent to which these meet the needs of today’s leaders. It’s evident that today’s challenges have changed, so why haven’t we changed our approach to developing leaders? And this was the question that set TransforME on a journey.
Laurelled with ‘Best Result-Based Learning Solutions Award’ at The World HRD Congress 2017, TransforME has successfully implemented unique and some path-breaking interventions for over 120 clients globally. As opposed to most organizations, where the facilitators theoretically deliver the training through presentations and content, TransforME, through its ‘inside-out’ philosophy wields a unique experiential methodology, where it facilitates authentic dialogues with the leaders to help them dive deep within themselves, in a semi-structured format. “The name TransforME catalyzes the essence of enabling people to start the transformation from within,” explains Gatik Chaujer, Co-Founder, TransforME, who is a highly sought-after leadership facilitator and coach, with two decades of experience in facilitation, consulting & coaching.
The Inside Story
Not only does the company’s name have a deeper dimension, but so does its inception story. Gatik was tasked with the responsibility to build a leadership academy during his tenure as the Head of L&D at a large organization. It was on this journey of researching global leadership development trends, that his path crossed with many interesting people. One of his key triggers was his participation in a transformational workshop in U.S. that made his world shift on its axis. “The profound workshop compelled me to look within myself, challenge my belief patterns, take life-altering decisions (quit smoking, alcohol & started running) and made some really big shifts in my life,” recalls Gatik. Having experienced first-hand, that there were many unique and deeper ways to enable professionals to ‘make change happen’ – Gatik was sure that he had discovered his purpose in life – to make such transformation a reality for as many professionals, through a sustainable journey.
Meanwhile, Sandra Colhando (Co-Founder & Chief Executive Coach), with over a decade experience in diverse fields such as Operations, Business Development, Governance and Quality in Fortune 500 companies had reached a space of questioning her true purpose. She adds, “I asked myself if this is what I am meant to do? And the answer was clearly ‘no’. When you are really successful in what you do professionally, it gets all the more challenging in ‘finding your purpose’. The comfort zone is too high to let go! I was looking for what I was natural at and what gave me joy. When you give yourself the space to self-explore, you start connecting the right dots, otherwise you are just in a maze running clueless”. It was in 2012 that Gatik’s vision and Sandra’s purpose converged and TransforME was born with the clear mission of transforming a million lives. The team today clubs group process work with life-coaching and has mastered the art of delivering transformational leadership programs. This also earned the founders the ‘Most Talented Leader in Training & Development Award’ and ‘Most Talented Coaching Leader Award,’ respectively.
These young leaders have an interesting challenge. They are being promoted to large role at about the same time they are experiencing other changes – like becoming a parent for the first time. Different from their predecessors who would get to ‘senior’ roles, while they were settled in comfortably in a city and a home, had invested in relationships with spouse & kids, were socially connected and had support systems – a lot has changed for these new leaders. Despite the plethora of leadership development interventions now available, there remains a significant question as to the extent to which these meet the needs of today’s leaders. It’s evident that today’s challenges have changed, so why haven’t we changed our approach to developing leaders? And this was the question that set TransforME on a journey.
Laurelled with ‘Best Result-Based Learning Solutions Award’ at The World HRD Congress 2017, TransforME has successfully implemented unique and some path-breaking interventions for over 120 clients globally. As opposed to most organizations, where the facilitators theoretically deliver the training through presentations and content, TransforME, through its ‘inside-out’ philosophy wields a unique experiential methodology, where it facilitates authentic dialogues with the leaders to help them dive deep within themselves, in a semi-structured format. “The name TransforME catalyzes the essence of enabling people to start the transformation from within,” explains Gatik Chaujer, Co-Founder, TransforME, who is a highly sought-after leadership facilitator and coach, with two decades of experience in facilitation, consulting & coaching.
The Inside Story
Not only does the company’s name have a deeper dimension, but so does its inception story. Gatik was tasked with the responsibility to build a leadership academy during his tenure as the Head of L&D at a large organization. It was on this journey of researching global leadership development trends, that his path crossed with many interesting people. One of his key triggers was his participation in a transformational workshop in U.S. that made his world shift on its axis. “The profound workshop compelled me to look within myself, challenge my belief patterns, take life-altering decisions (quit smoking, alcohol & started running) and made some really big shifts in my life,” recalls Gatik. Having experienced first-hand, that there were many unique and deeper ways to enable professionals to ‘make change happen’ – Gatik was sure that he had discovered his purpose in life – to make such transformation a reality for as many professionals, through a sustainable journey.
Meanwhile, Sandra Colhando (Co-Founder & Chief Executive Coach), with over a decade experience in diverse fields such as Operations, Business Development, Governance and Quality in Fortune 500 companies had reached a space of questioning her true purpose. She adds, “I asked myself if this is what I am meant to do? And the answer was clearly ‘no’. When you are really successful in what you do professionally, it gets all the more challenging in ‘finding your purpose’. The comfort zone is too high to let go! I was looking for what I was natural at and what gave me joy. When you give yourself the space to self-explore, you start connecting the right dots, otherwise you are just in a maze running clueless”. It was in 2012 that Gatik’s vision and Sandra’s purpose converged and TransforME was born with the clear mission of transforming a million lives. The team today clubs group process work with life-coaching and has mastered the art of delivering transformational leadership programs. This also earned the founders the ‘Most Talented Leader in Training & Development Award’ and ‘Most Talented Coaching Leader Award,’ respectively.
Gatik Chaujer, Founder & Managing Director
Sandra Colhando, Co-Founder & Chief Coach
Clear Focus Areas to Enable Leaders & TeamsTransforME's methodology is not preachy. It’s extremely experiential and hands-on, which enables people to discover their own values and become self-aware
Recognized as a ‘legacy builder’ by many HR leaders for facilitating transformational experiences at individual and organizational levels, TransforME’s inside-out approach enables leaders to challenge fears, barriers, belief patterns, working methodology, comfort zone, risk taking abilities and creates a safe space for them to experiment with newer realities, while rediscovering their authentic self.
Its ‘Leader in Me’ focuses on sustained leadership development interventions – consisting of group process labs and coaching. Additionally, it has created a brilliant reputation of being the industry leader with its workshops around ‘The Art of Storytelling’. “Story-telling is also about getting them to work within themselves to bring-out more authentic selves, be able to engage and inspire people through authentic narratives,” explains Gatik.
TransforME’s ‘Social and Emotional Me’ vertical focuses on building stronger interpersonal skills leveraging principles of Social and Emotional Intelligence. It delivers impactful sessions in the areas of Workshops around Stakeholder Management, Influencing without Authority and Presenting to Influence. In fact, one of TransforME’s group process labs – ‘Synergizing Strengths’ is geared towards enabling leadership teams to move from a state of ‘Dysfunctional’ to ‘Cohesive’ leveraging the power of authentic dialogue and group process work.
Its ‘Coach Me’ vertical leverages executive coaching, life-coaching & group coaching sessions as a methodology to supplement a leader’s journey. “As we believe-in diagnosing and using the right tools to enable deep conversations and spark change for leaders in our coaching sessions, our highly accredited coaches keep upskilling themselves in international and new-age methodologies to stay ahead,” mentions Sandra.
Calibrating Leadership with Changing Culture
The intervention that has created a huge positive impact for many leadership teams is TransforME’s Breakthrough Learning Program (BLP), a popular & powerful six-month sustained leadership intervention with its three-pillars (Personal Excellence, Interpersonal Excellence and Leadership Excellence). Enabling a leader to change professionally & personally, BLP encapsulates process labs, Gestalt sessions, psychometric assessments, life-coaching, action learning and NLP-based sessions. TransforME’s Human Process Lab based work shuns classroom sitting patterns and rigid structures and invites leaders to undergo the ‘here & now’ experience by sitting and exploring inward, while sharing outward.
“It’s really about a group of people, sitting in a circle, working together on their own issues and making breakthroughs in their own lives,” explains Gatik. Sandra further explains, “Our BLP is extremely transformative. This group process provides them with a mirror that makes them aware of how they operate, their unconscious biases and the impact they have on people. Once they realize this, we put them in a one-on-one executive coaching intervention that enables them to work on their barriers, goals & needs, thereby making them experts in their own journey with a clear idea on which direction to move forward”.
TransforME does sometimes experience a couple of leaders being skeptical about this unique approach; however, in the way the safe space gets created and as the process work starts with the group, almost all leaders embrace voluntary change within the first few hours.
Working on Themselves First
Having undergone their own journey of transformation, while being part of TransforME, its handpicked squad of about 20, comprising of facilitators, coaches and group process facilitators, bring their best selves to clients and continuously strive to make change happen for themselves. “When we say authentic experience, we mean that everyone in our team has experienced the transformation by working on this approach ourselves. That’s what makes our name real for all of us – we live it,” adjoins Sandra.
“Before joining TransforME, I used to worry about the outcome of everything whether it is work or health. I used to think that I could always control the outcome. When I learnt that it was better just to have faith and know that every outcome happens for a reason, I have completely transformed for the better. When things that most people would consider to be major failures in life occurred to me, I would just shake it off and learn the lesson from it, knowing that every lesson was making me stronger. Try to do something you’ve never done every single day. Don’t be afraid to try new things and stand in your discomfort zone. If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you've never done, is what I learn every single day at TransforME,” says Luann Chana, Head - Finance & Admin, TransforME.
“Every transformation starts with Self. I am going through this journey of self-discovery at TransforME, which has risen to the surface and helped me be authentic and lead conversations to facilitate the philosophy of inside-out in the here and now. The conversations are more in the present, deeper and thought provoking.
In every conversation there are these moments of ‘WOW’ that participants experience, when they relate, visualize and explore a thought to discover a self-limiting factor, leading them through the path of continuous learning with a renewed sense of ‘being’. These transformational stories drive TransforME,” adds Vivek Sundaram, Associate Partner, TransforME.
“My association with TransforME for the last three years has been an extraordinary experience. The unmistakable characteristics that stand-out in the organisation are Integrity, Pace (energy) and Confidence! As an Executive Coach I have found TransforME to be a truly rewarding platform to work with clients particularly because the ethics and principles espoused by International Coach Federation (ICF) are honoured by the organization in entirety. Sandra and Gatik provide a brand of leadership that makes working with them both a learning process as well as fun,” Says K.R. Chandran, CXO coach.
Though the company has successfully catered to over 120 clients globally like Accenture, PWC, Flipkart, Adobe, Schneider, and ANZ, 2017-18 has been a landmark year for TransforME as it attained immense growth, international projects, and recognition. This sounds even more impressive considering the fact that 90 percent of its business has been inbound. In fact, even the United Nations heard of them and contacted them for some unique leadership programs and driving change.
A Legacy Crossing Frontier
The company that has established its branches in Delhi NCR & Bangalore, is now expanding its presence in India and also foraying into the Australian market. As TransforME facilitated sessions and coached leaders from U.S., Australia, UK, Europe, Saudi Arabia and South East Asia, it realized that the human psyche & behavior is similar worldwide, despite the cultural dissimilarities.
TransforME advances towards a progressive structure and instills in leaders the competency to take risks, challenge comfort areas and keep moving forward. “Our methodology is not preachy. It’s extremely experiential and hands-on, which enables people to discover their own values and become self-aware,” concludes the team.
Offices: Delhi NCR, Bangalore (India) & Australia.
Offerings: Leadership Interventions, Interpersonal Effectiveness & Executive Coaching
Working on Themselves First
Having undergone their own journey of transformation, while being part of TransforME, its handpicked squad of about 20, comprising of facilitators, coaches and group process facilitators, bring their best selves to clients and continuously strive to make change happen for themselves. “When we say authentic experience, we mean that everyone in our team has experienced the transformation by working on this approach ourselves. That’s what makes our name real for all of us – we live it,” adjoins Sandra.
“Before joining TransforME, I used to worry about the outcome of everything whether it is work or health. I used to think that I could always control the outcome. When I learnt that it was better just to have faith and know that every outcome happens for a reason, I have completely transformed for the better. When things that most people would consider to be major failures in life occurred to me, I would just shake it off and learn the lesson from it, knowing that every lesson was making me stronger. Try to do something you’ve never done every single day. Don’t be afraid to try new things and stand in your discomfort zone. If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you've never done, is what I learn every single day at TransforME,” says Luann Chana, Head - Finance & Admin, TransforME.
“Every transformation starts with Self. I am going through this journey of self-discovery at TransforME, which has risen to the surface and helped me be authentic and lead conversations to facilitate the philosophy of inside-out in the here and now. The conversations are more in the present, deeper and thought provoking.
In every conversation there are these moments of ‘WOW’ that participants experience, when they relate, visualize and explore a thought to discover a self-limiting factor, leading them through the path of continuous learning with a renewed sense of ‘being’. These transformational stories drive TransforME,” adds Vivek Sundaram, Associate Partner, TransforME.
“My association with TransforME for the last three years has been an extraordinary experience. The unmistakable characteristics that stand-out in the organisation are Integrity, Pace (energy) and Confidence! As an Executive Coach I have found TransforME to be a truly rewarding platform to work with clients particularly because the ethics and principles espoused by International Coach Federation (ICF) are honoured by the organization in entirety. Sandra and Gatik provide a brand of leadership that makes working with them both a learning process as well as fun,” Says K.R. Chandran, CXO coach.
Though the company has successfully catered to over 120 clients globally like Accenture, PWC, Flipkart, Adobe, Schneider, and ANZ, 2017-18 has been a landmark year for TransforME as it attained immense growth, international projects, and recognition. This sounds even more impressive considering the fact that 90 percent of its business has been inbound. In fact, even the United Nations heard of them and contacted them for some unique leadership programs and driving change.
A Legacy Crossing Frontier
The company that has established its branches in Delhi NCR & Bangalore, is now expanding its presence in India and also foraying into the Australian market. As TransforME facilitated sessions and coached leaders from U.S., Australia, UK, Europe, Saudi Arabia and South East Asia, it realized that the human psyche & behavior is similar worldwide, despite the cultural dissimilarities.
TransforME advances towards a progressive structure and instills in leaders the competency to take risks, challenge comfort areas and keep moving forward. “Our methodology is not preachy. It’s extremely experiential and hands-on, which enables people to discover their own values and become self-aware,” concludes the team.
Offices: Delhi NCR, Bangalore (India) & Australia.
Offerings: Leadership Interventions, Interpersonal Effectiveness & Executive Coaching
