Dr Pramod Solanki : Coaching And Mentoring To Catalyze Leadership Excellence & Transformative Growth Of Organizations
Dr Pramod Solanki
Founder
Dr Pramod Solanki, Founder, Performance Enablers is one of the prominent coaches helping leaders be their best version, with coaching and mentoring. After his education in premier B-Schools, he moved to the corporate sector in 1994. He handled leadership roles in learning, leadership develop- ment and HR, at TCS, L&T, and Sun Pharma India, and headed HR for a diversified business group in Nigeria. With nearly 30 years of experience, he founded Performance Enablers in June 2016.
CEO Insights is privileged to interview Pramod. Here are the excerpts of the exclusive conversation.
What do you believe has been the key to your growth story?
From my days as a student of psychology, I developed a passion for individuals’ potential. My teachers there obviously played a part in this, particularly late Prof. H.C Ganguli (Department of Psychology, Delhi University) and Prof. Pradip Khandwalla, (IIM Ahmedabad).
Also, through my corporate career, the focus of my work has been enhancing capability of people and creating an environment that enables people to be at their best. This passion and the natural flair for it if I may say, has been my asset.
To cap it all, I enrolled for the yearlong training and certification on executive coaching with International Coaching Federation (ICF) and was certified as Professional Certified Coach (PCC) in March 2016.
Setting up my own firm, Performance Enablers, has provided greater space to focus on work that aligns with my passion. I now have the opportunity to work with the
management teams of organizations to create an enabling environment where leaders, managers and employees at large, can excel and the organization thrive. And I learn with every client engagement.
It’s a life long journey of learning and sharing.
What is your approach to leadership effectiveness?
With all the progress made, even today, organizations are able to leverage only a part of their employees' potential. A major factor in this is the quality of leadership.
We begin our work with assessing the prevailing leadership capability and mindset. Specifically, how leaders communicate, connect, align the team towards the goals, how they track progress, coach and mentor and support the teams where required.
We use a combination of structured psycho-metric tools and qualitative insights gathered through what we call ‘discovery conversations’ and ‘Focus Group Discussions’ (FGDs). Discovery conversations are semi structured, 1-on-1 discussions with the CEO and the CXO team and the FGDs are held with a representative sample of employees from across levels.
This gives us a good sense of the range of leadership behaviors being deployed from the lens of leaders themselves and also how it is being perceived and experienced across the organization. By integrating data gathered from all the channels, we develop tailored inter- ventions. These may begin with customized, leadership workshops to align the top team on key areas of shifts required, 1-on-1 coaching sessions, cross-functional projects to provide well-rounded exposures to other critical functions, etc. The choice of intervention depends entirely on the diagnostic work, the culture of the organization and its maturity level. And our effort always is to bring about change that can sustain.
How do you stay updated with current leadership trends?
Technology today has made leadership research, frameworks, and best practices readily accessible. I make it a priority to stay informed by regularly engaging with the latest insights in leadership and organizational effectiveness using major digital platforms/journals and physically participate in the activities of professional bodies in my field.
It’s a life long journey of learning and sharing.
What is your approach to leadership effectiveness?
With all the progress made, even today, organizations are able to leverage only a part of their employees' potential. A major factor in this is the quality of leadership.
For Promod and team, leadership is the primary factor in transformative growth of an orga -nization and they plan to remain focused on raising the leadership quotient across indus- tries
We begin our work with assessing the prevailing leadership capability and mindset. Specifically, how leaders communicate, connect, align the team towards the goals, how they track progress, coach and mentor and support the teams where required.
We use a combination of structured psycho-metric tools and qualitative insights gathered through what we call ‘discovery conversations’ and ‘Focus Group Discussions’ (FGDs). Discovery conversations are semi structured, 1-on-1 discussions with the CEO and the CXO team and the FGDs are held with a representative sample of employees from across levels.
This gives us a good sense of the range of leadership behaviors being deployed from the lens of leaders themselves and also how it is being perceived and experienced across the organization. By integrating data gathered from all the channels, we develop tailored inter- ventions. These may begin with customized, leadership workshops to align the top team on key areas of shifts required, 1-on-1 coaching sessions, cross-functional projects to provide well-rounded exposures to other critical functions, etc. The choice of intervention depends entirely on the diagnostic work, the culture of the organization and its maturity level. And our effort always is to bring about change that can sustain.
How do you stay updated with current leadership trends?
Technology today has made leadership research, frameworks, and best practices readily accessible. I make it a priority to stay informed by regularly engaging with the latest insights in leadership and organizational effectiveness using major digital platforms/journals and physically participate in the activities of professional bodies in my field.
Additionally, I have started a virtual leadership series in 2022.These conversations explore the leadership journey of people who have made their mark, their decision-making strategies, working style and how they made the difference they did. This has been an invaluable source of firsthand learning and added to the insights and convictions on leadership excellence in different contexts.
Working with diverse organizations exposes me to a wide spectrum of leadership styles and behaviors, each deployed in different organizational context. This continuous engagement allows me to refine my approach and remain adaptive to evolving leadership paradigms.
What aspirations do you have for the future? What are your key goals for the next five to ten years?
What we have done so far is like scratching the surface. There are countless organi -zations, hundreds of thousands, even millions that could benefit from fostering a higher ‘leadership quotient’. Leadership is the cornerstone of an organization’s success, and there is so much to be done to realize the potential that exists.
Also, we are not in rat race and do not spread ourselves thin. It’s important for us to be able to do a good job of what we take up and ensure client satisfaction. That said, my aspiration is to collaborate with many more organizations, helping them enhance leadership effectiveness at all levels. By doing so, we can improve not just the quality of leadership, but also workplace culture, employee engagement and overall organizational effectiveness. Leadership effectiveness is a fundamental enabler of organizational success and I am passionate about leveraging its potential.
Dr Pramod Solanki, Founder, Performance Enablers
Dr Pramod, a postgraduate in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Delhi University, began his career in 1987 at IIM Ahmedabad as a Research Assistant. After completing his Ph.D., he joined Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), Mumbai, where he served from 1989 to 1993. From 1994 to 2016, Pramod gained extensive experience in the corporate sector, specializing in learning, leadership develop- ment, and HR. At Performance Enablers, he and his team focus on building high-impact leadership teams and driving sustainable organizational growth through leadership coaching, mentoring, and strategic HR advisory services.
Working with diverse organizations exposes me to a wide spectrum of leadership styles and behaviors, each deployed in different organizational context. This continuous engagement allows me to refine my approach and remain adaptive to evolving leadership paradigms.
What aspirations do you have for the future? What are your key goals for the next five to ten years?
What we have done so far is like scratching the surface. There are countless organi -zations, hundreds of thousands, even millions that could benefit from fostering a higher ‘leadership quotient’. Leadership is the cornerstone of an organization’s success, and there is so much to be done to realize the potential that exists.
Also, we are not in rat race and do not spread ourselves thin. It’s important for us to be able to do a good job of what we take up and ensure client satisfaction. That said, my aspiration is to collaborate with many more organizations, helping them enhance leadership effectiveness at all levels. By doing so, we can improve not just the quality of leadership, but also workplace culture, employee engagement and overall organizational effectiveness. Leadership effectiveness is a fundamental enabler of organizational success and I am passionate about leveraging its potential.
Dr Pramod Solanki, Founder, Performance Enablers
Dr Pramod, a postgraduate in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Delhi University, began his career in 1987 at IIM Ahmedabad as a Research Assistant. After completing his Ph.D., he joined Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), Mumbai, where he served from 1989 to 1993. From 1994 to 2016, Pramod gained extensive experience in the corporate sector, specializing in learning, leadership develop- ment, and HR. At Performance Enablers, he and his team focus on building high-impact leadership teams and driving sustainable organizational growth through leadership coaching, mentoring, and strategic HR advisory services.