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A good coach is not the one who gives the answers

Interview with Matthias Hoffrichter
Business Coach
NLP Top Coach

CLS

Could you introduce yourself and tell us what brought you to be a coach? Is there any big challenge of transforming a corporate life into a coaching life?

Is it a challenge? You bet! Besides studying and getting certified – you also need to convince everyone around you. They see you as manager or friend and never experienced your coaching and consulting skills. Some will understand, some don’t. Over time, your successes and word of mouth are helping to open the door. If they don’t, it’s probably better to look for another field.

My path to coaching wasn’t straight forward. I graduated with Master’s in Computer Science, but I was never good in programming. Bridging the gap between business users and programmers was my passion. Finding solutions while understanding team dynamics, people, their motivation, their thinking was always an important part of my work.

As a manager, the joy from seeing people moving forward just kept growing. And professional growth was almost always linked to their personal growth.

When my business partner asked if I would like to join his coaching business, I realized I would love to earn my living by helping people, instead of doing it as an unpaid and often undervalued ‘side show’ of my daily management work.

It doesn’t have to be a midlife crisis that inspires you to change career path. In my case it was my business partner who saw my potential for coaching and advisory.

In your opinion, what are the required qualifications to be a good coach?

The first three, most important skills are: Listen, listen, listen! The next three most important skills are: Asking, asking, asking – powerful questions!

A good coach is not the one who gives the answers. The best coaches help clients to find the answers by themselves. A good coach must have an understanding what answers and actions the client is ready for, when to challenge him/her and when to support him/her.

A coach must work with high emotional intelligence, so the client can discover what prevents him/her from moving forward, which events were leading to him/her current challenges.

And which action plans or behavior changes can help to make that giant leap forward that he/she wants in him/her life.

Have you ever found any differences between coaching men and women?

Absolutely. Of course, these are stereotypes. But research shows that men and women manage differently. They have different behavior in work environment. And they also have different approaches to promoting themselves.

Men are often projecting more confidence in their actions and in their capabilities to address challenges. Even if they actually don’t have that confidence, they are ready to jump and swim. They often are more actively asking for new roles, tasks, challenges – and also for salary increases. So, in coaching situations men are often more confident to work on action plans and fight for what they want, even if its seemingly out-of-reach-goals.

Women on the other side are less often asking for more responsibilities, are downplaying their contribution to the team success even when they were key players, are doubting their skills. It seems they sometimes need encouragement before they accept new roles that might be a size to big and force them to grow – even when their skills and qualification are clearly visible. The lack of confidence and the different approach to growth are also leading women to ask less often for salary increases, resulting in lower pay for same work and qualification.

Coaching situations with women are therefore often centered around building confidence, recognizing, and accepting how outstanding their own contributions are – and accepting that it’s OK to use that and negotiate for appropriate pay, for growth, new positions, and roles.

What inspired you to establish “German Open Young Professionals” (Currently is GTCC Young Professionals)?

When I came to Bangkok, I started my own consulting company but had no network, no contacts. The German-Thai Chamber of Commerce was different at that time, less open, and I missed the chance to connect with younger German expats in Bangkok. With the GOYP, we closed this gap and created a very beneficial ecosystem for the German and other young professionals here.

Today, my own career and friend’s careers go back to contacts from GOYP events. A great success story which proves that networking can be a key enabler for your success!

If you need another example, take a look at Khun Waranya who was part of the GTCC Young Professionals and is now Acting President of the GTCC!

Apart from the above initiative, what approach do you take to provide more support to the younger generation?

Not enough! I would love to work more with universities, but after many guest lectures I had to realize that without better Thai language skills it will be difficult. So, my current focus is on individual support for people that I know personally, with life planning, career planning and sometimes also financially. It is important for me to see a direct impact on their lives. One young woman is now studying abroad.
Another young man is about to graduate from Mor 6, which was not his initial plan, and it makes me very happy to see him growing and taking a responsible path. Other examples are career conversations that I often have with younger Thai friends in their 20s. I also love political conversations with younger Thais, because I believe their actions will change the country and will help to make Thailand more successful – which at the end will benefit everyone here.

What are the common problems you see for women in leadership, and what would you do to support them?

Despite global efforts to increase the share of women in leadership roles, there still seems to be a glass ceiling. How can we break through this?

I was lucky to have women as direct and indirect superiors. If there is anything like “female / male leadership styles” – then my learning is that both have their strengths (and weaknesses).

A good way to support is to create more understanding for the strengths of women in leadership roles and then actively increasing their share. It is important for me to work with company leaders and create more awareness of diversity benefits, of a more balanced leadership team. And I love to convince more women to step forward and claim their deserved leadership role.

What is your vision to empower women in the business community, and what is your plan to achieve this goal?

Something is wrong on this planet if half of its population are women – but leadership of governments, businesses, organizations are nearly 100% male. How can we believe that we play at our best, that we build the best companies and the best world to live in – if we exclude half of the world from its leadership?

My vision is to create awareness for this imbalance – so we can change it. My vision is to work with leaders and create more opportunities for women in their organizations. My vision is work with women, so they step up and take leadership, build confidence. So don’t wait for invitation but work on their confidence and skills – allowing them to take the leadership roles that they deserve.

What are your top three suggestions for a future leader to build a strong team?

1

Look for team members who are not only telling you what you want to hear – but who are brave enough to think out of the box, challenge established ideas and then speak out.

2

Create transparency on where you want to take the business, what everyone’s role in it is – and communicate that clearly. Managers often think it’s all clear. But often the message is not cascaded properly down through the organization.

3

Promote diversity! And diversity of course includes men and women in the leadership team – and it also includes diversity of ideas, management styles, cultural background.

What is your advice to encourage a supportive environment in the workplace?

Any environment, to be supportive, must create an atmosphere of tolerance and curiosity. People need to be allowed to fail. You can’t beat the competition if you don’t try new things sometimes – and trying new things inevitably brings failure. Encourage calculated risks and experiments. Encourage sharing and learning from mistakes. Make sure people understand their differences – and understand the value of colleagues who are different, think different; valuing the fact that they are men or women, local or international, traditional or progressive.  

Who is your role model and why?

I’m afraid I have more role models than I could list here. To name a few:

Nelson Mandela, because after half a life in prison and suffering from apartheid, he had the courage to push for forgivingness and reconciliation with people whom he had every right to hate. Because he understood this would be the only way to create a better future.

Angela Merkel for leading Germany with heart and brain. She was underestimated, patronized and belittled as “my girl” by Helmut Kohl. Yet, she dethroned him, becoming the powerful leader of Germany for 16 years. She quietly did what she considered right and stood up against powerful leaders like Putin and Trump. I don’t agree with all she did, but I greatly respect her motives and her path.

Elon Musk, because he thinks so out of the box that it seems almost crazy. But his vision of the world we live in helps him to push boundaries of what we considered possible – and yet he manages to implement his ideas as economically feasible concept. We will see if that’s sustainable in the future, but for now I admire him for what he has built.

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