The intention of this session is to explore innovations in democratizing coaching, so that the benefits of coaching can reach a much wider range of people. We will share some innovations from our experience in the development sector, learnings and possibilities for the coaching fraternity.
Coaching, with its promise of unlocking human potential can have a big impact on all dimensions of people’s lives. However, are three key challenges

• accessibility (not enough coaches)
• affordability (prohibitive costs)
• acceptability (adjustments needed as per the cultural context)

Similar challenges are likely to be prevalent in most developing countries, and amongst the underprivileged segment of developing countries as well.

Through Swasth Foundation, we have been working for 15 years to address the challenges faced by low to mid-income populations towards sustained well-being. Through our learnings, we are creating models of excellence that address the challenges of accessibility, affordability and acceptability for sustained well-being. These innovations have enabled us to deliver over 1.5 million health interactions at 4.5 star satisfaction levels and fundamentally reduce the cost of service delivery by 40%. Further, the overall system design is more efficient and effective – upskilling of primary care professionals leading to lesser load for specialist providers, sharing ownership so that patients make home the first point of care by taking charge of their health, and focusing all enabling services on the end goal of sustained well-being.

6 years ago, when we realized the power of coaching principles in accelerating and sustaining wellbeing, we started integrating coaching principles into our work. We believe our learnings can be extended to the overall coaching space. Our experience has shown us that it is possible to create an efficient ecosystem that reduces the load on experienced coaches. Such an ecosystem would bring together a team that embodies the coaching mindset. While coaching principles remain the same, the competencies and tools used can be adapted to the cultural context, for greater acceptability and uptake by clients. Also, we can train our clients on foundational knowledge and skills such that they can take more ownership of their life and lead their growth.

Garima heads the Swasth Yog Institute. She has been a part of the core Leadership team for Teach For India (TFI) from its start-up years, and a management consultant at McKinsey & Co. She graduated from IIT Delhi in 2005, with a B. Tech in Computer Science & Engineering. She has completed Masters of Science in Yoga, post-graduate diploma in Yoga Therapy, is a Professional Certified Life Coach (PCC), Integral Somatic Experiencing practitioner and a Lown Scholar at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Sundeep is the Co-founder and CEO of Swasth Foundation. He worked with McKinsey & Company for 7 years, where he specialised in the Healthcare & Development sectors. He graduated with a B. Tech in Computer Science from IIT Bombay in 2001. He has completed Masters of Science in Yoga, a Law Degree, and a Diploma of Associateship in Insurance. He is a certified Professional Coach, a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and a Lown Scholar at the Harvard School of Public Health. He is also pursuing his PhD in Bio Electronics from IIT Bombay.