Coach Me! Your Personal Board of Directors

4 Crafting a Grow-Forward Development Pathway

Didem Tekay

Didem Tekay describes herself as a Grow-Forward Architect, curating development paths for leaders, teams, and organizations. She has been listed in the Forbes Global Forty Over 40 Women to Watch list. She is the author of the book The Grow-Forward Manifesto, which instructs leaders and leadership teams on how to foster personal and professional growth through co-creating Grow Forward pathways with relational practice.

In my consultancy and coaching work, I observe leaders struggling to craft their own Grow-Forward pathway and put a plan in place. Many companies have performance systems that connect business outcomes with leaders’ development plans and monitor the progress of leaders’ mindset and skillset.

“I have many feedbacks and insights about myself; but I do not know what to do with all these, where should start?” Suzan, business director of a global healthcare company, shared with me in our first coaching session. She was frustrated; the company had supported her with tools such as a personal profile, 360 feedback, an engagement survey, and a leadership assessment. This was not the first development plan she was trying to craft; she had done a few plans in her previous roles, but they were mostly focused on corporate skillsets and unfortunately never worked. “They were – nice to have – plans I must confess,” she said. She was with all these reports and trying to make a meaningful, relevant output to craft a development ...