Deepal Accredited as a Master Coach and Mentor by International Authority for Professional Coaching

Deepal Sooriyaarachchi, the well-known business professional, has recently been conferred the title of Accredited Master Coach and Mentor (AMC/M) by the International Authority for Professional Coaching and Mentoring (IAPC&M).

Based in the UK, IAPC&M provides accreditation for professional coaches, mentors, training providers and corporate in-house programmes across the globe that pass their vigorous criteria and commit to honour their exacting industry standards for the protection of the end user. 

Deepal was awarded his accreditation after the IAPC&M validated his wealth of training, authenticated his certification and practically assessed his professional experience in the areas of coaching and mentoring as practiced throughout his career that expands nearly three decades.

Consequently, he is the natural choice when contemporaries seek coaching, and or mentoring, personally and or professionally. Now that his capabilities have been endorsed by the highest industry authority in the world, Deepal will obviously continue to provide these services while enriching the management development work he currently engages in.

The IAPC&M web site describes the process of accreditation as followings: “Certification is verification related to products, processes, systems or persons. Accreditation is verification related to demonstration of competence to carry out specific tasks. By definition we recognise that accreditation is one step higher than certification. A typical example found across the world would be in education. Students receive their degree, which is a form of certification, through universities that have themselves been accredited to offer these qualifications. Accreditation is a recognised guarantee of competence. Accreditation offers a quality assurance of service provision. Accreditation formally recognises training, certification, experience, capability, competency and integrity. Accreditation differentiates an individual/organisation from those that are not accredited; without accreditation there is no effective method of checking if required standards have been met.”

Obviously IAPC&M uses a rigorous assessment process to maintain such high standards when accrediting anyone, be they a practitioner, senior, master or fellow coach/mentor. Deepal supplied over 40 testimonials, reflective case studies and conducted several live coaching sessions as well as being interviewed before achieving his AMC/M status.  Ongoing CPD is also a fundamental part of accreditation. 

Importance of coaching

Coaching has been used during the 20th century in the areas of sports very widely, but it is only recently this simple practice has been gaining recognition in the area of business and other professional fields. A coach empowers a client through their coaching skills while a mentors empowers the client through their advice, guidance, and sharing personal experiences.

“Coaching can be considered as a conversational process where deep engagement that raises the coachees self-awareness to find her compelling reason to act with courage commitment and capabilities to attain her full potential, while mentoring relationship is aimed at improving specific areas by associating with an expert who has experience and insights in that area.”

Deepal currently focuses more on mentoring very senior managers mostly in the C suite and to business leaders. 

Deepal has been a marketer by profession with a passion for developing people. He counts over three decades of industry experience. He was the Managing Director of AVIVANDB Insurance (currently known as AIA) before he embarked on full-time consultancy work. He also served as the Commissioner of the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission for three years afterwards. 

He currently functions as a consulting partner of Results Based Leadership Organization USA, co-founded by Prof. Dave Ulrich, and also as an independent Consulting Partner of MAGI Research and Consultants in India. He also serves on a number of leading boards as an Independent Non-Executive Director. 

A prolific writer, Deepal has authored over 15 books in Sinhala and in English published in Sri Lanka and UK as well. He is a much-sought-after speaker, trainer and a management consultant. Deepal has conducted training programs, consultancy projects and professional presentations in 11 countries across all five continents in the world.

Deepal is especially known for his ability to draw from the ancient wisdom of Asia, especially Buddhism, to modern-day business and management issues. This is reflected very much in his articulation of his people development philosophy. 

Deepal’s philosophy

Following his accreditation as a Master Mentor and a Coach, he spelled out his philosophy as follows: “In the late 1980s I stayed in a Zen monastery in Japan for a few weeks. During this stay I had the opportunity of taking part in the traditional tea ceremony conducted by Zen monks. Explaining various steps of the tea ceremony, the Abbot of the temple clarified the reason for bowing to each other when offering and accepting tea. According to the Zen belief, every human being has the same potential to become an enlightened person one day, the highest level of mental development. This is called the Buddha Nature. Hence when one person offers, he does so to a person with Buddha Nature. When receiving tea, the other person also considers that he is being presented by a person with Buddha Nature. Hence both of them respect each other’s ultimate potential or the Buddha Nature. My attitude towards developing people was significantly conditioned by this unique experience. 

“My principles in coaching and mentoring are fourfold. Every individual has immense potential and my duty is to help that person discover that potential and the path to realisation of same. There is a bigger reason why I got the opportunity to coach or mentor this person, so I give my best. For me coaching or mentoring is a spiritual experience. According to ancient Indian spiritual traditions, as much as the student is in search of the right teacher, the teacher too is in search of the student. This is brilliantly captured in the book ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ by Paramahansa Yogananda, relating to the moment of him meeting his guru – ‘O my own, you have come to me!’ My guru uttered the words again and again in Bengali, his voice tremulous with joy. ‘How many years I have waited for you!’ – Similarly I too consider that there is a greater cosmic reason for me to provide guidance to another person. I am convinced of this reality because, more than co- workers, and people from the corporate world I have guided many ordinary people through my interactions.

“My task is to help the person discover the brilliance within him/her little by little, moment to moment. My second principle is developed based on a teaching in Dhammapada, a very popular collection of Buddha’s teachings. By degrees, little by little, from moment to moment, a wise person should remove his own impurities, as a goldsmith removes (the dross) of silver (DP239). This stanza gave me a whole new perspective of people development. It says that the development should be undertaken by the person him/herself. Secondly it is a gradual process. One has to keep doing things regularly even though imperfect. What is important is continuing of the practice. This brings in the right dimension of time and through that the need to have patience as a coach. It is this lack of patience that drives us to project our solutions and interpretations. 

“As the goldsmith removes impurities, the original brilliance contained within the matter itself will begin to glow. In this process the most important time is now, which is the only reality, past is a memory and future is only a hope or a dream. The past cannot be changed and the future hasn’t arrived. The only way to influence the future is by taking right actions in this moment. I have built my practice on the four cornerstones of Metta (Loving Kindness/Friendliness), Karuna (Compassion), Muditha (Unselfish Joy), and Upekkha (Eqanimimity). 

“My entire practice is built on the principle of four sublime states of being; i.e. Friendliness, Compassion, Unselfish Joy, and Equanimity. During my interactions I constantly extend the deepest level of friendliness to the other person. In true friendship you accept the friend as he or she is with all her idiosyncrasies with no judgment, loving him or her with all the imperfections. When the coach approaches the relationship based on this mental attitude, it comes out not only in words but through body language as well thus making the client very comfortable to relate to the coach. The quality of having compassion allows me to easily empathise with the other person.  Being sensitive to the client in this way I am able to feel all the fears, frustrations and concerns that are bundled up deep inside the person. And when I am attuned, the client comes out with them with ease and confidence. This attitude of mine make the client feel confident, he or she begins to trust me to reveal most sensitive personal details that are relevant to the issue at hand. When clients do well following my contributions and support, I get an enormous satisfaction. For me that is the biggest pay back for the time invested in another human being. It is this unselfish joy that keeps me going and do what I do. 

“Finally the inner quality of equanimity guides me to be balanced in these relationships. Sometimes the coaching and mentoring sessions can be stressful unless I develop equanimity. Similarly practicing equanimity ensure that I do not want the client to be dependent on me. It allows me to just do what has to be done with the client and let go of it. This make me not to expect anything in return in the form of gratitude, respect or even remembering the fact that I had helped them in their life journey in some way.

Be mindful 

“My fourth principle is being mindful in my practice. ‘Mindfulness’ is a mental state achieved by becoming aware of the realities in the present moment, without interfering, involving but accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. Being mindful helps me to provide 100% of my attention to the client at the moment. This ability to pay undivided attention with my total being, help me comprehend the clients communications verbal, nonverbal and the underlying emotions very well. Secondly, such a mindful approach creates that space required for the client to feel comfortable. Thirdly it constantly keep my responses, questions and suggestions on track and allows me to use silence. The more mindful a person is, the calmer he is. Calmer within, then it is easier to be comfortable with silence allowing the other person to think, reflect and then to speak without disturbing the process. Eventually being mindful help me check my own ego, which is the biggest barrier to be objective, and non-judgmental. Being mindful helps me to continue the conversation with coaching presence. Feeling that the most important person in this moment is the coachee, not me the coach or the mentor.

“Another Japanese expression beautifully captures this concept of being 100% here and now, that is Ichi-go ichi-e – “one time, one meeting”. When two people meet if they apply ichi-go ichi-e principle then they would consider that it is once-in-a-lifetime meeting, thus would give total attention to each other. Similarly if I as a coach/mentor be with the other person in my entire presence, with my entire being, I will always be able to understand the other person deeply and sincerely. Another important aspect is that the future is created only in the present. Hence well taken care of present will definitely ensure a better future.

“I am humbled by this recent recognition of my competencies by the International Authority for Coaching and Mentoring and gives me greater encouragement in doing what I love, developing people. I have been helping many young professionals who are at thresholds of assuming greater responsibilities in their careers. Compared to their predecessors, today’s executives have to shoulder greater responsibilities much earlier in their life and they are constantly challenged to perform in an environment that is constantly changing. This poses extreme pressures on them and they need extra help to face them. 

“The assistance of a professional coach or a mentor can mean a lot. Sometimes it is that extra perspective, reassurance is all what is needed for a person to move to the next stage. In a world where there is very little time to observe, reflect and learn from the phenomena, it is nothing but common sense to have a professional help from an experienced coach or a mentor.”

(Deepal is always accessible by e mail on [email protected].)