Sonia Singh: From Lean Coach to Leadership Coach, From Consultant to Coach

Show notes and links: https://leanblog.org/431 My guests for Episode #431 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Sonia Singh, a certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, executive coach, and professor with 19 years of experience in healthcare operations, management consulting, leadership development, and culture transformation. She's worked with dozens of companies in improving their performance, resulting in a collective financial impact of $30M. She's trained and coached over 2000 emerging and experienced leaders.  Sonia is the founder of Sonia Singh International, and one of her offerings is the Influential Leadership Academy, where she helps leaders build emotional intelligence and master their influence.  She was previously an employee at some healthcare systems and Cardinal Health. Sonia holds a degree in Psychology from Northern Illinois University, a Master's degree in Health Administration from Tulane University, and completed her professional coaching training at the University of California, Davis. Today, we discuss topics and questions including: How did you first get introduced to Lean or continuous improvement concepts? What were some of your best experiences working in healthcare improvement? What was a “school of hard knocks” lesson you gained working in healthcare? How did you decide to start working independently? Why go through professional coaching school and how did that change how you coach? It's hard to just ask questions To you, what are the differences between the words “coach” vs “consultant?” What has it been like shifting from lean coach to leadership coach? Getting to root causes of behaviors or reactions? How to help people shift from telling to asking questions? Influential Leadership Academy – who is this targeted to? “It's a strength when you can share your power.” The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more. This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network.