About Chris Iskander
Unlike other coaches and facilitators who are heavy on soft skills but light on real world experience and results...
Chris is a seasoned technology professional with a Master’s Degree in Engineering and over 13 years of experience at a rapid growth, high stress, mission critical tech start-up — which grew from a nascent 12-person team into a world leading organization with more than 300 employees and ultimately provided a successful exit for himself and the other shareholders.
Having worked in DevOps, Product Management, Sales, Customer Success, and International Project Management, Chris has seen it all. He has developed business processes, led Agile transformations, navigated two corporate mergers, helped design and implement a major organizational restructuring, and trained customers, partners, and staff along the way. As a seasoned technology professional, Chris speaks your language and has lived and breathed the challenges you face every day.
Chris is also a skilled Executive and Team Coach, with credentials from the College of Executive Coaching, the Center for Executive Coaching, Newfield Network, and the International Coaching Federation (ICF).
His clients have included executives, leaders, and high-potential employees at Fortune 500 and other industry-leading companies, as well as founders and C-Suite executives in the start-up space. He is currently focussing his practice on small and mid-sized technology companies, where the development of skilled leaders and high-performance teams can have a rapid and significant impact on the health and success of the organization.
If you are a leader and would benefit from the clarity, confidence, and peace of mind that come from dramatically improved performance and team cohesion, please feel free to contact us or reach out to book a complimentary consultation.
We would be delighted to learn about your specific challenges and see if we’re a mutual fit.
An Agile Approach to Leadership Development
At Executive Sound Board, we use a simple, yet powerful model called FRAMED (FRactal Agile Methodology for Executive Development) to help you identify and tackle your most pressing challenges and capitalize on your biggest opportunities.
By “agile”, we mean that the approach is rigorous, flexible, and iterative, and that regular feedback and improvement are built into the process.
By “fractal”, we mean that the same framework applies at multiple levels and timescales throughout the engagement. More specifically, we use the four-step process outlined below to structure individual sessions, periodic retrospectives, and the coaching engagement as a whole.
The FRAMED “Four ‘I’s” Process
Four ‘I’s is shorthand for the following four phases of the FRAMED process:
Phase I — Investigate
: to observe or study by close examination and systematic inquiry (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/investigate).
The purpose of this phase is twofold:
(i) to define clear goals — developmental (internal), situational (external), or both, and
(ii) to pinpoint the underlying issues, root causes, and key leverage points that stand between you and your goals.
While the former can be relatively straightforward, the latter is where the real work begins.
This phase is characterized by curious exploration, inquiry, and analysis, and aims to reveal the hidden assumptions, unconscious beliefs, and biases that underpin every complex and persistent challenge.
Phase II — Ideate
: to form an idea, conception, or image of; to imagine or conceive. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ideate, https://www.thefreedictionary.com/ideating)
Once the core issues have been fully revealed and explored, a new space of clarity and creativity naturally emerges. Here, you’ll find yourself spontaneously envisioning and designing novel solutions to previously intractable or perennial problems.
Phase III — Instantiate
: to represent an abstract concept by a concrete or tangible example (https://www.thefreedictionary.com/instantiate)
Insight alone is not enough. In this phase, you will translate insights and awareness into concrete actions and results. You will design and implement new behaviors, habits, systems, and structures that empower you to produce outcomes that were previously unattainable — and in many cases, quite literally unimaginable.
“Heroes instantiate ideals.” — W. J. Bennett
Phase IV — Iterate
: to develop by building on previous versions, using each version as the point of departure for refinements and tweaks. (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/iterate)
Finally, we will repeat the process, with each new stage of your personal and professional development building on the growth and success you have already attained.
As a critical part of this phase, we will also perform a “Sprint Retrospective” on the coaching partnership itself. We will identify the aspects of the process that have been most valuable to you so that we can amplify them moving forward. We will also provide each other with candid, constructive feedback on areas for improvement to ensure that you get maximum value from our work together.
As mentioned above, we apply the same four-step process at multiple timescales, from the engagement as a whole down to individual coaching sessions.
For more information, feel free to contact us or book a complimentary consultation to explore your goals, get your questions answered, and see if we’re a mutual fit.
