Hi, my name is Dinesh and welcome to my website.
Who is this website for? Being a certified Life Coach (The London Coaching Academy) and an Expert Commercial Trainer (T.A.P Certified), my goal is to work with individuals (both personal and within businesses) to help them to reach their full potential. With a strong background in training and personal development (over 13 years), I created my philosophy: “Clarity through Guidance” which I feel is a good way to describe my coaching style and teaching methodology. It also ties in neatly with the image of the lighthouse, which is ultimately what I feel Life Coaching is all about.
A more formal definition for Life Coaching is: a solutions focused approach to personal development that can help people make lasting changes to their lives and thus empowering them be the very “best” they can be. My aim is to be the be the “lighthouse”, a guiding light to provide you with the necessary tools, motivation and support so that you will be capable of achieving more and leading a much more fulfilled life.
How did I get here? I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1976 during the apartheid years, but was fortunate to grow up in a homeland called the Transkei, when my mother took a job as a physiotherapist at a school for disabled children called Ikwezi Lokusa. Based in the main city called Umtata (which was ‘relatively’ untouched by apartheid), it was here away from the political turmoil of South Africa that I learnt many life lessons and gained a strong philosophy of tolerance and understanding. Growing up and playing amongst the disabled children fostered a deep sense of compassion and care within me and, looking back, it seems it had an unconscious influence on my chosen path in life.
In 1995 I completed my final year at school and my parents were quite keen that I should pursue a career in Law, and so I enrolled at Rhodes University, in Grahamstown. The plan was simple, do a Batchelor’s degree with law as a major and then go on to do an LLB. But I had little interest in law and found myself leaving University in 1998 before my degree was complete. Instead, and much to my parents dismay, I decided to pursue a career in IT and went on to qualify as a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE).
Cape Town: In 2001, I arrived in Cape Town and began working as a sales consultant for a company that delivered IT training courses. It was here, quite by chance, that my journey would begin. As it turned out, the opportunity to train presented itself when one fateful morning the regular trainer called in sick 5 minutes before the class was due to start and with 20 candidates waiting. I had no training experience but given my IT background I stepped in to ensure that the company didn’t lose credibility (whilst my boss frantically tried to find another trainer). However, no replacement was found and I delivered the class to completion. Afterwards my boss told me that I had “a natural affinity for training” and offered me the opportunity to become a qualified trainer. I left ‘cold calling’ and stepped into the training room, permanently.
London: In 2006, after 5 years of training - I felt I needed an “adventure” to grow myself and took the decision to move to London. It was an exciting time in my life and I knew it was going to have a massive impact on my career as well as my personal life, but I knew it was something I had to do. I tried a few different jobs when I got to London, but within a few months I found myself back in the world of training and development. I continued to work as commercial trainer, but during this time I also qualified as an NVQ Assessor. This was an important qualification as it allowed me to mentor and to work more closely with individuals and their personal development.
After three successful years in this role, I was head hunted by a large recruitment company in London’s famous Square Mile, to train and develop their sales floor. The training was largely centred on promoting ‘sales through technology’, and focused on the IT Systems, rather than the person. Through my years I’d adopted a slightly different philosophy: “If you enable Learning, you enable People & this inadvertently enables Profit and Success” and so I introduced this approach and began working on developing the individuals so that their work performance would naturally develop. My training, which was heavily IT focused, slowly began to morph into personal guidance, motivation and inspiration. Further to implementing a ‘developmental theme’, I also gained my T.A.P Training & Deliver certification, which meant I was now considered an expert in training and began training trainers based on the TAP methodologies. By the time I left the company, personal development was the basis for all their training.
The Return: In February 2013, I returned to South Africa. It was most unexpected due to a sudden change in the UK immigration laws, but coming back to my family and close friends in beautiful Cape Town was not the worst thing to happen to me! In fact, 13 years on (now including international experience), my journey continues and personal development is now a major component of my life. Coming back to South Africa has allowed me to focus intently on starting my own company and personal development programme called: “The 5 steps to Clarity”, and in addition my I’ve been able to rekindle my passion for writing again (check out my blog http://thestripedcouch.com/ if you’re interested).
What is ‘The 5 Steps to Clarity’? It’s a lifestyle development course. Designed by me and based on my own life experiences and background in the training and personal development, it comes from thinking about my own life and asking questions like: “Where am I in my life right now?”, “Where is my life going?” or even “Has life has just been happening to me?” Can you identify? I refer to these questions as the ‘Fog of Life’ which again links strongly to the story of the lighthouse.
Traditional coaching uses guided questioning to provide a solutions focused approach to personal development. What this simply means is that a coach will ask you thought provoking questions to help you, the individual, find the answers. This is the core of the coaching industry and works very well. I, however wanted to create something a little different. Something simple and practical. A programme that helps people by using a variety of approaches. The 5 Steps to Clarity combines Coaching, Consulting and Mentoring to provide an individual with a unique path to success in any avenue of life they choose.
For more detailed information about the course, please click here or use the Services menu above.