Interview with Hana Kamenistá, Account Executive, DXC Technology Slovakia

Later, you continued with other LeadINcenter programs, for example Group Coaching sessions, what was the added value of these sessions for you?

I completed both leadership programs (level 1 and level 2) within two years. After six months, I realized that I missed meeting people who had taken Authentic Leadership. The Group Coaching was a great follow-up. It taught me to listen and ask the right questions. I stopped giving unsolicited advice to people which was sometimes hard to bear. I replaced advice with active listening and questions that they answer for themselves. This helps them so much more effectively. I was surprised by this myself.

Do you remember any strong "aha" moment from these programs?

There were several of them. My profile is that of a "supporter", and as the name itself implies, I naturally support people around me and loved ones. A strong "aha" moment was when I found out that there was nothing left for myself from the energy, time and care I was giving to everyone around me. Suddenly I was able to accept the fact that sometimes a cold dinner is okay and I don't need to cook every day. 😊

You didn’t just stick to yourself and your own development, but you also recommended the LeadINcentre program to your own company. What motivated you to do so?

In the program, I found that my mission is to create an environment of well-being where people are successful and happy. I saw that the program helped me achieve work-life balance. I believe that when we find that balance, we can perform much better in both areas.

I have talked about my positive change with several colleagues. They too have been through this program. When there were more of us, we naturally wanted to have other people around us who would be balanced at work. By knowing their strengths and weaknesses and being able to choose what tasks to focus on because they are in flow – when the work sort of gets done by itself. We simply wanted to work in a team of committed people who are positive about change.

At that time, we were preparing an Employee Development Program (EDP), which is built on 5 pillars. One of them is a leadership program, where we selected LeadINcenter as a supplier from among 4 companies with a proven transformational concept of authentic leadership.

52 of our colleagues evaluated their satisfaction level with this program at 95% and 85%. They say it is the best program they have ever attended. I don't think there is anything more to add to that. It is transformational and graduates can implement the results into practice immediately.

I'm glad it worked out for you. Your EDP programme was even recently awarded as the Best Soft Skills Corporate/Learning Program 2021 in the prestigious Learning & Development Awards.

Yes, and we are very happy about this win. We appreciate the recognition of our work by a panel of adult learning professionals. Personally, I was most pleased that the judges evaluated EDP as inspiring and applicable to other companies as one of the reasons for our success.

Let's go back to you – looking back, how do you see your situation? Where has working on yourself moved you in your professional and personal life? Is there anything else you would like to achieve?

The program has opened my eyes. Suddenly, within a few weeks, I was able to set the expectations of myself and those around me the way I needed to. Learning to make conscious decisions is a great experience. Of course, also to hold yourself accountable for those decisions.

However, I can only do that if I can name my fear, and I've found that it's often completely unnecessary to be scared. The question "What's the worst thing that could happen to me?" in any dilemma, any task I'm facing, is truly liberating.

I am convinced that only through change can we achieve better results and move forward. Every time I make a decision in an important situation, I ask myself if there is something I can do differently, so that I don't have to accept a solution that doesn't suit me. It is only when I have exhausted all possibilities for change that I am willing to accept the situation as it is. I believe that this persistence of mine will help me to continue working on projects that are fulfilling and add value to the people around me, because then I feel happy.

– 21 June 2022 –