Meet entrepreneur coach Sri Harsha Govardhana who helps start-ups to reach their full potential

Master trainer and certified Marshall Goldsmith Executive Coach, Sri Harsha Govardhana will be conducting a day-long workshop — The Entrepreneur — come this Saturday, May 12, at the Marigold Hotel, Hyderabad. But is one day enough for such an important workshop? At this workshop, organised by Sarvagnya Solutions Pvt Ltd, Harsha will also coach and mentor entrepreneurs for a period of 90 days after the workshop to ensure that their start-ups truly reach full potential. Talk about thorough!

Harsha believes in the old adage 'You are as good as your team'. If you have a brilliant idea, but don't have a team to execute it, then what's the point?

First up, Harsha will use an online assessment tool developed by Dr Pearman, which identifies whether the participants possess the 17 essential entrepreneurial competencies — mindset, self-management, business orientation and others. After this, he will use a tool that he developed (using his 28 years of experience as an entrepreneur and CEO), which will assess if they have the required personality traits that suit these 17 competencies. "For example, if you are a salesman, you need to have an immense drive and answer questions that people ask. If you are shy, it gets difficult," explains Harsha, who is from Hyderabad.

Speaking up: A scene from one of Harsha's previous workshops

Think of it as a validation exercise, he tells us, where we validate personality traits to competencies and see what behavioural changes need to be brought about. And that is what the 90-day action plan will be based on. Through this model, Harsha has helped start-ups like ACads 360 India Pvt Ltd, Aryavartha Technovations Pvt Ltd and many more.

Sri Harsha will personally screen the applicants for the workshop. Also, he has authored three psychometric assessment tools namely Sarvaguna Indicator, EQ-SS and Probeei

Ask him the one trait that is undermined the most in an entrepreneur and he says it's their leadership style. "The way a leader conducts himself has a significant impact on the organisation and its culture. An action-oriented, multi-tasking leader goes a long way in making the most of his start-up," he concludes.