Aiste Dromantaite is one of the coaches that we found this month and we did a little interview with her. She impressed us with her unique coaching style and expertise.
She became interested in coaching while studying in her PhD program and attending Organizational Behavior lectures for undergraduate students.
She had the opportunity to attend a business event where three different coaching specialists presented their methods. After listening to their recommendations, she chose the NovaTerra coaching program at a Belgian school. Upon completing the training program, she joined the ICF Lithuania chapter to learn from experienced coaches and be closer to the coaching community. She became a member of the board of the ICF Lithuania chapter, then the director (2014 to 2019), and later the president (2017 to 2018).
She created a master’s degree program in coaching because she wanted to offer coaching as a professional service to others. Currently, coaching is a subject at Mykolas Romeris University, and she works with a coaching program at a private institute called iGrow. One of the biggest obstacles in her life is the fact that she is half deaf. Here is what she said.
Meet Life Coach Aiste Dromantaite:
Name: Aiste Dromantaite
Pillar: The Spirit, The Mind
Who is this coach for: Managers to improve their relationships with teams and to develop personal behaviors that allow them to reach results and improve organizational culture. Anyone who wants to find inner peace, strong support to make certain decisions and a way to move forward.
How they can help: By using few principles of Gestalt psychotherapy, such as experiments, the chair, the “here and now” moment, and the paradoxical theory of change, just to name a few. Also, DeepLead program for managers to improve their relationships with teams
First of all, how are you and your family doing after these Pandemic times?
My family and I tried to recover after the first year of the pandemic and find a way how and what to do, where to work, how to balance various responsibilities for both of us with husband at home and at work.
My husband works in the public sector, there were no sudden changes for him during pandemic.
But it was more difficult time for me personally, I lost my job due to the impact of the pandemic on the organization, during the summer of the pandemic, no one was sure about work market, so there were no selections for other job positions.
Finally, at the end of the summer, I managed to get a professional job with an organization, but I rushed to work so hard for fear of financial instability again that I simply burned myself out.
Of course, the situation of the pandemic itself contributed to the burnout, especially the uncertainty and stagnation in activities, and later the war in Ukraine also knocked out the foundation from under the feet.
Lately, I’ve been trying to “hook on” to a full time job, as it’s an opportunity to have some financial stability and support while raising children and practicing alongside it all.
So, only after a few years of such an imbalance, I am slowly returning to the track of activity and life with a certain positivity.
How does the coronavirus pandemic affect your clients? Did it affect you at all?
Yes, it affected both me and my clients but differently.
Some of them refused to have live consultations and training until there will be more clarity, others refused online meetings, many were not sure about their income and ability to afford it, others moved to online and kept the meetings until now.
Everyone reacted differently and I think that’s a natural reaction for everyone.
I myself, at the beginning of the pandemic, “froze” and was just observing what was going on in the world, in my country, and with others.
But after a short time, I started to volunteer to provide free help for other people experiencing difficulties during the pandemic. Together with other specialists and initiatives, I actively involved in educating people on how to cope with stressful situations both in organizations and as individuals.
I shared various supportive content and participated in interviews to speak about the crisis.
One interview that was especially supportive for me was the one I did with Prof. Verena Kast and Stefano Carpani, which I highly recommend to everybody.
What are the biggest lessons that you learned in this pandemic?
That friends are in unexpected places and that support and conversations are a great gift for me.
We have the possibility to appreciate such everyday things that we normally consider insignificant, such as playing board games with children, going for walks, paying attention to loved ones, being able to go to a movie or a cafe, traveling and visiting friends and relatives…
Perhaps the biggest lesson is about life, that the most beautiful things are quite simple, only we have learned to take them for granted and no longer know how to enjoy them.
The most beautiful life is the one we live and we are enjoying.
The pandemic situation was a good pause for all of us, I believe, to check our lives and values.
The Origin:
Tell us about you, your career, how you started with your coaching career?
I became interested in coaching while studying in my PhD program and attending Organizational Behavior lectures for undergraduate students.
While researching leadership, I discovered the concept of coaching in scientific literature, which interested me and led me to explore it further.
Coincidentally, I had the opportunity to attend a business event where three different coaching specialists presented their methods.
After listening to their recommendations, I chose to enroll in the NovaTerra coaching program at a Belgian school.
Upon completing the training program, I joined the ICF Lithuania chapter to learn from experienced coaches and be closer to the coaching community.
Eventually, I became a member of the board of the ICF Lithuania chapter, then the director (2014 to 2019), and later the president (2017 to 2018).
In addition to my membership in the association and work at the university, I created a master’s degree program in coaching because I wanted to offer coaching as a professional service to others.
Currently, coaching is a subject at Mykolas Romeris University, and I work with a coaching program at a private institute called iGrow.
I also continue to consult in cooperation with the Modern Health company.
What was your biggest obstacle that you had to overcome in your life that made you who you are today?
Probably many things on the path of life have had a role in my own transformation, but the most prominent would be my first marriage, the birth of a daughter, and divorce after almost ten years of living together, my second marriage and children, the path of my PhD, and the defense of my PhD degree.
Also transformational were my Gestalt psychotherapy studies. Burnout and depression I had during these years.
And the most important thing, because I am half deaf and this is increasing, I never give up and go forward to pursue my dreams without strongly and decisively tying myself to the disease.
The disease is not me, I control it.
Winning the battle against myself, I think, is one of the biggest challenges in my life, and I think it is very important and significant.
Each of us fights that battle every day, sometimes winning and sometimes losing.
I would like and aim to win more often than to lose.
The Coaching Style:
What’s unique about your coaching approach?
Throughout my many years of experience in my coaching career, I have always looked for something that would provide value for my clients.
Therefore, I have discovered several tools that I work with and trust, because I know that they provide that value.
One such tool is for career questions to be solved, allowing customers to personalize their results.
These tools are scientifically validated, and their structure allows me to cater to each client individually and provide results specific to them.
Another tool is for managers who want to improve relationships with team members and create a cohesive organizational culture.
This is not a short term project, as it requires commitment and patience, but the results are permanent, providing the biggest value for all team members.
Lastly, general consultations allow me to accept the client holistically and prioritize their importance to me.
Together, we explore the field of experiments to discover new possibilities that help them achieve their goals.
What benefits do your clients get after working with you?
This question would probably be best answered by my clients, not me.
However, if you are already asking, many respond after the meetings that, after the conversations, they find inner peace, discover the possibility to move forward, make certain decisions for themselves, feel strong support from me, and find certain answers about what and how to do.
Do you use any specific tools to be efficient with your clients?
Yes, I do.
I work with the Multiple Natures and EgoCompass systems to solve career issues.
I use the DeepLead program for managers to improve their relationships with teams and to develop personal behaviors that allow them to reach results and improve organizational culture.
Additionally, I use some principles of Gestalt psychotherapy, such as experiments, the chair, the “here and now” moment, and the paradoxical theory of change for better self awareness and creating a stronger relationship with ourselves.
These principles help me understand much more clearly what I want in life, why, and how I can achieve it.
The Impact:
If you had a super megaphone that, when you speak into, the whole world will hear your message, what would you say?
Create connections, relationships, love yourself, and live a meaningful life. Create everything with humor because laughter is the best medicine for all diseases!
Discover your inner child and, sometimes, run out and splash in the puddles.
What is the greatest lesson you have learned in your life?
There have been various situations in life that have sometimes not been very pleasant.
Therefore, the strongest and greatest lessons are those that have allowed me to develop patience and trust in other people, especially those closest to me, or to find friends where I didn’t even expect them to be.
I have gained the ability to discover various other sides of myself that give me strength and an understanding that I should still be myself.
I should be my own best friend, not my enemy or critic.
What I have learned the most is the relationship with myself, which I think is the most important because it is the basis on which we build all other relationships in life.
We have one body of our own, which, when betrayed, is too painful and too expensive to heal.
Therefore, balance in life is very important in everything. For me, life is an effort to create that balance and to help clients do the same.
Your final thoughts?
I want to wish both for myself and others to be gentler with ourselves, to allow more acceptance of the help of others, to use the power of open and careful conversations to consistently achieve the goals set, to find a discipline that is acceptable to myself, to devote beautiful time to myself and loved ones, and the strength to support myself in difficult moments.
Success comes by taking one small step every day, no matter how much you want everything now or tomorrow, everything needs patience and time, we can climb Machu Picchu mountain only by taking one step up at a time.
So breathe in, breathe out, and let’s move forward at our own pace.
Where Can You Find Aiste Dromantaite?
If you liked this interview and you would love to see how Aiste can help you, go to www.sprendimu.link. The website is only in her native language, Lithuanian, but you can translate it with Google if you are interested.
Here is a podcast where you can find more about her coaching (it’s also on Lithuanian so use subtitles):
If you’d want to see a glimpse of her coaching, follow her Facebook and Instagram accounts.
If you like to connect more personally with her, we suggest doing that through LinkedIn or by sending her a message on her Email [email protected]. It was an honor having this interview with her.
