It’s A-J-A-R Advice-Judgement-Assumption-Rescue (A-J-A-R). So we DO NOT AJAR or in Bahasa Malaysia TEACH!

23 October 2022

This morning at MCC Live, a monthly LIVE Event by MCC’s across the globe organized by ICF Malaysia, we have to honor to host Pak Heru Yuwono Liem MCC, MP, MC from Indonesia, sharing the very important topic of COACHING MINDSET.

One of the many takeaways that I had was the acronym AJA or Advise, Judgement, Assumptions.

I thought & reflected that as a Coach, we DO NOT AJA.
I felt there is a missing element, the last letter and I wanted an R but I do not know what is R. So I seek google’s help.

Eureka!

It’s A-J-A-R Advice-Judgement-Assumption-Rescue. So we DO NOT AJAR or in Bahasa Malaysia TEACH!

I’ll add this A-J-A-R to my arsenal of tools and this will be my new Mantra for 2022 when I coach Senior Leaders to shift their Telling behavior to Asking & Listening.
And when I facilitate The Leader As Coach workshops to equip & embed Leaders with Coaching Skills and have a Coaching Mindset.

A – ADVICE. Coaches see Clients as resourceful, capable, creative and have their own answers. Through a thought provoking process, they will discover options that works best for themselves. Our Advice is irrelevant, works best for ourselves and may not be the best for them.

J – JUDGEMENT
Being open, curious & interested in our clients during a coaching conversation, it’s important that we suspend judgements. Our choice of words and body language sometimes will give us away.

A – ASSUMPTION
ASS-U-ME. Yes, when we make assumptions, we make an Ass out of U & Me. Worst still, it’s usually wrong as we come from a very narrow perspective.

R – RESCUE
Our clients are not victims and not waiting for us to rescue them. They will be happy with our presence, our listening ear and our support for them to discover what’s best for them and what actions they can find for themselves.

And there is another meaning for Ajar. It’s about us leaving an opening or a space for our clients to share their stories.

Thank You Pak Heru Yuwono Liem MCC, MP, MC it’s being insightful and I’ve always enjoyed your sharing – Cool, Calm, Collected and Funny as well.

Thank you Chong SookLeng as MC, you were pretty cool too, Ranjinath Muniandy as zoom master and of course Patricia Liaw (Change Coach) for inviting Heru. I’ve always enjoyed his session – fun and relaxing!