What is Coaching?

31 January 2021

This is Part 1 of The Leader As Coach series

As an Executive Coach & a Learning Facilitator, I combined both skills to deliver Coaching For Leaders workshops for first time Managers to Senior Managers/HOD’s.

One experiential activity I have fun with is when I get the participants to pen down 8 words in 3 minutes when they hear the word “Coaching”.  Then, I would put them in groups of 5 and each of them take turns to share what they wrote. They would also identify some common words among the group.

Next I would ask them to now use the common & not so common words to define Coaching in a sentence, starting with “Coaching is…………..”

And this is when I was pleasantly surprise by the awesome definitions of Coaching and I’d like to share some of the gems from the workshops over the years.

“Coaching is a continuous process of goal setting, guidance, motivation and support to individuals that lead to development, improved performance & satisfaction” UOB, May 2019

“Coaching is a two-way communication where we can share experiences through listening and questioning in order to provide support and motivate people to achieve their GOAL” UOB, May 2019

“Coaching is to be a leading role model by providing clear communication to inspire & empower the growth of an individual” Mitsui & Co, Jul 2019

“Coaching is developing the other person or team to realize their own potential, strengths & weaknesses to achieve career and personal goals” Mitraland, Apr 2019

“Coaching is a process of helping people to learn by asking the right questions, active listening and building the mutual trust”     Sitecore, Apr 2019

“Coaching is to unleash potential by listening, motivating, giving feedback and guidance with an open mind!” Sunpower, Feb 2019

“Coaching is a personalized & goal-oriented effort to develop individual by applying active listening, sharing, empathy, open-minded skills and continuous follow-up” Sunpower, Feb 2019

“Coaching is bringing out the best in a person through Listening, Guiding, Understanding, Empathy, Being Open” Sunpower, Feb 2019

“Coaching is a process of helping/guiding others in discovering areas of improvement by being open, listening, asking and inspire transformation” Sitecore, Apr 2019

And I can share a couple of hundreds more awesome definitions I can gather from the 100+ Coaching For Leaders workshops that I facilitated.

And this is the power of coaching & facilitating.

Just 1 hour into the workshop, we provide a safe and supportive environment for them to share and reflect based on their knowledge and experience and validate them for a coming up with powerful statements. They were empowered, listened to and supported by their colleagues and facilitator throughout the experiential learning activity. And, after that experience, everything else became easy.

And it inspire & motivate me to hone my skills to lift them up and unleash their creative resources hidden within themselves.

As a Coach & a Facilitator, this transformational learning experience is really fulfilling!

I am grateful.

by Jeff Cheah, Executive Coach & Facilitator.