Authored by: Ong Chiek Ming

Every one of us has a new chapter to write about our lives. We each have a story to tell about the life we’ve lived along the way. What story have you written about yourself? What story would you like to write? Have you ever told a story forward, something you would mould and shape into happening?

For the last 30 years I have worked to help businesses grow and turn around across South-east Asia markets. My last company was at Mars, and it was 31 Aug 2020. I left behind fine people who genuinely touched my heart. One other thing was special to me in this great company: it was during this time that I met Coach Kristen. She launched my journey into personal development.

As my coach, Coach Kristen chipped away layers within me, unearthing the precious streak that had always shone inside. She helped me discover what had truly inspired me all along: real life stories that drove people to grow. Everyone is talented in some ways. Sometimes we need just a nudge to discover our hidden gems. As for me, I have discovered much in leading, in mentoring, and in coaching. As I’ve watched people learn, grow and achieve dreams, I’ve myself learned to lead better. And I’ve worked to shape others to become leaders in their own organisations.

After 30 years of hard work, succeeding better and failing better, I’m ready to write the next chapter of my story. And I want you in it. You are unique and I’m passionate to work with you to discover what matters most to you, to take you to greater heights. Your personal development is important and what remains true is that you hold the key to keep learning and growing.

Let me be part of your learning and development through the power of coaching. Connect with me and arrange a virtual session to start exploring your journey. I would like that you drop me a mail or a LinkedIn message or phone message.

Authored by: Jeff Cheah

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.

Authored by: Khaw Chong Sun

The Industry Revolution 4.0 has been interrupted the first 2 decades of the 21st Century. With the starting of the third decade, Covid-19 Pandemic changed the norm. Today, while various vaccines insight, the experts worldwide still unable to see beyond the Pandemic yet, they started to warn us about the next possible pandemic. Worldwide economic are badly impacted, not just SME but also large corporations, including Oil and Gas, Hospitality and Tourism, Motion Pictures, Infrastructure, Transportation, etc. While Healthcare and Pharmaceutical industry might benefit from this situation, they need immediate shift their focus from what they planned to do in 2020 and move to what really matters now, by developing the vaccine for Covid-19. Whether you like it or not, we are deeply impacted by this volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) situation and environment.

Business Objective changed overnight, and now the Covid-19 became the epicentre for transforming the corporate into creating business values for both the company and stakeholders. Corporate responsibility is no longer about profit but to realising benefits toward focusing Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) factors in measuring the sustainability and societal impact of a company, which aligns with the United Nations 17 Sustainability Development Goals. The business objective is no longer permanent and long term but constantly change, adaptive, short term, and fast.

Project Management skills played a significant role in delivering these meaningful values to corporate leaders in this 21st Century. Defined by the Project Management Institute (PMI®), Project a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result, while Project Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements. Project Management skills are not just applicable for project managers and all project management practitioners, including junior executive until the chief executive officer (CEO). Why project management important in the 21st Century business administration approach?

1. Focusing the Values behind the Objective.

The upcoming Standard of Project Management (2021) by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the PMI®, will be focusing on values for business and stakeholders. The project management community recognised that its success or failure was due to its accurate alignment with the business values, vision, missions, and strategy, especially the company strategy changed overnight during the VUCA situation. Many project sponsors or project managers failed to align the project objectives caused the loss of business investment. This statistic helped project management practitioners to relook the project's goal from project objectives to value creation.

2. Being Predictive, Agile, and Hybrid.

The world is very unpredictable. Sometimes it is good, but sometimes it isn't good. Company leaders must be able to adaptive to the situation, being a situational leader to lead the company to the desired state. During the good days, the leader should be predictable by creating a pleasant working environment. While during the challenging times, the leader should be able to be agile and lead the team to adapt to the environment. But sometimes, the leader should be hybrid to address the VUCA situation. But there are no such rules to when to apply any of the approaches. It is important what really matters most during the situation and condition.

3. Integrated as One.

During the Covid-19 Pandemic, the company's department can no longer operate silo without collaborating with another department. The company leaders must immediately integrate all departments (HR, Finance, IT, Operation, etc.) and manage to deliver the company values to ensure its sustainability as one unit. Getting all the department heads to align into the single business strategy and ensuring the business continuously realises sustainable benefits and creates meaningful values to the company and its stakeholder.

4. Sprint It.

Long term or middle-term goal is no longer relevant in this destructive environment. Business stakeholders either are shareholders, clients, or internal staff, are no longer expective long term return as no one knows what happens tomorrow. They want immediate values no matters how small the value is. With the VUCA environment, the chance of the future goal will change as it goes. The company leaders should sprint the deliverable into many small packages and adapt to the changes while aligning with the company values and strategy.

So, how the coaches help the company leaders? Simon Sinek said, start with why in this infinite business environment. What is really matters to the company and the company's leaders?  What are the company and the company's leaders desired most? Project Management works well with the company values and the desired values using a predictive, agile or hybrid approach, especially in a VUCA environment. Organisational Project Management (OPM) will scale the delivery into enterprise collaboration among the departments, business units, and subsidiary companies through enterprise values, vision, and strategy.

What do you think?

By David Khaw, MBA, MPM, PMP, CPT, NS-NLP, CTC

Organisational Project Management Coach

Dated: 30/01/2021

Authored by: Michele Lum

I barely caught my breath from a world-turned-topsy-turvy in 2020, when the new year rolled in without much fanfare (and in the midst of a global pandemic!). I found myself uncertain of what’s ahead, and yet certain of my life-calling as a coach. The year 2021 will be a year where I’ll remain steadfast towards the call to engage in coaching conversations that transform lives, one conversation at a time.

As I participate in Coach Shirzad’s Positive Intelligence program, I am grateful for the many opportunities to be still and know God’s hand upon my life. What comes naturally during moments of silence and calm is the opportunity to reflect ….

When I was a little girl, my mother owned a ballet studio in SS2, Petaling Jaya. I used to spend all my weekends working to perfect my ballet technique and strive to reach the highest certifications within the Royal Academy of Dancing institution. The little girl’s dream to become a ballerina stayed throughout my growing years. When given the opportunity to further my education overseas, I selected American colleges that offered ballet as part of their Dance programs. For summer breaks, I applied and received scholarships to study at national ballet schools and Christian ministries.

Dance was my life, and when I danced, I came alive!

Fast forward to 2015, I was informed by my doctor that I had hip osteoarthritis and that I would no longer be able to ski, hike or climb mountains, let alone dance. I ignored the doctor’s orders and continued pushing the limits with extreme sports. Following an ultra-marathon and another marathon held less than six months apart, I experienced deep, lasting pain on my right hip. My body movements slowed to a near halt as I began to limp. My deteriorating physical condition affected every aspect of my life in the next two years.

On the surface, I continued to do extremely well, but underneath it all, I was physically and emotionally a mess. My dreams were shattered at the thought of the dim light at the end of the cripple’s tunnel and future. As with all things, I ignored the undercurrents and pushed myself (and my team) harder to make sure I (we) would never be bypassed or taken advantaged of but that our good works would be recognized. My team and I won numerous awards; however, the constant grind that came from being a super high-achiever left me exhausted and unfulfilled after the celebrations faded and became a distant past.

My breakthrough came in 2018, when I enrolled into an ontological coaching for certification program as part of my development as the Chief Leadership Officer for the organization I served. From get-go, my life began to unravel, and I felt like “an onion being peeled, one layer at a time.” The nine-month journey was filled with pain and progress, both physically and emotionally as my body adjusted to healthy foods that significantly reduced the inflammation in my body. Through physiotherapy, I re-trained my body and learned how to walk again (without the limp). By the end of the journey, I had lost 7 kgs, 5 per cent body fat, and a full layer of visceral/abdominal fat, and gained lots of positive energy, and a lightness towards what life had to offer.

Since then, I’ve remained convinced of the power of coaching and the role I play in support of another’s discovery and growth towards a healthier and fulfilling life.

Today, coaching is my life, and when I coach, I come alive. Together, we generate hope for a brighter future for ourselves and for our nations!

Authored by: Ranjinath Muniandy

Coaching is a calling.  Not everyone can coach. In 2013, I was contemplating my journey in life and I decided to take up a coaching program. A few years earlier, I had attended an NLP training and the thought to build an agency I knew I needed to be a coach. However, God had other plans for me, and I ended up in Myanmar from 2014 to 2016. In these 2 years, I coached a few people who were part of the team. Today they are doing very well in their career and in their lifes.  In 2018 I decided that I took a refresher in Coaching and did so in 2018.

As the famous Chinese proverb says "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".  I decided in 2018 that to be a coach I needed a coach to coach me. I went through a journey of 6 lessons of coaching. This session encouraged me to go futher, beyond my horizons. So I decided to serve in ICF Malaysia. In 2019 I was asked if I wanted to take the role of Organising Chair for the ICF Summit. Being Adventurous and wanting to contribute back, I decided to take the role. Thankfully, the summit was a huge success as I had the guidance of Jeff and Grace. In 2020, as the nation was under many different versions of the Movement Control Order, I actually spend time to enhancing my coaching skills.  

For me, this journey has shown me that truly, it is my calling and after the strange and exciting journey to being a coach, I believe I can do more thing in the next 5 years for ICF. Doors are opening to me to learn more about coaching and coaching people.  We will be impacting many young lives and entrepreneurs. I realised that I have been coaching many people since I started work and that I have learned the skills of listening and being present so early in my life. My objective is clear, I want to help people transform their lives and overcome challenges. #KitaBantuKita. Join me as we come together and build a bigger, stronger and more united ICF Malaysia!

Authored by: Grace Lee

"Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you."

Oprah Winfrey

My journey into coaching started with an intention to sharpen the skills of my HR team back in 2010. As the HR director of the company at that time, I felt strongly that the future of high performing companies is not about managing performance; rather it would be more important to empower leaders to meaningfully engage their team members. I found coaching to be an important skill to achieve that.

The more I develop my coaching skills, the more I discovered myself. Many of the discoveries arose from the process of coaching others. In 2014, while I had gotten a lot out of my career, I began feeling like I needed something more meaningful to wake me up in the morning. Although, my professional life was very rewarding, I realised there was more in life that I sought and that I needed to step out of my comfort zone in order for change to take place. With that, I quit my job and started to pursue a new path in professional coaching. That was the beginning of my exploration in life. As I took the courage to step forward and respond with an open heart to every life event, life has presented me with remarkable teachers and events for me to continue my journey. As I continue to say “yes” to life, I discovered more and more about how to flow with life.

"You will not be able to solve anything outside until you own how the situation affects you inside."

Michael A. Singer

Coaching has led me to learn meditation, and I have been practicing meditation since 2015. Meditation opens the doorway that helps me manage my emotions, gain clarity and create a desired path that flows with life. Today, I am a true believer of inner work. Having gone through some significant life-changing experiences, I discovered that the real strength comes from within, and coaching helps me to connect with myself as I develop greater awareness about the choices in my life. 

Being true to my own passion has led me on a purposeful journey in life, and a trip to Egypt in 2019 has intensified my self-mastery process. Since becoming an ICF member in 2014, I’ve  deepened my understanding and presence as a coach. In my role as the president of ICF Malaysia, the path is leading me from mastery to unity, and I am motivated to unite all of us for the greater good of ICF Malaysia, be it through learning programs that deepen our passion for coaching or get-togethers that allow us to build one another up in order that we may rightly represent ICF in Malaysia with the highest quality of professional coaching and realize ICF’s vision to have coaching as an integral part of a thriving society.

Authored by: Viviana Widjaja

I leapt into selling wooden puzzles right after leaving corporate work in 2008. At the time, I thought success would come from being an entrepreneur. After several years, the business became stagnant and I went to doing multi-level marketing and learning to sell and market via internet as well build websites first, for my marketing business and later for clients. I discovered coaching in 2012 when I was doing work in affiliate internet marketing. I have an Engineering background, which explains my love for all things amazing about the internet and technology. But coaching is a whole new thing for me and brought a new perspective at looking at things from the human side.

Before, it was work and work, analysing and rationalizing over data and numbers. Now I embrace the inner feelings, of connecting with the heart, having empathy and compassion. Having gone through the experience of being coached, I now appreciate nature, enjoy personal development and my newfound creativity.

Before, I view life as day to day routine revolving around work, business and family chores. I look at my life and work now as having meanings that bring happiness in life. I am a solopreneur. I love supporting women in building their business from the inside out with their talent and passion.
Being in the company of the coaching community have positive impact in my coaching journey. I gain a multitude of skills and immense knowledge from coaching and got to know many coaches from all over the world. Taking on the Membership Director role of ICF Malaysia 2020-2022 is my way of giving back and gratitude for the support they have given me. My aim in my role is to promote cohesiveness and camaraderie among the coaches in Malaysia. One of ICF values which I love is collaboration. With it, incredible things can happen. I could not agree more Henry Ford’ quote below which explains this value I hold dear.

"Coming together is a beginning.
Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success."

Henry Ford

Authored by: Siaw Wei Liaw Patricia

When I was a little girl, I had the ambition to become a teacher when I grew up, but my primary school teacher said, “What? Teacher? No, no, no! Think again and change that!”

With such pressure, I ended up considering becoming an air stewardess, a doctor, engineer or accountant, all of which would promise a better future.

Still puzzled, I wondered what was wrong with wanting to become a teacher even though, deep down that’s what I feel called to since I was young.

That day, I went home and shared with my dad, a man of few words. He laughed and said, “Really, you want to be a teacher? You sure?”

Mom, too, said, “What’s good about being a teacher? Why do you want to be a teacher?”

Undefeated, I said, “Teaching can be different ….”

The passion to become a teacher remained with me for years. I joined various corporate organizations, and was blessed with bosses, who asked more questions than they gave answers. It was a challenging time for me as I hardly received answers to my questions; rather, I found myself having to figure out the answers to my boss’ questions:

• Do you have solutions to your problem?
• Ok, what are they?
• No, can you think of at least 5?
• Now that you have your solution, do you still have a problem?
• Great, when can you start?

Back then, as a professional IT trainer, I used coaching facilitation to train participants, and I thank my bosses for what they’ve imparted into my life.

In 2009, with the encouragement from my husband, I explored Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and unexpectedly ended up with an NLP coaching certification. Since then, I found myself addicted to the practice of coaching and have continued to explore coaching. I also realized that my parents and bosses have used coaching techniques to empower me to find my own solutions in life and suffice to say, I am grateful to have been brought up in a culture of coaching.

Before my dad passed on in 2010, I told him, “Pa, your stubborn little girl has quit her job to start a different kind of ‘teaching’ journey.”
He just smiled and said, “Really? You sure?”

Well, here I am today - a different kind of “teacher,” who doesn’t teach but rather coaches to allow others to find their own answers. I am living my dream!

As the events director for ICF Malaysia, I would like to make possible good learning programs that allow all of us to grow as coaches, and above all, foster meaningful connections among each other through various events.

Authored by: Siti Mohn Dahlan

Leadership Training is my passion. The challenge was in developing leaders with the right balance of being knowledgeable and people oriented. As one of the mentors, I had the micro experience of working with individuals with high potential. At the same time, as Project Director I had a macro view of learning how other mentors were conducting their development work. My office became a safe space for staff to come to as we uncover hidden talents, neutralize fears and develop potential. Being part of other people’s developmental journey in gaining confidence and pursuing their commitment to their goals and purpose brought me great joy.

Through these experiences, I realised that I had powerful listening skills, not just with my ears but with my eyes and heart and the language of silence.

Encouraged, I decided to pursue coaching and became a certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation(ICF) from the United States and accredited as Associate Certified Coach (ACC); and I also went back to school and studied psychology to learn about the subject I like most – Human Behaviour!

Authored by: Roslina Abdul Manap

I became a mother at a young age, 23, to be exact. That “title” defines me, fills me and consumes me. I plan my life around “what I need to do” and “who I need to be” in order to fulfil my children’s needs. My career was “limited” to what was best for my children, and I lived a wonderful, satisfying life with great memories that I had built while bringing up my
children.

One day, I realised that being a mother is a job that has an expiry date, kind of! As my children grew up and began to live their own lives, I found that there were lesser things for me to do with them. The hollowness inside of me, that was once filled with my children and their needs, was deafening. “To whom now should I channel all the love that I have in my heart?” I asked. 

Coaching came knocking at my door back in 2017. Through a good friend, I was introduced to coaching and began the journey of understanding who I am, and what I wanted in this life. I embraced coaching and the “being” of a coach naturally and started my journey to support anyone and everyone who crosses my path. My relationship with my children has continued to grow beautifully as I am now able to be a better mother by employing coaching skills when I interact with them and be the support they need to navigate through their own life journeys.

Through coaching, I feel whole again as I share my love with those around me.