April 30, 2024by collective-admin
Discover why obtaining ICF team coaching certification is crucial for aspiring coaches in Singapore and how it can open doors to exciting opportunities.
Coach Certification Archives -
April 29, 2024by collective-admin
Discover the ins and outs of life coaching courses in Singapore that will equip you with all the skills and knowledge to empower others and transform lives.
August 22, 2023by collective-admin
The success of any coach will for the most part depend on the strategy implemented to attract and retain clients.
August 2, 2022by collective-admin
The success of any coach will for the most part depend on the strategy implemented to attract and retain clients.
February 24, 2020by collective-admin
If you are still having trouble getting your resolutions to stick, check out the full transcript of the conversation our Director of Training, Lin Tan had when she went on air with CNA938 just before the New Year! We’ve highlighted all of Lin’s tips and advice and we hope you enjoy the fun interview below!
Yasmin Jonkers:
All right, listen. You want to make all these resolutions, but are you actually going to stick to them? We have Lin Tan with us, Master Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation and senior coach and trainer at CCI with us. How many things do you coach my dear? Good morning, Lin.
Lin Tan:
Good morning, Yasmin. Good morning, Arnold.
Yasmin Jonkers:
How are you? You’re very busy. Do you make new year resolutions?
Lin Tan:
I do resolutions all the time, not only during new year.
Arnold Gay:
Are you successful all the time as well?
Lin Tan:
When I feel like it, when I feel like something different needs to happen. Am I successful? I choose the ones that I know that really mean something to me.
Arnold Gay:
So you’re realistic and also they have to motivate you, I suppose.
Lin Tan:
They have to resonate.
Arnold Gay:
Okay. What’s your latest resolution then?
Lin Tan:
To get back into shape.
Yasmin Jonkers:
Hey, you just heard her and you’re asking this question. This is a little intrusive.
Arnold Gay:
You didn’t have to tell me the most personal ones. To get back into shape? You look fine, but okay, that’s a good goal.
Yasmin Jonkers:
You’re a very beautiful woman.
Lin Tan:
Because I just gave birth eight months ago and we kind of get out of shape after we give birth.
Arnold Gay:
So I hear.
Yasmin Jonkers:
I wouldn’t have known. Okay. So why do we make resolutions in the year Lin?
Lin Tan:
I think it’s along the line of-
Yasmin Jonkers:
Of a myth?
Arnold Gay:
Just remember, Yasmin is a skeptic, okay?
Lin Tan:
So, put aside a knee jerk reaction to New Year resolutions. It pretty much reflects how human beings are always on a path of change, right? We always are wired to look for something new, something different, something more exciting. We’re in our comfort zone all the time but we’re always looking out. And that’s kind of why we decide to set a resolution or a wish or a desire or a goal, many different terms.
Arnold Gay:
So can you get too comfortable in your comfort zone such that you don’t want to make new year resolutions?
Lin Tan:
It’s possible I think.
Yasmin Jonkers:
He’s implying I don’t improve ever.
Arnold Gay:
Okay, so a desire for change, but I want to bring the point you made as well, how you have to be realistic, how it has to resonate. So I would assume that this varies from individual to individual, right? So what will be the first step if you want to make a New Year resolution?
Lin Tan:
Well, to look within. A lot of times, we set goals around what we should be doing. Like, I should manage my money better, I should lose weight, I should get a new job or finally get a new job. I should, I should, I should. So, there’s a lot of ‘shoulds’ and that’s almost like what I think I’m expected to have or to be, it’s almost like ‘outside-in’ goals.
Arnold Gay:
So in a way, it’s public and it’s a bit of peer pressure in a way as well, yeah?
Lin Tan:
Yeah. Society pressure to fit in, but then if we want something that really sticks, we should look from within, what really means something to me. Like, if I had to spend the next one year really working on this, what would that one thing be? So, people can sometimes be quite ambitious. I want to do or change five different things. Just choose one really important thing.
Arnold Gay:
Okay. Is there any particular reason why the new year is the time that people do this? You just said basically you do it all year round, but new year seems to be the most popular.
Yasmin Jonkers:
It’s the fashion magazines telling you to do this.
Arnold Gay:
Is that really?
Yasmin Jonkers:
Yeah, it’s because you’re told, right?
Lin Tan:
I think it’s just become that way and then people fall into this expectation that, “Oh, it’s New Year, I need to set something.“ But then again, I guess people are just more excited about what the next year could be. How do I use this opportunity to maybe inspire myself or motivate myself to look for something different?
Yasmin Jonkers:
Quite like this. So I’m thinking, if we turn our resolutions, is it a problem with being too lofty, and that’s the reason why we don’t tend to keep our resolution possible?
Lin Tan:
We’ve got to-
Yasmin Jonkers:
Like you say, look deep inside and tone it down a little bit.
Lin Tan:
Yes. Aligning it to a value would help. So, for example, if I want to lose weight because I want to look good, I want to fit into a dress, that may not be strong enough because when the going gets rough, hey, I’d rather say go have dinner with my friends.
Yasmin Jonkers:
And then you’ve just had a child. What if you said I want to be a better mom? What is the metric to measure what a better mom is?
Lin Tan:
You nailed it, right? It’s about what it means for you. Maybe it’s about being a better parent, maybe it’s about integrity to my body. So, it’s a value that you attach to the goal and when you do that, when it gets tough, you know what you’re doing this for. It’s less of the outcome, more of the change within.
Arnold Gay:
So it’s intrinsic?
Lin Tan:
Yes.
Arnold Gay:
As opposed to public pressure?
Lin Tan:
Yeah. Or numbers like, “Okay, if I drop 8kg I’m successful.“ But sometimes we can get there faster without feeling like we earned it, and then we feel like, “Ah, man.“ We could actually lose 4kg out of 8kg but we worked really hard and it’s the intrinsic change that then makes us feel like, hey, I-
Arnold Gay:
So it has to be driven internally, I get that point. But even so, when you do something like that, you must have some points along the journey that you say, “Oh, this is just not worth it“, right? So what advice would you give to someone who wants to stick to it, but will come across moments of weakness and will feel as though he or she will want to give up.
Lin Tan:
Yeah. It’s all in the planning or the dreaming phase before that. So when you set a goal, you have to bear in mind two things are going to happen, disruptions and distractions. And when you set your goal up with that in mind, you’re almost sort of preparing yourself that this is what’s going to happen, but is this important enough for me to stick to? So it would be a trap or people fall into the trap of ‘I want to set up a goal’, but then they disregard all these external circumstance circumstances that are bound to come in.
Yasmin Jonkers:
Okay. Apart from the double Ds of disruption and distraction, would it help to physically put up reminders like in your car, use post-its and things like that, white board.
Lin Tan:
Yes. And telling your friends, your colleagues, your bosses, your parents, your kids.
Yasmin Jonkers:
So there’s a shame factor. Some people are negatively motivated.
Arnold Gay:
Yeah, I suppose that’s right. So this suggests as well, that you could have a partner in terms of making new year resolutions. So the both of you want to lose weight, the both of you want to look better.
Yasmin Jonkers:
You can team up with Lin. Both of you want to do gym stuff, right?
Arnold Gay:
Yeah, it works for me, you want to bodybuild? My new year resolution is to join the Mr. Universe contest.
Yasmin Jonkers:
Because Arnie Gay is going to turn to Arnie Schwarzenegger at some point, that’s the plan.
Arnold Gay:
That’s a good example of a totally unrealistic and not really intrinsically driven goal or resolution.
Yasmin Jonkers:
I have a question for you Lin Tan, who’s the master certified coach and coach of all coaches. Tell us about the people who come to you towards the end of the year and try to broach this subject of new year resolutions.
Arnold Gay:
Do you have clients who actually do that? Hey Lin, I want to hire you-
Yasmin Jonkers:
He’s fishing.
Arnold Gay:
Help me stick to my new year resolution.
Lin Tan:
They don’t phrase it that way but yeah, anybody who comes to coaches are looking for some kind of change.
Yasmin Jonkers:
Okay. What are their main concerns about new year resolutions and do they sort of still believe they have to make them?
Lin Tan:
I think the people who look for coaches are already driven to a certain degree. Maybe it’s around just choosing the right goal or doing it right.
Arnold Gay:
So out of 10 clients that you have, how many have been unrealistic and you’ve had to help them adjust their goals?
Lin Tan:
Always.
Arnold Gay:
Always? Every single one?
Yasmin Jonkers:
I want to be like Sharon Stone and get a date on Bumble.
Lin Tan:
Because when we set up a goal, we’re not in it yet, right? We haven’t achieved it yet. So we can only guess. We can only estimate. We can only say this is the plan, this is what it could look like. But when you’re in the thick of things, you have new data, you have new information and then you might need to pivot. So maybe tightening it a little bit or spacing it out.
Arnold Gay:
So what’s the most unrealistic goal that you had to dissuade your clients from taking up?
Yasmin Jonkers:
Trying to get Sharon Stone on a date via Bumble.
Lin Tan:
Wanting to earn a million dollars.
Arnold Gay:
Three years without having ever set up a business. Where’s the money going to come from?
Yasmin Jonkers:
Ouch. Even I feel pain hearing that resolution. I am so happy we get to meet you on the final day of 2019, thank you for being here in the studio with us. Lin Tan is a Master Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation, ICF-
Arnold Gay:
So you’re going to make a resolution now?
Yasmin Jonkers:
… and senior coach and trainer at CCI. I don’t know, I mean I’ve got her number, right?
Arnold Gay:
What do you do with clients like that?
Lin Tan:
Have longer conversations.
Arnold Gay:
Have longer conversations.
Yasmin Jonkers:
Happy new year, Lin.
Lin Tan:
Thank you. Happy new year.
February 24, 2020by collective-admin
John has been in the corporate world for over three decades; two-thirds of which he spent at one of the largest technology companies in the world – Microsoft. However, in 2017, he decided to step onto the path of entrepreneurship and strike out on his own as an independent coach and consultant. Describing himself as an “aggressive learner”, John is always on a continuous journey of deep, personal development.
Hey John, I’m excited to start, so let’s begin! What are some of the significant personal/professional changes in your life since PCD?
I would describe my experience as a complete three-dimensional shift in who I am as a person entirely – as a coach, a family man & a businessman. I feel like I am not only changing my life, but also the lives of those I come in contact with. I am now more present, objective and unassuming.
You know, I was especially moved when the people I hold dearest acknowledged my growth.
My partner said: “You are such a great coach. Can you always be a coach? It’s so good for me, for the children.”
My son said, “You are so different now. You are really listening so much more.”
That went straight to my heart. I am grateful.
What was the biggest/most important lesson you learned about yourself after learning/practising coaching?
I think I really understood why it is so important for a coach to both coach and get coached. Practising what you learn during any program is so very powerful and important, especially if a program builds that element into the entire experience.
What are some challenges you are experiencing in your life right now and how are you working on them?
I feel like I am still figuring out what ‘type’ of coach I want to be. Also, it does get a little lonely at times as I am trying to build up my business. However, I find that I am able to coach myself and apply what I have learned on myself. Self-coaching, if you would call it.
What advice would you give to someone who is considering taking on coaching as a skill for themselves?
Be very clear why you are doing it. Learn and practise, learn and practise, learn and practise. I cannot stress that enough. There’s really no excuse, because the content is only as good as your follow-up. If you don’t do it, it gets lost.
What are some of the exciting plans you have for yourself in the near future?
I really love being an executive coach because we get a chance to enable people to clearly see themselves and tap into their hidden potentials and strengths. This impacts not only their professional lives, but it’s the transformation is in its totality – mind and body. I started Pepperminted three years ago – it is a concierge spa service and what’s interesting is our pool of clients include enterprises who are consciously encouraging self-care in their corporate philosophy.
People can also learn more about our executive coaching services www.thejohnnielsen.com and if you are keen to foster self-care and integrate wellness into your personal and corporate life, contact us at www.pepperminted.com.sg.
February 24, 2020by collective-admin
Mai had been a marketing maven in the corporate world for most of her working life. However, when she saw herself having to move, work, and live in different countries more frequently, a new idea began to take root in her mind. She decided to take the leap and embark on her journey of entrepreneurship by setting up her own coaching practice – MAI LIFE COACH.
Hi Mai, it’s been a pretty long while since we last chatted. We’re quite excited to have this chance to catch up with you! So, what are some of the significant personal/professional changes in your life since PCD?
I would say the biggest change was both a professional and personal one – becoming a business owner. Grabbing hold of that momentum during and after the course to fuel my building of my coaching practice has been a very exciting, insightful and fulfilling process.
What was the biggest/most important lesson you learned about yourself after learning/practising coaching?
It’s hard to say what was ‘biggest’ or ‘most important’. I think if I had to highlight something, it would have to be my personal level of self-awareness, which increased so much. I see how I have stopped second-guessing others and I am now more objective and calmer when I interact with people.
What are some challenges you are experiencing in your life right now and how are you working on them?
Right now, I would say it’s about increasing the marketing efforts of my coaching practice. I have signed up for a marketing program that should be able to support me as I roll out my different strategies.
What advice would you give to someone who is considering taking on coaching as a skill for themselves?
I would say you should take stock and then take advantage of the resources you have to support you; especially if you are planning to start a business. For example, I made sure I used the drive naturally generated by being part of the PCD program back then to really push me to register and launch my business.
What are some of the exciting plans you have for yourself in the near future?
I will be focussing on my ‘expat coaching’ service to help expatriates and/or partners who might need support settling into a new country.
November 26, 2019by collective-admin
Prior to joining the Professional Coach Development (PCD) Program, Vanessa was a Gallery Administrator in a tertiary institute – a job that allowed her to be in a space which aligned with her love for the creative arts. She also majored in Psychology because of her keen interest and love of understanding and working with people. After receiving her Associated Credited Coach (ACC) credential from the International Coach Federation (ICF), she has combined both of her passions in a coaching business that fuses art therapy and coaching. We catch up with her in this interview.
Hi Vanessa, thanks for the opportunity to speak with you! What are some of the significant personal/professional changes in your life since PCD?
I would say the most significant change is my leaving my job and starting my own business – The Peace Catcher. Prior to PCD, I was already interested in art therapy, but PCD provided a means for me to obtain practical skills that complemented my art therapy knowledge. I would say this business is the manifestation of both my artistic/creative side and my desire to help people through art and coaching.
What was the biggest/most important lesson you learned about yourself after learning/practising coaching?
I know a lot of people have said this, but I truly feel that one big lesson was about believing in myself. I actually learned that for a good part of my life, I was suffering from something called ‘selective mutism’, but I always brushed it off and chalked it up to my being introverted. Through coaching, I actually gained the self-awareness to recognise my situation and learned how to externalise my ‘inner voice’ in a way to help others. I saw the value of what I could bring to the table, especially when I see clients connect their ‘dots’ for themselves and create their own ‘ah ha’ moments.
What are some challenges you are experiencing in your life right now and how are you working on them?
Since starting the business, I realise that it’s challenging to get people to be open-minded about art. A lot of people actually limit themselves – I hear things like ‘I can’t draw’ or ‘I have no talent’ or ‘my drawing is so ugly’ all the time. What I have found is that coaching combines well with art therapy because it gives a structure that make the experience less intimidating. My knowledge of both art therapy and coaching actually helps bridge the self-limiting conversations people have around art.
What advice would you give to someone who is considering taking on coaching as a skill for themselves?
I would say to trust your intuition. I knew I needed to change something in my life, but I was sitting on the fence for the longest time. Signing up for PCD actually opened up a lot of opportunities and possibilities for me. I would even go as far to say that I found my life purpose through coaching. If you are already thinking about it, your intuition is probably telling you something.
What are some of the exciting plans you have for yourself in the near future?
Haha, I am hard at work trying to build my dream of becoming a digital nomad. The Peace Catcher is just the first step. I am still creating art as well as conducting consultations for clients who are looking to art therapy as a way to help them unlock their hidden potential.
March 15, 2018by collective-admin
CCI Coaching Beliefs
Premise #1: Every individual is innately motivated to perceive, feel and act. Coaching with this understanding greatly empowers the coachee’s self-awareness and ownership/creativity in solution-generation
Premise #2: The dynamic make up of the situation greatly influences one’s decision-making and solution generation, hence understanding the factors at play that impact/affect your coachee allows you to empower them to own and tackle these factors to forward the situation using his/her current capabilities (or developing new ones)
Premise #3: Coaching is an approach that addresses and integrates a person’s intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual body, causing a shift on all levels to create a sustainable impact that can be translated into application and action
Premise #4: Coaching uncovers and unfolds inner wisdom and hidden lessons within a person to reveal solutions that are unique and useful to the client. Thus, as coaches we do not advise or tell the client what’s best for them, but instead empower them to seek their own answers
Premise #5: Coaching integrates a person’s psyche with all aspects of life. As coaches we empower clients to find the connection between who they are, who they are being, and how they behave that ripples through all domains in their life
The methodologies behind PCD
Premise: The last 13 years of training and mentoring over 150 coaches has shown us consistently the key milestones and skill sets that a newly practising coach goes through on their coaching journey. The 4 major areas of growth needs to occur in:
(i) Coaching skills: overcoming the struggle between advising and solving vs. real coaching
(ii) Coaching process: navigating a coaching session to forward a coachee
(iii) Coach-Self: being a coach who embodies change vs. being a coach in theory
(iv) Coaching confidence: comes from an integration of the above 3 and results in a level of comfort, flexibility and grace
The dynamics of the learning journey applies to everyone across the board, regardless of their life and career experience, their self-awareness or familiarity to what coaching is.
Understanding these dynamics and common stumbling blocks, a learning methodology and a training methodology has been built into the PCD program to facilitate your coaching journey, to achieve confidence and breakthroughs by the time you graduate.
(A) Our Learning methodology:
Premise Coaching is a skill set that is based in the relationship realm. The power of the interpersonal exchange is what causes change in the Coachee. This capability is not one that can be learnt through theory. It has to be integrated and realized within your intellectual, emotional and physical capability, so that you can wholly deliver an impact in your coaching.
To instill this, PCD incorporates the triple-loop learning that focuses on familiarizing you with the skill sets step-by-step whilst thoroughly supported with demonstrations:
- You read and understand intellectually the principle and purpose of the topic and related skill set. There might be frameworks involved, and some examples or points to consider.
- You bring this knowledge into a LIVE webinar where trainers will bring the topic to life through discussions and demonstrations. The key here is, we will SHOW you what it looks like – both positive and negative examples, so that you see the knowledge and skill set in action by experienced coaches
- You try the framework or skill set out with peers. This safe space encourages you to try without fear, to make mistakes, to learn and to get feedback. Coaching mastery is solely based on experience and exposure, which this stage encourages you kick start.
- You refine your skill sets in a LIVE, intimate Supervision session. A skilled, experienced, ACC coach will work with you to sharpen your application. This is done by giving feedback on what was done well, SHOW you how to do it better, and take questions you might have.
This loop repeats 6 (six!) times over the course of the 6 months. Many graduates have attributed their confidence and improvement in coaching to this method of learning.
The triple-loop learning approach is not the only way you get to experience how coaching is done.
Throughout the 6 – 9 months of the course, you will RECEIVE coaching by being coached by an experienced, certified Coach. This is to give you an experience of what it is like to be a coachee, and how it feels like to go through a change cycle. You will also get to observe real, skillful coaching take place, on you.
Our learning methodology ensures you have sufficient exposure to what coaching really looks like and feels like, which leads to increased familiarity and confidence in coaching.
(B) Our Training methodology
Mastering the Coaching process
Premise: Because coaching takes place within a ‘session’ – usually 20 to 45 minutes, the very first instinct that coaches need, is to know how to navigate in a session. Similar to when you are thrown into a pool or the sea, your instinct how how to stay afloat and where to swim to kicks in. Without this ability, a Coach will drown together with his/her coachee in the coachee’s issues, with no way to get both out.
It is on this basis that the first process you will be taught is the 5-step process to navigating a coaching session. It covers the 5 stages you need to progress through to forward a coachee into a better space, useful insight and action. This process is dynamic and not a fixed one, meaning that you will learn and sensitize to when the coachee is ready to move between the stages to get to their end point.
Mastering Coaching skills and presence
Premise: Every single coach practitioner goes through the struggle of removing themselves from the solution-forming process the client needs to go through. We are wired to advise, suggest, solve, help, impose ourselves on situations and other people as our learned way of ‘navigating and solving’ problems. It is a process that takes years to unlearn.
How much a Coach can remove their personal bias and assumptions of the coachee and his/her situation is directly correlated to how effective the coaching becomes.
The PCD program takes this journey into consideration by providing you opportunities to experience your tainted lenses and address them right from the start of the program. Through skillful demonstrations by experienced, certified Coaches, you will get to observe and experience what coaching without these lenses looks like, as a mastery level to aspire to. Knowing where you are, and where to get to charts out a path for you to work to achieving this coveted ‘coaching presence’. Through numerous peer and group coaching opportunities, as well as coaching and mentoring from your trainers, supervisors and mentors, you will find the way to operate out of your personal lenses and get more competent in stepping into a coaching state. It is in this state you will integrate the coaching skills and applications that have been taught to you, and over time you will find more ease and effectiveness in wielding coaching tools to impact your coachee with visible results.
When you are attuned to the coachee’s agenda and needs above and beyond your own, your coaching tools can now serve its purpose. The following tools taught in the PCD program are:
- Setting up a powerful coach-client relationship
- The CCI Change Dynamic Model
- Pivoting
- 11 Core Competencies (ICF)
- Meeting Ethical Guidelines and Professional Standards
- Establishing the Coaching Agreement
- Establishing Trust and Intimacy with the Client
- Coaching Presence
- Active Listening
- Powerful Questioning
- Direct Communication
- Creating Awareness
- Designing Actions
- Planning and Goal Setting
- Managing Progress and Accountability
Developing and integrating your ‘Coach-Self’
Premise: We all step into the coaching journey with values, strengths, weaknesses and personalities developed over many years from past experiences. Because coaching is a fluid art given that each coachee is a unique individual operating in their unique situation, an effective coach must be able to respond with relevant traits. In some cases, you ‘weakness’ might be a strength, and yet with another coachee, your strength could be your weakness.
It is therefore important for the coach to know when to deploy what trait, what personality, which style and approach that best suits the coachee. To be this sensitized to the coachee, the coach needs to suspend their ‘default’ self (and the associated perceptions, assumptions and judgements) to prevent contamination of the coaching space. A coachee steps into this suspended space in the coaching in hopes of discovering more of who they are. This cannot happen effectively if they are imposed upon. This ability to ‘suspend’… is a skill set of the ‘Coach-Self’.
The ‘Coach-Self’ is a part of you that you develop over time to be empathic, allowing, embracing, empowering, compassionate, tough and clear as a mirror all at once. It is the magic that empowers the success of the coaching relationship. This ‘Coach-Self’ is not formed from your past. It is trained up and practiced frequently.
The ‘Coach-Self’ is not removed from who you are. It is not meant to serve as a split-identity. Instead, it is a new set of clothes you learn to wear, and over time, when you integrate this ‘Coach-Self’ with your innate talent and values, it will give rise to your signature coaching style and presence.
September 23, 2017by collective-admin
Use informal coaching to react quickly to situations and issues. Coaching should be something that all managers do with their teams. It helps you understand how people think about their work, their careers, and their relationships with the organization. It can also help you to improve a person's performance, and deal with any issues before these become major problems. Many managers use formal coaching as a way of guiding people through change, briefing them on organizational developments, carrying out performance appraisals, and so on. However, sometimes you need to react quickly to situations and issues, and that's where you can adopt a more informal approach to coaching. But how can you recognize these situations? And, when is it best to "coach," rather than "manage," someone? Getting these decisions wrong and missing those vital coaching opportunities can make a huge difference to the effectiveness of your team. You may also hurt the good relationships you've developed with team members.
