Singapore, 14 June 2024 – Collective Change Institute (CCI), a leading coaching organisation, is proud to announce its new partnership with Impart, a Singapore- based charity that gives youths-facing-adversity a fighting chance. This collaboration aims to bolster youth development and mental health, while providing valuable coaching experience to apprentice coaches and free pro-bono coaching to the community.
CCI’s “Coaching for Change” program has been running for the past seven years, offering members of the public the opportunity to receive six pro-bono coaching sessions. These sessions are conducted by apprentice coaches who are undergoing the Professional Coach Development Program, CCI’s flagship coach training program. This rigorous program spans six months and is one of the only programs helmed by five Master Certified Coaches. It is also one of the few that supports students in gaining real coaching experience and clients through the Coaching for Change program.
As an International Coaching Federation (ICF) approved coaching organization, CCI adheres to the highest standards of coaching excellence. This hands-on practice is crucial for apprentice coaches to gain experience and confidence in their coaching skills. In turn, clients benefit from professional coaching at no cost, with the option to donate to IMPART! upon the completion of their sessions.
Over the years, CCI has partnered with various organizations, including the Bone Marrow Donor Program, to extend the reach and impact of its Coaching for Change program. Making an impact on society has always been a core value for CCI, and its mission is to impact 10,000 lives through coaching.
Impart’swork brings development to the doorsteps of youths-facing-adversity, with a long view towards community connectedness and intergenerational engagement. Youths obtain a fighting chance through their 3 arms: Education, Mental Health Care, and Community. Impart supports over 300 youths each year with the help of more than 200 dedicated volunteers.This partnership with CCI is a significant step forward in Impart’s mission to continue giving youths a fighting chance. “We are thrilled to partner with Impart in this meaningful initiative,” said Jada Seet, Master Certified Coach at CCI. “Our Coaching for Change program not only provides essential training for our apprentice coaches but also offers invaluable support to individuals seeking coaching. By supporting Impart, we are collectively championing the cause of youth development and mental health, creating a win-win situation for everyone involved.”
The partnership is designed to create a positive impact on multiple levels. Apprentice coaches gain practical experience by working with real clients, members of the public receive professional coaching free of charge, and Impart benefits from the donations made by grateful clients. This collaboration exemplifies the power of community and collective effort in driving positive change.
“Impart is delighted to join forces with CCI in this groundbreaking initiative,” said Joshua Tay, Deputy Executive Director of Impart. “This partnership not only aligns with our mission to give youths a fighting chance but also underscores the importance of corporate outfits in building a community of care. We believe that together, we can make a significant difference in the lives of young people and the broader community.”
For more information about the “Coaching for Change” program or to sign up for pro-bono coaching sessions, please visit [CCI website] or [www.impart.sg].
Look at what community can do when we come together.
Collective Change Institute’s Coaching for Change program matches coaches with members of the public who are keen to experience breakthroughs in their lives. Coachees don’t pay these coaches for the coaching directly. Instead, they pay it forward to CCI’s charity of choice.
Within 3 years, the C4C program raised $20k for the Bone Marrow Donor Program, the only bone marrow registry in Singapore that helps recruit and match donors with patients whose lives depend on a bone marrow match. These funds sponsor the operational costs needed to add another 111 donors to the registry.
The Charity-Coach-Coachee Triple Win
The Bone Marrow Donor program does important work. Every day 6 Singaporeans are diagnosed with a blood-related disease. For some patients, a bone marrow transplant is often their last chance of survival. A bone marrow transplant involves the infusion of healthy blood stem cells into the patient’s body to stimulate new bone marrow growth and restore production of healthy blood cells. The chances of a match is highly dependent on ethnicity. The team is driven by the charity’s mission of finding a donor for every patient. To get more people to sign up as a potential marrow donor, BMDP drives awareness, recruitment, swab processing, donor engagement, public relations, stakeholder communication and fundraising activities. All it takes is a simple cheek swab. The swabs are then sent to a laboratory to identify one’s Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) typing, before he/she is included into our register of potential marrow donors.
“We are thrilled to be able to do our part of society through the Coaching for Change program. We came up with this program to address a fundamental challenge all aspiring coaches face – putting themselves out there to start getting life coaching clients in”
CCI leverages their reputation, network and resources to fund this program such that our coaches can start working with coachees. “It doesn’t matter if they are still in training. It has shown over and again that a positive impact happens as long as the coach is passionate and equipped with fundamental coaching know-how. We are so proud that simply through conversations, we get to impact many, many lives beyond our immediate circle,” says Lin Tan, Director of Training of CCI.
What drives CCI?
CCI’s mission is to create ripples of change. Inspired by Mother Theresa’s quote:
The #changecatalysts who undergo CCI’s Professional Coach Development program emerge after 6 months of intensive coach training and personal development confident and ready to take on paid life and executive coaching clients. The Coaching for Change program takes place during these 6 months, and many coaches attribute a fantastic training journey to this flagship program – the one-and-only in Singapore – that brings them through a real-life experience of getting engaged by actual clients.
“We are dedicated to walking the talk. Impact doesn’t only happen after coach training, or after obtaining a ‘coach’ title. We are here to create impact, and we do it by opening avenues for our coaches – wherever they are at in their journey – to start working their magic with real clients.” Director of Talent, Lim Pei Ying shares that coaches who experience the difference they make with clients right from the start sets them up for success as they continue pursuing their professional credentials.
It’s not always a bed of roses
The bigger the goal, the bigger the challenges. Since the launch of the CCI’s Coaching for Change program in 2017, hundreds of coaches have contributed to the success of the program. The donations from the first 2 years were used to fund the building of haze shelters in Indonesia (through partnering with Big Red Button) when the haze reached critical levels over 2016-2019. Every few years, CCI appoints a new beneficiary and after a destined encounter with BMDP over the radio, CCI decided to play a part in raising awareness of this worthy cause.
It is not easy to coordinate hundreds of coaches, who are empowered to conduct these life coaching sessions at their own pace and time with their clients. Ensuring donations come in requires a strong compliance in the administration and tracking system. That’s when a dedicated coaching manager joined the CCI team to oversee the success of the program. Terence Eng brings his corporate expertise into the development and management of the processes. What keeps him going despite having to juggle managing the C4C program with his full-time job? “I get to witness first hand how the coaches grow in their craft, and am fueled by the inspiring testimonials from our coachees as they go thru the C4C program. Running the program gives me so much more meaning knowing that it is for a charitable cause , a life saving one. Contributing in a small way to impact so many lives, makes all my efforts running the C4C program such a rewarding one.”
Still, it’s processes arn’t the only factor. The charity conversation need to be kept alive throughout the coahcing journey, which spans 4-6 months. Coaches focus entirely on the success of the coachee, and the coachee is not ready to pay it forward until the end of the coaching. More emphasis on the charity portion might help, alongside a stronger spotlight on the beneficiary so that the larger ‘WHY’ leads the way.
What lies ahead?
Eugene Sim, Director of Partnerships says, “We are here to play the impact game. CCI will continue our efforts to deliver world-class coach training programs that produce world-class coaches. Imagine what happens when individuals with the right heart are equipped to conduct life-changing conversations? That vision drives us and with the support of our community and our team, we lead the way as a coaching community in Asia dedicated to making a lasting difference to society.”
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.
Collective Change Institute (CCI) has appointed Big Red Button (BRB) as the official beneficiary of our Coaching for Change Program.
Proceeds from Coaching from Change clients will go towards the Project Sarang: Haze Shelters.
