WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR COACHES? BIASES CLIENTS HAVE TO OVERCOME The world is full of possibilities for coaches to support and enable Many clients face the bias of HR recruiters who are looking for clients to thrive in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and experience, preferably in the same industry. What recruiters often ambiguous), post-Covid-19, ‘new-norm’ world, where disruption and neglect to do is probe into the transferability of certain skills and high speed of change are givens. attributes. For example: If we were to adapt the principles Sun Tzu outlines in The Art of War • Agility (which includes the ability and speed of unlearning and

to strategic management, we will find that many of us are practising re-learning), resilience (ability and speed of bounce-back) and COACHING IMPACT the following principles. grit (courage and resolve; strength of character).

1. Know yourself • Data literacy (from analytics to working with technology- enhanced processes, products and services). Knowing yourself is the first principle of emotional intelligence. It is about self-awareness and self-management. Leveraging our • Openness and appetite for learning (a growth mindset that strengths and modelling lifelong learning ourselves will go a long embraces lifelong learning). way to inspiring clients who are facing challenges in transitioning • Flexibility and adaptability; emotional and cultural intelligence into a new work-life situation. As coaches, we need to recognise (including awareness of unconscious biases and their effect on the space that we are best placed in. There are many ways to help, decision making). and we can intervene at different levels and with different types • Creativity, risk taking, entrepreneurship and innovation of businesses. The key to success is to identify the space you are (including the need to balance paradoxes, compete and passionate about playing in, the one that matches your values and collaborate). strengths, then to hone your playbook.

2. Know the other These attributes apply to countries, organisations, institutions, Just as it’s important to know yourself, it is equally important to groups and individuals. They speak to the need for T-shaped human know your clients and stakeholders. We need to understand their capital development.3 needs and wants, what drives them, the lenses through which they A major challenge in coaching for structural is view and interpret the world, and what they really care about and supporting clients who face biases in the process. COACHING THROUGH fear. This will help target our interventions appropriately. Depending on location, coaches and clients can face challenges 3. Know the climate and terrain relating to age, race and gender. It is all about context and timing – understanding geographical Coaches need to commit to being there for their clients in the long influences, the wider environment and cultural forces. All of this haul. Re- is akin to running a marathon, and there are Eliza Quek reflects on how Singapore has responded to the pandemic helps us consider when a client is ready for help and how fertile the more downs than ups in the process of search and placement. and explores how coaches can support clients who are seeking new ground is for you to support them through work-life transitions. An optimistic and robust mindset for both coach and client makes all the difference. employment opportunities. TECHNIQUES RELEVANT TO COACHING THROUGH STRUCTURAL UNEMPLOYMENT PESTEL analysis (political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, ABOUT THE AUTHOR environmental and legislative forces and how they interact to THE SINGAPORE STORY We too have suffered the disruption of the pandemic and are using produce specific contexts) enables coaches to identify trends, this time to invest in gearing the workforce for smart-city sustainable anticipate changes and put in place risk management and risk In the Little Red Dot, as Singapore is sometimes casually referred mitigation plans for their practices. This in turn will position coaches 1 lifestyle and work opportunities. There is the inevitable mismatch to , we have had to weather massive disruption to economic to enable clients to thrive in a VUCA world. development ever since the country declared independence of skills between the PMET (professional, managerial, executive and from Malaysia in 1965. It explains the country’s low score in the technicians) workforce and industry demand. In digitally savvy nations, coaches are able to be ‘on tap’, coaching uncertainty avoidance index of the Hofstede model of national I have had the privilege of working on government-funded schemes ‘just in time’ and ‘on the go’. Mobility and the use of AI is being culture2 and the government’s proactive culture. We surf the through the Singapore Management University, facilitating adopted by some practices. tsunamis of displacement and reinvention and it is in Singapore’s professional conversion, business digital transformation and Design thinking is another discipline that enables coaches to Eliza is an international, cross-culturally sensitive organisation and DNA to anticipate and be reasonably prepared to cope with the internationalisation of SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises). understand the personas of different clients caught in structural leadership development consultant, mentor and executive coach based unknown. As a society, Singapore is content with living by Murphy’s Coaching and mentoring teams on adding value to SMEs is part of unemployment. For some, displacement is an opportunity to pivot in Singapore. She trains mentors and mentees in mentoring partnership; Law – anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. the remit, as PMET workers undergo transitions caused by towards entrepreneurship and rethink climbing the greasy pole mentors project teams in adding value to small- and medium-sized Crises bring out the best or worst in us, and in Singapore’s case I am structural unemployment and recessionary conditions. of corporate . Others may manage multiple careers with a enterprises; and coaches C-suite and senior leadership in brand proud to say that the pandemic and ongoing economic crisis have diversity of revenue streams, for example complimenting a primary development, entrepreneurial thinking and collaborative innovation. resulted in innovative solutions, driving technological developments 1. Derived from how the country is sometimes depicted on world maps. The income stream as a gig-economy worker. She integrates 360⁰ results with other psychometric instruments to enhance personal effectiveness. Eliza is former chair, research, and across various facets of life. phrase is used with a sense of pride, embodying how the tiny island state Whatever the outcome, design thinking enables coaches to leverage punches above its weight in global rankings. current first vice president of Asia Pacific Alliance of Coaches (APAC). CRM (customer relationship management), enabling them to apply The largely compliant population enables speedy execution of 2. Professor Geert Hofstede’s model ranks countries on six cultural dimensions. policies and accounts for our relative success in strategic execution. The uncertainty avoidance dimension looks at the extend to which societies customer journey mapping to their practice. For example, the widespread utilisation of the Trace Together app to tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty. Singapore’s score of eight is the lowest 3. The vertical bar on the letter T represents the depth of related skills and of any country included in the index, showing a high level of openness to Coaches can use guided visualisation imagery to build strengths in expertise in a single field, whereas the horizontal bar is the ability to collaborate monitor spread of disease and Covid-19 vaccination roll out. uncertainty. For more information, visit hofstede-insights.com. clients undergoing traumatic and highly challenging transitions. across disciplines (wikipedia.org).

36 associationforcoaching.com APRIL 2021 | Issue 29 37