Strengths Team Building Workshop Program - Seng Kang General Hospital

Had an opportunity to do some strengths-based team development work for a team of healthcare professionals from Seng Kang General Hospital.

Due to some unique needs, I decided intentionally not to use CliftonStrengths Assessment (which is my go-to).

Instead, I tried a new strengths based approach to meet the needs of the team. It definitely wasn’t comfortable. Thankful that I had the support of another colleague to pull off this team building workshop program. We worked on the same principles - focused everyone towards their strengths, help people connect deeper and build trust through the strengths language and help participants apply their strengths in team collaboration.

The results were immensely satisfying. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive from each participant. 

The experience has definitely inspired confidence to offer alternative solutions while not compromising on the strengths based approach to team development. 

Adapting and expanding of oneself is necessary to survive. I strongly believe in learning to anticipate the curve before it bends. The goal is to turn disruptions into opportunities. 

It is mostly uncomfortable and I honestly dislike the process. 

But the choice is clear to me:  innovate or evaporate.

Leadership Conversations - Strengths, Trust Building & Cross Cultural Cooperation

🫸 Pushing the Limits ⚠️

What I learnt from my Lebanon 🇱🇧 trip.

Some context:

▶ It was a 5 days leadership retreat for an NGO and I was invited to facilitate 3/5 days, focusing on cross cultural cooperation and trust building.

▶ I had only 2 weeks to prepare amidst many other ongoing commitments. So I knew this work was going to really stretch me. 

▶ I had participants from many different countries - Syria, Lebanon, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, USA, Russia, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, South Korea and Germany.

▶ It was my first time listening, conversing and learning from those from the Middle East, Russia and South America. 

What I did:

▶ I needed an anchor to bridge the cultural differences. So I started with strengths as a language and a lens to build the container of safety.

▶ We explored how trust might look like in cross cultural work - what it looks like when it is strong and when it is broken.

▶ I taught a couple of leadership conversational skills and facilitated the practice - how leaders can generate context of trust and safety. 

▶ I had 1 on 1 coaching with each person to process the emotions and learnings. 

What I took away👇🏼

📍Listening for our bias and assumptions is crucial. It starts by being aware that we bring our bias into the conversations. On day 1, I felt I had so much to learn as I hear different stories in a very diverse context. I felt I was the odd one out as a Singaporean, living in my “safe” bubble. 

📍Listening in a cross cultural context brings out more of the emotional and body context because of language challenges. For many, English is not the first language. The other aspects are heightened as a result. As I listened to the stories shared in English, I often experienced the intensity of the stories through the emotions and the body of the storyteller. 

📍The Strengths Language truly deepens appreciation and respect for diversity. Once I facilitated the strengths conversations, the cross cultural differences was reduced and the strengths language facilitated conversations of trust building. 

It was truly an eye-opening week of being, doing and learning. My strengths felt satisfied. I’m now more confident in navigating high tension and conflict work. #Command #SelfAssurance #Communication #Connectedness

#teamcoaching #ontologicalcoaching #deeplistening

CliftonStrengths (StrengthsFinder) Team Building - Technology Company

Stronger Together: Celebrating 15 years

What happens when you bring together 30 brilliant minds from Singapore and ASEAN region to celebrate 15 years of innovation, collaboration, and resilience? A team ready to level up—with strengths as their superpower! 

Had the honor of facilitating a CliftonStrengths Team Building Workshop for eVantage, this dynamic tech company.

I had a deeper realization: 

Strengths are launchpads.

They help us understand why we thrive in certain roles, how we contribute best, and who we need beside us to go further, faster, stronger.

As this team steps into their next chapter, they do so not just as colleagues, but as a cohesive force ready to shape the future.

Here’s to celebrating strengths, unlocking potential, and moving forward—together!

#CliftonStrengths #TeamBuilding #StrengthsAtWork #StrongerTogether

CliftonStrengths (StrengthsFinder) Team Coaching - Collaboration & Communication

“𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦’𝐬 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬?

Imagine the difference when we ask: “Who’s handling this work?”versus “Who’s built for this?”

Many meetings drain energy because they overfocus on tasks. Adding strengths conversations into such meetings shift the energy positively because they shift the focus towards people. 

Instead of saying, “Good work on the deck. Let’s now quickly prepare for the presentation”, we ask, “I saw your energy and enthusiasm when you were putting the deck together. What about doing slides make you so happy? How can we partner together?” 

The difference? One feels like a to-do list. The other feels like unlocking superpowers. My work as a #Teamcoach is helping teams redefine their habits.

In this most recent #CliftonStrengths session, we didn’t discuss work—we discovered flow. When members of the team explore what they see in each other and in themselves, they stop reinforcing the negative stories about each other. 

They start being curious about what each other cares for at work and what makes each other feel like they are thriving.

The energy shifts. The body relaxes. The smiles appear. 

Collaboration and partnership becomes a natural outcome. 

My own reflection after the team coaching:
There was a deeper realization that I aim to integrate emotional work with strengths. Sometimes it’s peace-making work by diffusing existing conflicts. Other times, it’s amplifying hope for teams that feel burdened. My superpower is injecting clarity into a team’s emotional context and generating the required shift. I love seeing teams come alive and this session gave me evidence of what I can generate in terms of the outcome! #Grateful

CliftonStrengths Team Workshop for Educators - Grange Institution

1st educators session for 2025!

Had the privilege to conduct a program before a group of educators from Grange Institution start their classes. The goal was to really help the team to get to know each other as there were several new teachers and to use their strengths to explore greater collaboration as they come together often to create academic content and activities for students across the dfferent levels.

It’s never easy delivering workshops for teachers so I’m glad that the teachers enjoyed the activities and found them helpful. Looking forward to impacting this group of educators and also the students from Grange.

CliftonStrengths Workshop and Team Coaching - Bintan Indonesia

1st team coaching session for 2025!

Travelled to Bintan and did a CliftonStrengths Team session for Centre for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth (CSP) team from Singapore. The aim was to have the team connected at a deeper level, focusing on strengthening psychological safety and demonstrate an increased level of openness. 

It was a small intimate setting. After a short time of covering the foundations of CliftonStrengths, we deep dived into team dynamics and culture. During one of the workshop activities, an opportunity opened up and I switched from workshop facilitator to team coach mode. 

That meant putting all my content aside and choosing to work with the team in an adaptive way, focusing on emerging data. As I sensed a shift, I invited the team to go deep with each other and share about they can thrive with each other and receive tangible support. 

In the end, each person on the team took risks to be vulnerable and the sharing became raw, honest and at the same time uplifting and inspiring. One took risk to share a pent-up frustration. One displayed courage and shared how certain areas of hurt that took place. One apologise for certain behaviours. As an observer, I saw how the team connected deeper and were united in spirit.

It certainly is not common to see such team dynamics and deep conversations. Am super delighted with the outcome.