Fantastic time with a group of creatives!
We talked about strengths as leaders. We explored how strengths can be powerful motivations for our work and how strengths is a powerful lens for communication.
We also did some work on trust and how trust is connected to strengths. Looking forward to part 2
Enriching and fruitful time with leaders who are so eager to learn! Facilitated the last day of a four days leadership development program last week. My role was to help each leader practice embodying what they have learnt from the first three days. The leaders had finished learning about their strengths, picked up energy management, influencing skills, coaching skills and much more.
The belief is that leadership is more about how one shows up daily. So the goal was for each person to integrate all their learnings into simulated experiences.
We had leadership labs and role plays. There were so much learning and insights as the leaders learn to observe themselves from the practices.
I had leaders from Singapore, Malayisa, Indonesia, Thailand, China, India, Papua New Guinea and Australia.
It was a blast and treat for me.๐ฅ
Even though this wasnโt a StrengthsFinder program. I enjoyed the coaching bit, encouraging these leaders by sharing my observations and feedback so that they can be sharpened and more aware.
This is the first run of the program that I am doing for the year. Looking forward to the next few runs!
Victor Seet โข World & Singapore's 1st Gold Awarded Gallup CliftonStrengths Coach โข Newfield Certified Ontological Coach โข ICF Coach (ACTC, PCC)
Spent a whole morning together with an amazing team bringing StrengthsFinder to a group of Secondary three students from School of Science and Technology. There were 10 of us and each one was assigned a class to facilitate.
It was a purposeful time spent. The students were very engaged and I was glad to be able to share what I am passionate about. Thankful to be back in the school scene impacting the lives of youth in Singapore.
Trust falls are out. Trust calls are in.
In a recent coaching skills workshop for a group of Singapore leaders and managers, I had an experiential activity lined up-one that required participants to step outside their comfort zones to surface real insight. I explained what we were going to do and lay down expectations.
Before launching in, I did a check in and asked the whole group:
๐ฌ โWho feels safe and willing to take a personal risk and participate in this learning activity?โ
Half the group privately said no.
So, we didnโt do the activity. No pressure. No forced vulnerability.
Not because it wouldnโt have worked. But because trust wasnโt fully in the room yet.
And in coaching, thatโs the work.
Because trust isnโt built on slides or frameworks.
Itโs built on the felt experience of safety.
And sometimes, the most transformational coaching happens when we donโt push through.
Itโs easy to talk about trust.
Itโs harder to notice when itโs missing.
And Iโm glad I stopped, acknowledged the choices, and shifted course accordingly.
The moment reminded me.
Trust isnโt a slide on the deck. Itโs the factor that decides whether the learning actually lands.
Trust is not a soft skill. Itโs a core leadership capability.
Without it, coaching is surface-level.
Without it, learning doesnโt land.
Without it, even the best strategies stall.
If youโre serious about building stronger leaders and healthier teams, trust isnโt the thing you skip to get to the โreal work.โ
Trust is the real work.
๐ซธ Pushing the Limits โ ๏ธ
What I learnt from my Lebanon ๐ฑ๐ง trip.
Some context:
โถ 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.
โถ I had only 2 weeks to prepare amidst many other ongoing commitments. So I knew this work was going to really stretch me.
โถ I had participants from many different countries - Syria, Lebanon, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, USA, Russia, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, South Korea and Germany.
โถ It was my first time listening, conversing and learning from those from the Middle East, Russia and South America.
What I did:
โถ 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.
โถ We explored how trust might look like in cross cultural work - what it looks like when it is strong and when it is broken.
โถ I taught a couple of leadership conversational skills and facilitated the practice - how leaders can generate context of trust and safety.
โถ I had 1 on 1 coaching with each person to process the emotions and learnings.
What I took away๐๐ผ
๐Listening 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 โsafeโ bubble.
๐Listening 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.
๐The 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. Iโm now more confident in navigating high tension and conflict work. #Command #SelfAssurance #Communication #Connectedness
#teamcoaching #ontologicalcoaching #deeplistening
We coach, play and dance ๐บ ๐คฉ
It was CNY day 3. I thought the coaching workshop should be spiced up a little. Who says coaching workshops canโt be fun! ๐
Together with Yeang Cherng Poh and Jasmine Khoo, we brought the leaders through a coaching framework with some customized role plays, did some somatics work and learnt some coaching distinctions through games.
We explored what it takes to lead through coachingโhow to partner and build trust, how to inquire and listen with empathy. More than just coaching skills, we also explored how being more coach-like is the game-changer.
The shift was tangible: leaders walked away not just with new skills they can practice, but with a fresh perspective on leadership itself.
๐๐จ๐๐๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ฌ๐งโ๐ญ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฌโ๐ข๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ๐๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ.
It was lots of fun facilitating the session. Glad it went better than expected.
I must confess it wasnโt fun spending CNY thinking about the session and the highly customized design. There were definitely lots of discomfort and some anxiety doing the preparations.๐
#CoachingLeaders #CompetencyDrivenGrowth #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipDevelopment #CoachingSkills #CoachMindset #StrengthsTransform