A Special Feature on “Thriving Today, Transforming Tomorrow”: The 2023 Benchmark Leadership and Coaching Conference
September 5 was a milestone day for Benchmark Consulting as we held our biggest Leadership and Coaching Conference to date, bringing together 4 Global Gurus, 4 Top Panelists, and close to 700 Participants representing 60 Companies in 6 power-packed learning sessions.
Here are some highlights:
Session 1: Neuroscience in Leadership and Coaching
with Dr. Marcia Reynolds, MCC, Global Gurus Top 4 Coaching Professional, Past ICF Global President, and Bestselling Author
“Are you willing to give up being the healer, sympathizer, mentor and fixer in order to be a coach?” That was the question Marcia posed to all leaders in attendance. Most people want to be seen, made to feel safe, be accepted and respected, and be seen as smart. Coaching, therefore, is helping smart people think, because it gives them a safe space to arrive at creative insight on their own and reinforces the fact that the people are capable and whole by allowing them to find their way instead of giving advice or telling them what to do. What followed was a live coaching demo where Marcia showed us how to listen with the mind, heart and gut.
Session 2: Courageous Conversations
with Dr. Robert Biswas-Diener, Bestselling Author, Researcher, Coach and Consultant
Robert defined courage as taking worthwhile action when there is a personal risk and the outcome is uncertain. It is not the absence of fear, but the ability and willingness to act anyway despite the fear. Therefore, courage is not only reserved for heroic acts but can show up in daily conversations, in creativity, in opposition, in perseverance, in reacting. Leaders don’t need to know exactly the right thing to say or do, but they need to be able to take action and navigate uncertainty. This is why courage Is workplace-relevant and needs to be encouraged at every opportunity.
Session 3: Panel Discussion on Building a Coaching Culture
with Luchi Vitales, PCC, Dr. Ellen Licup-Medina, Angela Valenzuela, and Martin de Guzman from Monde Nissin, Zuellig Family Foundation, Petron, and Maynilad Water Services, respectively
This session, facilitated by conference hosts Adam Bautista and Paui del Rosario, shed light to how each of the panelists went about creating and establishing a coaching culture in their respective companies—the stakeholders involved, the challenges they faced, the objectives and reasons why a coaching culture was relevant for them, how progress was measured, and the outcome since inception. When asked for tips or advice to all leaders who are interested in building a coaching culture in their own teams and organizations, Martin said “You need to identify how coaching can be a business enabler and be relentless about it.” Ellen said “Although it can be difficult in the beginning, power through that difficulty knowing that it can be done and it must be done.” For Angela, “Define very compelling objectives and well planned guidelines and a defined and proven framework.” And Luchi ended with 3 Cs: “Courageously accept that you don’t have all the answers, be Curious, and Care for people because they are who you are doing this for.”
Session 4: Resolving Conflict Using Team Coaching
with Julius Ordonez, MCC, ACTC, Founder and President of Benchmark Consulting, and Founder of ICF Philippines Charter Chapter
In this session, Julius highlighted how conflict can bring about unhealthy relationships, leading to demotivation, performance issues, quality issues and customer dissatisfaction. Managers spend over 4 hours a week handling conflict, so learning how to properly resolve conflict can have a huge impact on team morale and productivity. An environment of psychological safety needs to be created wherein people are able to voice out their concerns, ask questions without fear of repercussions, so that innovation, natural collaboration, support and synergy can emerge. To do that, leaders need to make a mindset shift to accept the fact that conflict is unavoidable, and that conflict is a growth opportunity. Julius also performed a live demonstration of how to coach through conflict, going through the different constructive behaviors in a conflict situation.
Session 5: Future Proof: Trends in Leadership and Coaching
with Joel DiGirolamo, Vice President of Research and Data Science of the International Coaching Federation
Joel began his session by explaining that managers and leaders keep a balance between being directive, like in times of emergency and crisis, and being participative, applying coaching skills in conversations on career development and facilitative learning. He went on by showing the development of coaching over the years and how it is used in organizations, meetings, and workplace conversations. Joel also included a section on AI coaching, expressing that it will not replace human interactions, but instead can be used to complement the work of coaches and leaders by doing the calendaring, sharing related resources, note taking, engagement and function as an aggregator. Overall, the future looks bright for coaching in leadership.
Session 6: The True Journey of a Leader
with Dr. Elena Espinal, MCC, Leadership Development, Team Building and Future Design Expert, and one of Marshall Goldsmith’s 50 Thinkers Influencing Coaching
Elena posed three powerful questions that leaders need to ponder today: “What possibilities are you seeing in the future and which ones have you committed to? Are the conversations you are having today impacting the future in a few months, a year, even 5-10 years from now? How many people in the company know the future they are working for?” She notes that we need to profoundly reinvent the way we are, the way we grow and the way we relate to others, and to give up the need for control and replace it with inspiration. Elena also illustrated that leaders need to be orchestra conductors of mood, and to learn how to read a team’s mood, as though they were works of music. At the end of the day, the most important journey of a leader is not to a particular objective or destination, it is a journey within one’s self.
Thanks for Your Feedback!
We appreciate all participants who took the time to send in their feedback after the session, and are very happy that the average overall satisfaction score for the conference is 4.6 out of 5. Here are some verbatim comments:
“It was my first time to attend and the sessions were eye-opener for me.”
“It was a great experience and very relevant.”
“It was a rare privilege! Thank you so much!”
“Thanks for this opportunity to learn from experts :)”
“Congratulations! Topics were relevant to both coaches and leaders.”
“All the speakers were very informative.”
“What I appreciate are the practical and applicable inputs from the panelists on how they started, implemented and sustained the coaching culture in their own companies. I learned a lot from it as benchmarking for my own team as well. Thank you.”
“It was an illuminating conference. I enjoyed the fresh perspective and sharing.”
“Overall learning is very fruitful and a big help to me as a leader.”
“Awesome experience and learning. Excited to apply my learnings to my team. I enjoyed the Coaching demo presented by Dr. Marcia and the panel discussion on building a coaching culture gave us a glimpse of how coaching is practiced in the Philippines.”
“Coach Marcia, Dr. Robert & Joel’s sessions were application & data based. Very useful.”
“Thank you!!! I gained leadership awareness through this conference.”
NEW AND UPCOMING AT BENCHMARK
We are so excited to share that the following services are now available at Benchmark:
Conflict Dynamics Profile (CDP)
“Conflict is neither good nor bad. Properly managed, it is absolutely vital.”
Do you ever wish you knew how to decode you own or your team’s conflict styles… what triggers conflict in the team, how to handle it, and how to best move forward from it? Good news—the Conflict Dynamics Profile (CDP) is here! It is an assessment tool that measures conflict behaviors, and a resource that can increase your self-awareness, improve conflict management skills and improve team dynamics. Benchmark Consulting, through our President Julius Ordoñez, is the only licensed practitioner of the CDP in the Philippines.
Click here for more details or write us at info@benchmark-consulting.net to find out how this assessment can work for your team!
Benchmark CoachLink
The verdict is out: Coaching across the organization works! In the latest ICF Global Coaching Study, 86% of companies that used professional coaching reported a positive return on investment, and all individuals who received coaching experienced increased life satisfaction and improved work-life balance.
In order to reach more people from all levels in the organization, we have launched Benchmark CoachLink: The Philippines’ first online on-demand coaching platform. Companies can enroll a number of participants into CoachLink, and each coachee will fill out an online assessment, which will allow the system to match them with the 3 best coaches that suit their needs from our pool. All sessions are scheduled and conducted online, making coaching more accessible anytime, anywhere!
Message us at info@benchmark-consulting.net to find out what Benchmark CoachLink can do for you.
Advanced Professional Coaching Certification Course (APCCC)
Calling all professional coaches — Do you want to build on your skillset, deepen your coaching practice and make a greater, life-changing impact on the lives of your coaching clients?
Join our Advanced Professional Coaching Certification Course, an intensive program led by acclaimed ICF Master Certified Coaches Dr. Marcia Reynolds and Julius Ordonez, to learn new and critical skills and mindsets to develop coaching mastery and make every coaching engagement a transformative experience. You’re still on time for the next run that starts in November! Previous ICF accredited training hours will be credited in order for you to earn an ICF Level 2 Certification, paving the ways towards your ICF credential.
Click here for more details >>
RECENT BENCHMARK CORPORATE WORKSHOPS
Henry Ford once said “If everyone is moving forward together, success takes care of itself.” This is something we believe in at Benchmark as well, which is why we put so much effort and energy into our Leadership and Team Development Programs.
Here are some snaps from our recent workshops these last few weeks for URC (Team Alignment Program), Zuellig Family Foundation (Roles of a Trainer Workshop), Monde Nissin (Coaching for Success), BPI (Coaching and Mentoring Program), Lufthansa Teknik (Critical Switch Leadership Development Program), Ayala Land Estates (Leaders as People Developer and Team Builder), Meralco (Coaching for Success), Chevron (Leadership Alignment Program), Colgate-Palmolive (Coaching for Success), Anchorland (Team Alignment Program), and GAOC (Team Building Program). We’ll let the big smiles speak for themselves!
Let’s talk about solutions to build teamwork, synergy, and leadership in your team! Send us a message at info@benchmark-consulting.net.
