Performance Consultants China Managing Director, Jeffrey Wu, talks about leading through COVID-19
– 5 mins read –
What has Performance Consultants been doing in China to help leaders and organizations navigate through the crisis and beyond?
Covid-19 has had a profound impact on business and everyday life throughout China. While we have managed to contain the spread of the virus, the road to domestic recovery is full of complexity and uncertainty. The news now is dominated by imported cases of the virus in citizens returning home from abroad and the extent of asymptomatic cases remains unclear.
As a result, social distancing is still in full effect for the whole of China, with only a partial re-opening of schools under way, in a closely controlled approach. Many of the restrictions on hospitality industries are still in place. For months we have been living in this changed world. Our “new normal” is uncertain, and uncharted. This sense of ambiguity is resonating as never before and we are understanding that we are all inter-linked and dependent on each other. Within China and globally, we need to work together and nurture an interdependent mindset to get through this crisis.
In the face of these challenges, PCI China together with our local associates have been actively helping leaders and organizations on multiple fronts.
In collaboration with leading training institutions and management magazines, we’ve hosted a series of online podcasts on leadership in a time of crisis and uncertainty. We have looked at how leaders and organizations can develop a “trust” mindset and build high-performing teams while working remotely. With entrepreneurs, we have been exploring approaches to transform their business in the face of Covid-19 challenges. For me, these sessions and the feedback from attendees have shown how a coaching approach is truly the right direction for leaders in these turbulent times, enabling organizations to release the creativity and potential in their people and build the interdependent cultures essential to both productivity and the human spirit.
Our local associates are also contributing in similar ways. For example, one of our associates Daniel Zhao has been collaborating with two of his fellow coaches, donating their time and effort to create an online workshop, titled “Creating Meaningful Work”, which aims to help organizational leaders to find deeper meaning in their personal mission and work. Many of our colleagues in coaching have been making similar efforts to help our clients and communities.
With traditional face-to-face training at a stand-still, we have launched a number of online learning products and services to enable coaches and organizations to continue, or to accelerate their development in this rapidly-changing landscape. The online workshop version of the Coaching for Performance Level 1 program has received rave reviews from participants. We have also launched GROW Training for Leaders in China. These flexible and efficient self-paced learning solutions have provided a much-needed option for organizations looking to promote a coaching leadership style in junior managers. And we have also recorded a full-length video podcast programme to further share the knowledge and real-life application of a coaching leadership style in small and medium-sized organizations and teams.
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What advice can you give for leaders working in other countries?
Here’s what we have learned from China’s experiences in dealing with Covid-19 and its impact:
- Those working in learning and development are not going to be able to deliver in-person learning in most places due to social distancing. This is expected to last for a while. Many people worry about the effectiveness of an online workshop but we have seen this is highly effective. Done right, the experience and learning from a virtual workshop can be as powerful as in-person, and people living in isolation are sustained and inspired by the genuine human connection that technology enables. In the midst of this great change, there is an opportunity to equip people with the skills needed in this “VUCA world”.
- The crisis can serve as a springboard to build a more interdependent way of working into the business. With people working from home in extended fashion, traditional “command and control” management reveals its limitations. Forward-looking leaders are using a coaching leadership style to create better partnership working and a purpose-driven team that can deliver higher performance.
What opportunities do you see for multinational organizations that have a presence in China?
The virus has shown us that, now more than ever, we need to work together and find creative ways to cooperate. Already, all around the world we are seeing examples where humankind is rising to meet this challenge and extraordinary new ways of thinking are opening up.
At the same time, the virus is leaving no individual, organization or nation unaffected and this time is fraught with anxiety and heightening geopolitical sensitivities. Before Covid-19, many countries around the world were seeing rising nationalist sentiment and in some cases this is being exacerbated by leaders, leading many to fear the end of globalization even as others argue this has never been more important.
In many ways this is a crisis of trust and interdependence is our opportunity.
Faced with these opposing forces and the volatile environment, the old adage to “think global, act local” applies. Multinationals will need to place greater trust in their Chinese management team, who will have much better awareness of local nuance and how to navigate the current complexities.
The Chinese government is still fully committed to multilateralism and China’s domestic market continues to present very attractive opportunities for multinational organizations. I believe those foreign brands that can foster deeper connection with Chinese values in the post-pandemic world, while remaining true to their vision and mission, will have a decisive edge over their competitors. And, by being open to working in collaborative ways they may not have conceived of pre-Covid-19, these businesses can make a major contribution to the world’s recovery.
It is our mission to support leaders to rise to the challenge created by COVID-19. Get in touch to find out how we can help you.
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Sir John and his colleagues at Performance Consultants were the first to take coaching into the workplace and coined the term “performance coaching” in the early 1980s. We continue to lead the field in performance improvement through coaching leadership training.
Select one of the options shown. Or get in touch and one of our world-class leadership development consultants will work with you to create a tailored programme that meets your specific needs.
- Attend a Coaching Course – experience the benefits of coaching first hand. See our Global Training Calendar to find the right course for you
- Transformational Leader Pathway – learn how to be a leader–coach with a coaching leadership style that creates a culture of high performance for you, your team and entire organization
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We asked our MD, Tiffany Gaskell, for some reflections on 2019 and the year ahead.
– 5 mins read –
In this article:
- What are the two words that sum this year up for you, and what do they tell you about 2020?
- Where do you think coaching is now versus 2018?
- What’s the biggest challenge you’ve seen to coaching this year?
- What are the two key things you focused on this year?
- You mentioned digital products, what are they?
- What new clients have you signed up in 2019?
- What are your predictions for 2020?
- What are your personal highlights?
- Anything else?
What are the two words that sum this year up for you, and what do they tell you about 2020?
My two words would be surprising and exciting. And what they tell me about 2020 is that everything is possible. Our mission is to enable a leadership that is fit for the 21st Century. One that is ethical, sustainable and profitable. This is finally becoming a mainstream requirement and that is exciting.
Where do you think coaching is now versus 2018?
Coaching has gone mainstream in 2019 and we at Performance Consultants continue to light the way. We have received a massive amount of support through respected organizations and our clients who now recognize coaching as fundamental to the transformational leadership needed today.
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What is the biggest challenge you have seen to coaching this year?
In April, the publication of Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell signalled to me that the term ‘coach’ is becoming commonplace at world-leading companies like Google. Unfortunately, the activity and philosophy of ‘coaching’ continues to be confused with the activity and philosophy of ‘mentoring’. For me, the latter sells the management style of leaders advising or telling a junior person what to do. This approach stifles empowerment and entrepreneurialism and is the opposite of coaching. The confusion means we often spend our initial meetings with clients educating them about what a coaching leadership style actually is.
What are the two key things you focused on this year?
Scale and relationships. ‘Scale’ because we have invested heavily in new digital products that support our flagship programmes Coaching for Performance and Licensed to Lead. And ‘relationships’ because our strategic focus has been to create stronger partnerships with clients. We really want to be holding hands with our clients over the longer term so we can help them to embed high-performance coaching cultures. In the past I think we have sometimes been guilty of delivering great programmes and moving on – simply because we were set up as more of a training company than a consultancy. Now we have added in consultancy so that we can support our clients in a broader sense and with deeper partnerships. With this comes the ability to effect lasting change on whole organizations.
You mentioned digital products, what are they?
We have been busy! There are three new digital products this year. Without going into too much detail, there is GROW Digital Training for Leaders – a standalone or part-facilitated online programme which focuses on the GROW Model.
Then we have Impact 360 – a new kind of 360 assessment that benchmarks leaders and companies against our Performance Curve. The tool allows people to see how they can move towards the Interdependent Coaching Culture that is the key to high performance. Thousands of people will be using Impact 360 in 2020. I am particularly excited about this because we will gather data from different industries on business culture and how it impacts the bottom-line.
The third new product is our bespoke habit-building ‘nudge’ programme. We have created a digitally delivered daily challenge or reflection to build new habits. Leaders and coaches are encouraged to do something differently every day, built around our in-person or online workshops.
What new clients have you signed up in 2019?
Some of them I can’t talk about but they’re big. Game-changers. Those I can mention by name are Heineken, Lidl, Anglo American and Collins Aerospace – companies with global reach and the vision and commitment to tap into the potential of their people. Also, the Performance Consultants European group, together with our local partner in Brussels, won the Framework contract to provide coaching to the European Union (EU) institutions, bodies and agencies such as the Commission, Parliament and Council.
In China, under our great MD, Jeffrey Wu, the operation has really taken off! Chinese organizations are starting to wake up to the power of coaching – it’s extraordinary.
What are your predictions for 2020?
We are growing. By the end of next year we will be a bigger business with more clients. I suppose I would say that, but it’s true. I think 2019 has been a tough year geopolitically and I don’t see any signs of that changing in 2020. The environment and sustainability are increasingly going to play a role in business strategy as well. Enlightened leaders make better choices for future generations and coaching will continue to play a role.
What are your personal highlights?
My personal highlights are being interviewed by Michael Lewis, bestselling author of The Big Short. As an ex-banker, this was a major deal for me. I think I should have been interviewing him! And being included as a thought leader in the Special Report on Coaching and Leadership for the Association for Coaching which is coming out January 2020.
Anything else?
Yes, I would like to acknowledge the extraordinary work of all of our team globally. It is an honour to do this work and to do it with like-minded people who are passionate about it, thank you! I can’t wait to see what we will achieve together in 2020!
Discover more
- Coaching certification
- Coaching culture
- Coaching for Performance
- Coaching for Safety
- Coaching leadership style
- Coaching management style
- Coaching training
- Employee engagement
- Featured
- GROW Coaching Model
- Leadership development
- Online
- Performance Coach Certification
- Performance Coach Module 1
- Performance Coach Module 2
- Performance Coach Module 3
- Performance Coach Module 4
- Performance Coach Module 6
- Transformational Leader
- Transformational Leader Module 1
- Transformational Leader Module 2
- Transformational Leader Module 3
If you enjoyed this article, you may like to read next:
Connect with us:
How can you bring coaching into your organization?
Sir John and his colleagues at Performance Consultants were the first to take coaching into the workplace and coined the term “performance coaching” in the early 1980s. We continue to lead the field in performance improvement through coaching leadership training.
Select one of the options shown. Or get in touch and one of our world-class leadership development consultants will work with you to create a tailored programme that meets your specific needs.
- Attend a Coaching Course – experience the benefits of coaching first hand. See our Global Training Calendar to find the right course for you
- Transformational Leader Pathway – learn how to be a leader–coach with a coaching leadership style that creates a culture of high performance for you, your team and entire organization
- Performance Coach Certification – become a coach or take your coaching skills to the next level so that you can practise transformational leadership coaching
- Individual Coaching (1:1) – take your leadership to the next level with a tailored, fast-track professional development coaching programme
- Team Development – unlock the next level of potential in your team with team coaching
Discover how to respond to coronavirus, leading to uncertain times.
– 5 mins read –
We are living in extraordinary times. Coronavirus (COVID-19) has stopped normal life as we know it in its tracks. As I write this, all but one country in the world is infected. This is the first threat in history that requires us to come together and form a collective response – it is not “us against them” but rather “we are all in it together”. The word for threat in Mandarin also means opportunity. We must find the courage and resolve within ourselves to respond to this threat by finding the opportunity within. What an extraordinary moment in history that we find ourselves at – such is the interdependency of the modern world that we can now truly turn to face this threat together.
In the stark light of a threat that endangers the lives and livelihood of every single one of us, our values and attitudes are shifting in seismic ways – this is humanity’s collective moment to pause. This is the moment to stop, take stock and realign with our internal values. It is by trusting ourselves and digging deep that we will find the courage and inspiration to be our best selves and shine in the face of this threat.
Herein lies the opportunity because, however long this lasts, we will surely be living in a different world afterwards, the question is what will that new world look like? This is where inspirational leadership – leadership that is guided by purpose and values – is key to create the bridge to the future. Leaders in organizations everywhere need to find the ability to provide the way forwards for the people they lead. This will take courage, love and humility.
COACHING TRAINING FOR LEADERS CREATED BY SIR JOHN WHITMORE
“The capacity is there. The crisis is the catalyst”
Sir John Whitmore
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Supporting leaders everywhere in these uncertain times is now our mission. With global supply chains disrupted and ways of working turned upside down, the ability to lead in uncertain times will create resilience throughout organizations. We will continue to support leaders to rise to the challenge and bring their people with them.
However you choose to use this time, and wherever you choose to start, the team at Performance Consultants are here to support you. Here we are delighted to set out some of the ways that we can partner with you to seize this opportunity. Click or tap on the image to begin.
It is our mission to support leaders to rise to the challenge created by COVID-19. Get in touch to find out how we can help you.
Discover more
- Coaching certification
- Coaching culture
- Coaching for Performance
- Coaching for Safety
- Coaching leadership style
- Coaching management style
- Coaching training
- Employee engagement
- Featured
- GROW Coaching Model
- Leadership development
- Online
- Performance Coach Certification
- Performance Coach Module 1
- Performance Coach Module 2
- Performance Coach Module 3
- Performance Coach Module 4
- Performance Coach Module 6
- Transformational Leader
- Transformational Leader Module 1
- Transformational Leader Module 2
- Transformational Leader Module 3
If you enjoyed this article, you may like to read next:
Connect with us:
How can you bring a coaching into your organization?
Sir John and his colleagues at Performance Consultants were the first to take coaching into the workplace and coined the term “performance coaching” in the early 1980s. We continue to lead the field in performance improvement through coaching leadership training.
Select one of the options shown. Or get in touch and one of our world-class leadership development consultants will work with you to create a tailored programme that meets your specific needs.
- Attend a Coaching Course – experience the benefits of coaching first hand. See our Global Training Calendar to find the right course for you
- Transformational Leader Pathway – learn how to be a leader–coach with a coaching leadership style that creates a culture of high performance for you, your team and entire organization
- Performance Coach Certification – become a coach or take your coaching skills to the next level so that you can practise transformational leadership coaching
- Individual Coaching (1:1) – take your leadership to the next level with a tailored, fast-track professional development coaching programme
- Team Development – unlock the next level of potential in your team with team coaching