Articles and Insights
Tips to be Happy and Successful at Work
This episode is adapted from Episode 68 of Making Sense of Work Podcast by Jean Balfour. Work has always fascinated me. I’ve been reflecting on what I’ve learned about work and what makes it exciting. And it’s not just from my own experiences, but also through...
Tips to Be More Present in Conversations
"Presence is the capacity to have your attention simultaneously on yourself and another (or others). Deep presence requires feeling all of your own sensations whilst also actively tuning into people around you.” - Amanda Blake Presence is perhaps the most intangible...
The Key to Building Trust at Work
"Trust is not built in big, sweeping moments. It’s built in tiny moments every day.” - Brené Brown. Trust is the foundation of all meaningful relationships, both in the workplace and beyond. It allows teams to succeed individuals to grow, and relationships to deepen....
Empathy Matters – In Coaching and in Leadership
“Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life.” – Jackie Chan Let’s Start With How We Define Empathy Brené Brown’s short video talks about the 4 qualities of empathy as identified by Theresa Wiseman, who is a nursing...
How to Coach for Action and Accountability
"When the student is ready the teacher will appear. When the student is truly ready… The teacher will disappear" - Lao Tzu This blog is adapted from Ep. #95 of Making Sense of Work. Part of being an effective leader is helping people identify how to move things...
Master Coaching Techniques: Quick Strategies to Empower Your Team
In essence, a coaching conversation is one where we invite the person to think for themselves. We come believing they are resourceful, capable, thoughtful.
The Power of Open Curiosity in Coaching
By embracing curiosity, leaders set the stage for open and honest dialogue, where people feel comfortable sharing their ideas, concerns, and ambitions.
Becoming a Relational Leader
This blog is adapted from Episode 94 of Making Sense of Work. We’ve all come across different leadership styles such as transformational, transactional, servant leadership, autocratic, and more. Today, we’d like to introduce a leadership approach that some of us may...
Easy Ways to Improve Active Listening in Coaching
I believe that one of the greatest gifts we give others is our presence. Being in the present and in the moment with someone can be the most profound thing we do on any working day. What is the Importance of Active Listening in Coaching? In coaching, active listening...
The Impact of Sponsorships on Career Success
This blog is adapted from episode 22 and episode 23 of Making Sense of Work episode. Do you have the sponsors you need to help advance your career? What are the influences sponsors bring versus mentors that impact our career success? In earlier episodes of Making...
Cultural Sensitivity in Global Leadership: Insight with Vanessa Teo
We had the incredible privilege of speaking with Vanessa Teo, Senior Vice President of Global Human Resources at ST Engineering. This insightful conversation is adapted from the "Making Sense of Work" podcast with Jean Balfour in July 2023. This episode is a...
Making a Bold Career for Career Transformation
We had the incredible privilege of speaking with Vanessa Teo, Senior Vice President of Global Human Resources at ST Engineering. This insightful conversation is adapted from the "Making Sense of Work" podcast with Jean Balfour in July 2023. Vanessa’s career journey is...
How to Have Courageous Career Conversations with Vanessa Iloste
We had the privilege of speaking with Vanessa Iloste in 2022. This conversation is adapted from Episode 18 of our Making Sense of Work podcast with Jean Balfour. Career conversations are an invaluable opportunity for leaders and employees to explore aspirations, map...
Finding Purpose in your Career with CHRO (APAC), Société Générale
We had the privilege of speaking with Mukta Arya, Chief Human Resources Officer at Société Générale, about her journey of finding purpose, her path to becoming a HR leader, and her commitment to fostering a coaching culture and leveraging people analytics. This...
Difference between a Counsellor and Coach
We often receive questions about the differences between becoming a counsellor and a coach. In fact, some counsellors even join our training to become dual experts in self-development, enhancing their skillset by adding coaching to their repertoire. There are clear...
Supporting Employees through Personal Crises: A Leadership Guide
Have you ever encountered a co-worker going through a personal crisis and felt unsure of how to help? Or perhaps you've experienced a crisis yourself and understand what it’s like. In every workplace, employees inevitably face personal crises, whether it’s the loss of...
Solutions to Improve Mental Health at Work
Since the onset of the pandemic, mental health in the workplace has become a critical topic of discussion. The modern workplace’s challenges, rampant layoffs, blurred work-life boundaries, and high expectations have only intensified the need for mental health at work...
The Impact of Coaching on Leadership
Oftentimes, leaders think that it's their role to give solutions to problems, and sometimes this is true. But that is only part of the story. Leadership is about inspiring, influencing, and enabling a team to reach its full potential. It’s about helping people to find...
100 Powerful Coaching Questions for your Toolkit
Curiosity and an openness to asking great questions are at the heart of good coaching. Second only to our coaching presence is our ability to help our clients to be curious about themselves and questions are one way to achieve this. Here are 100 questions for you to...
Exploring a Coaching Approach to Different Leadership Styles
We’ve all studied various leadership styles at least once in our careers! However, there's often a gap between how we perceive our leadership abilities and how we lead in reality. When we practice leadership, our leadership style is often influenced by our...
Impact of Coaching in Organisations
In a world where leadership can often feel isolated and transactional, coaching has emerged as a crucial means of building genuine connections, fostering growth, and creating meaningful engagement. In a recent episode of Making Sense of Work, we had the pleasure of...
Exploring ICF Continuing Coach Education
Gaining an ICF credential is a big milestone in a Coaching career, but it is only the beginning of the journey. Once you’ve attained a credential, we are required to renew them - whether it is ACC, PCC or MCC, every 3 years. To do this we need to do 40 hours of...
Mentoring Using a Coaching Approach
Mentorship and coaching are different! Mentorship involves offering advice and guidance to help our mentees achieve their goals. On the other hand, coaching focuses on empowering our coachees to discover their own solutions and reach their aspirations. But what if we...
How to Become a Mentor
Ever had a mentor who helped you succeed and get to where you are today? Or perhaps you want to give back to society. Becoming a mentor is the most rewarding experience you can ever have. It’s a fulfilling way to share your knowledge, support others' growth, and...
5 Best Coaching Books for Leaders (Must Read)
Coaches are learners. We are all constantly learning and improving, both our own coaching skills and competence as well as learning about life, organisations, and how to bring about change. Here is a selection of insightful reads we recommend for our coaching...
Mentoring vs. Coaching: Everything You Need to Know
In today's fast-paced and competitive world, personal and career development has become fundamental to success. We are all seeing the need for more knowledge transfer and shared expertise to get ahead. Both Coaching and Mentoring can significantly help us as we...
Understanding the Drama Triangle at Work
Have you ever felt like a difficult relationship at work plays out like a drama? You might even find yourself caught up in this drama without realising it. It's not easy to admit, but drama is a common way of expressing what’s going on around us. We might not always...
How to Give Feedback and Handle Tough Discussions at Work
Giving feedback is one of the most challenging aspects of working. Often, we give feedback without considering the perspective of the other person. Sometimes, we soften our words and avoid telling the complete truth. However, being relational at work means having...
The Ladder of Inference in Coaching
Welcome to another addition to our coaching methodologies series, aimed at exploring various frameworks utilised by coaches to facilitate their coaching conversation. You can check out our previous blog post on the T-GROW coaching model. Among the myriad coaching...
Identify Your Zone of Genius
This blog is based on insights from Gay Hendricks' "The Big Leap" Do you ever find yourself settling for the bare minimum? Maybe you are great at your job but don't push yourself to reach for more. You're content with where you are and don't want to disrupt the...
Getting your ICF Coaching Hours
Are you thinking of becoming an ICF accredited coach but the thought of getting your coaching hours is daunting for you? You’re not alone. At our coach training academy, we get many questions from coaches asking us how they can accumulate their coaching hours....
Choosing the Right Career With the Right Career Values
Feeling unhappy or burned out at work can be tough and it can be hard to figure out why we feel this way. You might think that you've hit the jackpot in your career but you still wonder why you dread the work or why you’re always feeling tired. Don't worry, there are...
How to Become a Career Coach
Ever stumbled in your career once and needed a little help to get back on track? Chances are, you’ve engaged a career coach, career advisor, or counselor at least once in your life but weren’t even aware of it! Be it seeking advice from the internet on basic resume...
Overcoming Burnout: Leveraging the Power of Glimmers
I love my early morning walks, always feeling grateful for getting up with an early alarm to head out to walk along the river. This morning I saw a bird. And I really mean “saw” - not out of the corner of my eye but with my full awareness. I heard a rustle in the...
Have I Got What It Takes To Be an ICF Coach?
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where colleagues, family, or friends turn to you for advice, support, or guidance? Maybe you hold a natural inclination to motivate others, or you have a knack for helping people unlock their potential. If you resonate with...
Coaching Methodology: T-GROW for Effective Coaching
This blog is part of our coaching methodologies series, where we discuss different frameworks coaches use to help clients grow. Sometimes, clients or employees might ask about the method or framework you use so it's important to be clear about your approach so people...
Navigating Overwhelm: Understanding the 10 Root Causes
I believe many of us are feeling overwhelmed. I also think that when we are feeling overwhelmed it is easy to suggest that it is because we have too much to do. In our fast-paced and demanding work environments, it's not uncommon to feel overwhelmed from time to time....
Transitioning from Full-Time Job to Coaching Business: A Guide
This is a great question and I’ve heard a lot of our students asking when it’s a good time to make a switch. More than 20 years ago, I decided to make the switch to start my own executive coaching business. It was definitely the right decision for me. And it has been...
Leading Leaders – Why Coaching is Important | Bailey Balfour
If you are fortunate, there may be a person who comes to mind when you think of the word “leader.” If you're extremely fortunate, you might even recall a handful of such individuals in your lifetime! One thing we know for sure is that the leaders that people...
My Journey of Becoming a Master Certified Executive Coach
I thought I’d share my story of how I got into executive coaching. I’d never set out to be an executive coach or even pursue coaching as a career. And yet here I am, 15 years later a master certified coach and also the Founder of a coach training academy, training...
A Guide to Your Journey in Bailey Balfour’s Alumni Network
If you’re looking to complete your ICF (International Coaching Federation) credentials for ACC and PCC, here’s why you should join our coach training academy. Joining our esteemed alumni group marks the beginning of an exciting chapter filled with opportunities for...
Types of Executive Coaching for Your Career
Have you ever encountered a challenging career roadblock and had no one you could consult for good advice? Most of us grapple with the heavy decisions we need to make at work and share them with our peers. However, not everyone is aware of the transformative influence...
Ep. #75 Values: The North Star of Your Career
Making sense of work Ep. #75 Values: The North Star of Your Career Have you ever taken a moment to reflect on your career values? It's a practice that often gets overlooked amid the hustle of our daily lives. However, these values serve as the underlying motivation...
Being Emotionally Intelligent at Work
Emotional intelligence isn't all about being sweet and chipper, says Harvard psychologist and researcher Daniel Goleman. So what is emotional intelligence? Let's find out. Emotional Intelligence is the capacity to recognise our own feelings and those of others, and to...
Ep. #58 The Power of Mindfulness and Presence with Helen Williams
Making sense of work Ep. #58 The Power of Mindfulness and Presence with Helen Williams To truly change the culture at a workplace, we must embark on an inner journey of self-transformation, and mindfulness. As the saying goes, "If you want to change the world, first...
Ep. #73 Marking Life’s Important Milestones
Making sense of work Ep. #73 Marking Life's Important Milestones Frequently, significant events like birthdays can indeed lead us to contemplate what we haven't achieved, our past mistakes, and our regrets. And they occasionally pull us into negative thoughts. Today's...
How to Influence People at Work
How good are you at influencing others? It's essential to recognize that we influence people constantly throughout our daily lives, often without even realizing it. Whether it's convincing a two-year-old to go to bed or persuading a colleague to collaborate on a...
Five Steps to Get Your Job Promotion
Imagine this scenario You have dedicated yourself tirelessly day in and day out, ensuring you complete all your tasks promptly. You extend a helping hand to your colleagues, often without your managers even being aware of it. Your loyalty to your company remains...
11 Ways to be Happy and Successful at Work
I have a big birthday coming up. A very big one. And I think because of that, I've been thinking a lot about what I've come to learn about work. Work is so important in my life. It's a central feature of who I am. And I got thinking about what I believe to be true...
An Introduction to ICF Mentor Coaching
What’s mentor coaching and why should any coach need it? In this blog, we'll explore what you can expect in an ICF mentor coaching group and how it can benefit your coaching career. Mentor coaching is an essential component in the journey of becoming a certified coach...
How to Become an ICF Accredited Coach
In this article, we'll be explaining how to get you on your way to achieving your ICF accreditation. In today's modern world, coaching has risen to prominence as a highly sought-after skill that holds significant value for both organisations and their executives and...
Your Comprehensive Guide to Coaching Accreditations
Do coaching qualifications hold a critical role in becoming a coach? Amidst the abundance of leadership development training and executive programmes available, we might wonder if the pursuit of a formal coaching qualification is truly essential and if it makes you...
Why is a Coaching Qualification Important?
Wonder if a career in coaching is for you and if you should attain a qualification? Are you unsure if it'll be worth it? Truth is, at the heart of it, anyone can coach without a certification. But what sets good from great coaches is in the coach’s ability. And...
Journalling for Personal and Professional Growth – 7 Reasons to Journal
The most common recommendation I offer coaching clients to support the coaching process is to start journalling. I first started writing a journal when I was 22 and left New Zealand to travel. I still have that journal in a precious box full of old journals. I took...
Ep. #54 Building a Growth Mindset
Making sense of work Ep. #54 Building a Growth Mindset What is your approach to learning something new? Are you able to adopt a growth mindset and approach it with excitement and opportunity? Or do you see it as a challenge which feels too difficult? In the latest...
How do I find time to coach as a manager?
Programme Director, Coach Certification Programme Share So often when I am running a coaching skills workshop, a manager will say to me: “I don’t have time to coach. Using a coaching approach takes longer and we are all so time pressured”. I empathise with them. Our...
Ep. #48 A Journey of Starting as a Coach with Carole Lewis
Making sense of work Ep. #48 A Journey of Starting as a Coach with Carole Lewis Have you ever found yourself curious about why people do what they do and how they tackle life's obstacles? Do you wonder how you could really help them, see them change for the better,...
Ep. #40 The Gift of Feedback – Even if it Hurts!
Making sense of work Ep. #40 The Gift of Feedback - Even if it Hurts! How much do you welcome feedback? Most of us know that feedback is helpful and yet it can often been difficult to accept. In this episode Jean share her own experience of taking feedback badly -...
Ep. #8 Nine Ways to be Politically Savvy at Work
Making sense of work Ep. #8 Nine Ways to be Politically Savvy at Work All organisations are inherently political. However, many people would rather not engage in politics at work as it often has negative connotations. In this episode Jean Balfour introduces the...
Ep. #4 Self Awareness
Making sense of work Ep. #4 Self Awareness This is the first in a series of episodes about the importance of self awareness in our working lives. One of the things that Jean has learned over 30 years of consulting is how much being self-aware is important in our...
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How’s Work at the Moment? We all work – and yet we often struggle with work. Even very ambitious people find parts of work difficult. This podcast is for you if you’d like to build a new and better relationships with your working life. Join Jean Balfour and guests as they explore everything to do with our working lives, starting with how do we find our purpose, how do make sense of our organisations and what major movements are we seeing in the workplace today?