Coaching Case Study By Keng Loong Cheah
(Career Coach, SINGAPORE)
Coachee Background
Allen is a 28-year-old, Singapore local university graduate who has been asked to leave from his two previous jobs, both multi national organizations due to poor work performance. He is now seeking full-time employment; however, he does not have a clue what he wants to do for a living and is in a depressive and detrimental state of mind.
Coaching Conversation
Throughout our coaching conversation, there were multiple issues which were uncovered, three critical issues being:
During the sharing of his experience, I heard that there was a tone of despair and helplessness in this voice and body language. My initial approach was to engage the coachee at a personal level, create trust and increase his energy level. I asked him questions about what/whom is he grateful about/to in his life, sharing of his interests and times in which he is happy both in his career and in his personal life. Also, to envision what is his desired lifestyle if his career is working well for him.
As our conversation progressed, I begun to realize that he was living his life under tremendous pressure, both from himself and his parents. From young, his parents would have high expectations of him, academically with the hope of him getting into a large organization. Also, with the proliferation of social media, his self-esteem has been demolished having seen his peers succeed but himself being asked to leave in his previous two jobs.
Before, engaging in a full-fledge job search plan, my first approach was for Allen to:
In the following session, he shared with me on the outcome of his self-evaluation and conversations with his parents.
Reflections
In this coaching case, there were multiple issues at hand which requires the coachee to work on. I realized that it was particularly tough for the coachee to engage in a meaningful conversation with regards to expectations people who are close to him, albeit a necessary one. Also, managing one’s own expectations, reframing his perspective was also a truly valuable process for the coachee to move forward. Now with better clarity and lesser self-induced pressure, Allen will be in a better position to move forward in this period of career transition.