My Coaching journey – Despina Panayiotou Theodosiou

In 2018 Despina Panayiotou Theodosiou was listed the 9th most influential women in shipping. Domingos Silva interviews her about her personal coaching journey.

I am publishing today with great amusement. One, because today we reach the 150th posts milestone and also because it is the first leadership journey I publish and from someone I really admire as a professional.

Despina and I met a couple of years ago when I was leading a project related to fleet monitoring. I was very impressed by her passion about the business, knowledge and also her leadership skills and gravitas very evident in every interaction we had. On a personal level, me being the father of a young lady (and I related this to my previous post – (Dreams I Dream for my Daughter. A Successful Business Woman). who aspires to be a business woman, Despina also became famous in my place because of her drive on topics related to Diversity and Inclusion and to empower women in shipping – historically a predominately male-dominated business. She’s someone who my daughter looks up to as role model.

I am glad women like Despina has taken such discussions and I can honestly see things changing in the world. This gives me peace of mind thinking that that when my lovely daughter enters in the labour market, she will be a professional measured, get paid and promoted based on her education, skills and most importantly, performance and professionalism, without gender being in any way a factor.

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Leadership Interview: Hans Augusteijn ‘My Continuing Coaching Journey’

We continue to follow the fortunes of a senior leader in Northern Europe over a six year period as he applies his coaching skills in new and more challenging roles.

We last checked in with Hans Augusteijn on the progress of his personal coaching journey back in 2016. A lot has happened with him since then in terms of career progression and taking on bigger and more global leadership challenges. In 2017 Hans was promoted to Global Head of Intermodal Transport for Maersk Transport and Logistics Division. And recently this year he became Global Head of Delivery.

I went back to three key questions I asked Hans in my 2016 interview to find out where he is now on his continuing coaching journey.

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Leadership Interview: Martin Garcia ‘Believe in the Potential’

Independent HR Consultant from Manila in the Philippines Martin Garcia explains why it is an essential element of coaching that the coach should believe in the potential of their coachees.

Martin says every coach should believe in the potential of their coachees. I worked with him on the Coaching Master Class programme in Maersk Line PRN Qingdao North China in 2012 where he was head of HR. ‘Coaching for Potential’ is one of the workshops I run as part of this programme. Martin worked very hard at the time to create a culture of constructive feedback and coaching among his peers in the management team. In this article Martin draws on his professional experience to help us see why it is so important for a coach to believe in the potential of people.

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Leadership Learning Log Case Study 2 ‘Best’ Session: Jerry Chen & Jennifer Yao, Shanghai

The Leadership Learning Log is a great tool to help Coaches critically and objectively reflect on recent coaching sessions.

The Leadership Learning Log is a journal which evidences learning and skills development. It is not just a diary or record of ‘what you have done’, but more to the point it is a record of what you have learnt, tried and critically reflected upon.

I use the Leadership Learning Log in my Coaching Master Class (CMC) programme as a tool to follow up the training. I call this ‘Activity 1: Looking Back’. At the end the training I challenge participants to run up to five substantial pre-planned coaching sessions over the following six week period. I ask them to select two of these sessions for self-assessment – the ‘Best’ and the ‘Most Challenging’ – and answer the questions in the Leadership Learning Log for each session. This is their preparation for our first on-to-one coach-the-coach session.

For this article we go back to my friend Allen Tu in Shanghai. Allen is KCGFF Sales Team Leader for Maersk (China) Shipping Co and he attended my Coaching Master Class (CMC) programme in 2011. Using my material he kicked off his ‘Buddy’ Coaching programme in 2016 for his direct report sales managers. One of those managers is Jerry Chen who is the senior manager focussing on Electronic key clients. And Jennifer Yao is an account manager reporting in to Jerry.

In this second article about their coaching experience, we look at how Jerry used the Leadership Learning Log self-assessment questions to reflect on his ‘Best’ case coaching session with Jennifer.

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Leadership Interview & Coaching Case Study 2: Samson Zhou, Sales Manager Shanghai

A success story about coaching for sales performance: rapidly adapting to a new business sector; managing internal stakeholders; influencing customer decision makers; collaborating with the customer service team; and driving more volume to meet and exceed sales targets.

Exactly one years ago today I published the article ‘Leadership Interview & Coaching Case Study: Samson Zhou, Sales Manager Shanghai’ in which sales manager Samson Zhou was coaching his direct report Tracy Zhi. Here is the latest interview with Samson by his manager Allen Tu about his coaching for sales performance success with another direct report – Eileen Sun.

Allen Tu is KCGFF Sales Team Leader for Maersk (China) Shipping Co. Allen attended my Coaching Master Class programme in Shanghai in 2011. Using my material he kicked off his ‘Buddy’ coaching programme in 2016 for his direct report sales managers. He regularly keeps me in touch with their progress. Allen gave Samson feedback how pleased he was to see Eileen’s business performance improvement in Quarter 4 2017, which he believes relates to Samson’s participation in the ‘Buddy’ programme. He asked Samson to share his recent coaching story as an inspiration for others. Samson is showing really professional attention to detail and thoughtfulness as a coach. And as you will see from the end of the interview below, the story has a very happy ending. Congratulations to both Samson and to Eileen.

 

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Leadership Interview: Tracy Zhi ‘My Experience as a Coachee’

What does the coachee’s experience look like? We see how a Key Account Sales Manager responds to being coached by her experienced Leader and raises her sales performance within a very short period of time.

This article is a first for me and for the Leadership Coach Blog. It’s also another chapter in an ongoing story about how coaching is Blooming in Shanghai. Exactly one month ago I published the article about Sales Manager Samson Zhou and the coaching he had been completing with his direct report Tracy Zhi. Now it’s Tracy’s turn to tell her story. For the first time we hear from the person being coached. So listen up Leadership Coaches; see what you can learn from Tracy’s experience as a Coachee.

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Leadership Interview: ‘My Coaching Journey’ Richi Mock, Cape Town

Prioritization, patience, listening and accountability – these are the key skills Richi Mock believes he needs as a successful coach.

I usually start off these ‘Leadership Interview’ articles by explaining how and when I met the subject of my interview, and how we have worked together on leadership coaching projects. Not so with Richi Mock. So far I have not met him face-to-face. Yes, we have spoken by phone and had an extensive exchange of emails. Someday I hope our paths cross. As a Guest Author  he has contributed eight rich and varied articles to this Blog since last summer. Richi describes himself as: “An experienced problem solver with a pragmatic approach who continuously evolves by facing new and interesting challenges. A passionate coach who leads a successful team and fills his heart with this wonderful experience”. I can’t disagree with that. Let’s find out more about his coaching journey.

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Leadership Interview: Cynthia Li ‘My Coaching Journey’

We follow the fortunes of a senior leader in the shipping industry in China over a five year period as she learns and applies her coaching skills in progressively more senior job roles. She changes companies and ends up Head of Commercial for mainland China and Hong Kong.

I started working with the Top Team at Maersk Line East China Cluster (PRE) in Shanghai when I visited them in April 2011 to kick off the Coaching Master Class program. Cynthia Li was Customer Service General Manager and starting out on her coaching journey.

Here she reflects on that five year journey. In 2013 Cynthia was promoted and moved from Customer Service to sales as Key Client General Sales Manager. In 2016 Cynthia jumped ship (pun intended) and joined Swire Shipping in Shanghai as Head of Commercial for mainland China and Hong Kong. What has Cynthia learned from her broad experience as a senior leader in the shipping industry? What can we learn from her coaching journey?

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Leadership Interview: Michael Han ‘My Coaching Journey’

“I want more leaders in this Company join this great journey; once and forever this will change our way of leading people and managing business. As a coaching ambassador and trainer, I aim to help more people become professional leaders, to use these great tools in their daily life and become great coaches”.

I first started working with the Top Team at the Far East Asia Liner Operations Cluster (FEALOC) in Shanghai when I visited them in January 2013 to kick off the Coaching Master Class program. Michael Han was a member of the senior management team and had already made a start on his coaching journey.

Michael turned out to be one of the bright stars of the coaching work I did in 2013 in eight different worldwide locations. He is a great coaching ambassador and trainer. His humbleness meant he often used to hide this brightness. Here is an example. In one of our coach-the-coach sessions I gave Michael positive feedback on the great results he was achieving with his coaching. Then came the humble bit from him: “OK Trevor – that’s all bright side. But what can I do better?” In another example I observed this characteristic again in group sessions where he instinctively held back from offering his views on a topic to allow others to contribute. He was making sure others were able to shine.

Michael became a facilitator for Coaching Master Class program and rolled it out to the next leadership level in China and in Japan. He is a bright shining star for coaching in the Far East.

Here Michael reflects on his journey three years on. I took Michael through four stages of his coaching development journey to find out what he has discovered along the way, and what can we learn from his experiences.

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Leadership Interview: Keith Svendsen ‘Linking Coaching to Leadership Success’

“I believe that a successful manager in the 21st century needs to have coaching for performance as a tool in their leadership toolbox”.

I have known and worked with Keith Svendsen since 2010. I’ve had the opportunity to observe him in a series of progressive leadership roles over a number of years. He is an enthusiastic advocate for his business and for his company. He has a strong business vision and has always been focussed on developing people, giving people space to work and delivering results. I caught up with Keith recently for one of our rare face-to-face meetings. I took the opportunity to ask him about how he sees coaching linking to leadership success.

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