International Coaching Federation shares ideas on human resources amid virus crisis

The agenda was delivered last week at "Coaching DNA of Leaders", an event organised by Bangkok’s ICF president Wittawat Kasemwut and presided over by Ramida Russell Maneesatiean, ICC International president and ICF committee member.

Jean-Francois Cousin, a world-renowned coach from ICF Professional Coach Global Board, described changing global trends in coaching as the world focuses on development from the youth level.
Cousin shared interesting coaching developments, such as giving children the opportunity to experiment freely to draw out their potential while adults keep watch from afar. He cited the example of Ray Charles, a blind musician-songwriter whose mother did not reach out to help while her sightless son wept for help, training him instead to learn how to survive by himself.

Chatchai Norasetthaporn, senior executive vice president of Sustainable Development at Central Group, said building leaders within companies by adopting coaching methods will play an important role in driving Thai education. He pointed out that the new national education strategy calls for teachers to be coaches. Teachers must change their methods to help students get involved in learning, he added.

Prasarn Trairatworakul, adviser of Central Group, said that old methods of education were no longer suited to the demands of the current era. The National Strategic Planning Committee had asked the Education Ministry to adjust the role of teachers towards coaching, and organised coaching training for teachers in schools. He said most teachers don't know what a coach is, but after training they at least understand the culture and value of coaching. In today’s fast-changing world, teachers had to act as directors by engaging students in thinking, he added.

Lukkana Worasilchai, vice-rector of Bangkok University, said the Thai government still needs to improve education if Thailand wants to step up to become an S-Curve industry country. It should discuss learning based on the competencies and skills of the learner. What learners need is an ecosystem of education, a goal-oriented study plan, and a career-planning expert. Education should be characterised by lifelong learning, not requiring children to complete their studies within a time limit. Studying has to be a real experiment with a compact lesson for specific interests (“micro-learning”).

Pimonrat Reephattanavijitkul, executive vice president, Head of Human Resources at Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF), said that CPF is a company with huge human resources – 120,000 people worldwide, 75,000 people alone in Thailand. Everything must proceed systematically. Adopting coaching methods helps a lot. Seniors must relearn and be open to new generations, drawing the power of these two groups for further development, she said, adding that coaching is very important. “We have a system of change by giving new graduates a chance to become a ‘boss’ to do real business with real funds and P&L to work with.” New graduates are given freedom to make decisions. A coaching process is guided by supporters [seniors], but they do not direct nor instruct since this would mean reverting to old paradigms.