COMENSA Newsflash for:  September 2022 

Dear Members of COMENSA,

It is in September that we welcomed Spring day. We saw and witnessed how people enthusiastically welcomed the season of Spring. There are so many activities on the global and local landscape that takes place in September each year. For my article, I will focus on Heritage Day locally and International Literacy Day globally as their themes are somehow interconnected or mutually related. I will further share the benefits of reading as articulated by Alicia Ivory.

Heritage day on the 24th September recognises and celebrates the cultural wealth of our nation. It is celebrated to mark our nation’s diverse culture and heritage in South Africa. No wonder we are often called the “Rainbow Nation”? It is called the “rainbow nation” because we have many different cultures and 11 official languages. Government has called on all South Africans to use Heritage Month to foster greater social cohesion, nation building and a shared national identity. For the month of September this year, the call is specifically aimed at all South Africans to support the culture of reading and also incorporate it into their daily lifestyles. “It is important to encourage your children to visit a library and start reading at an early age so that they grow up with the passion for reading as this develops a broader vocabulary and increased general knowledge.” Ivory(2022) asserts that opening a book can transport readers to many worlds- real or fabricated. She affirms that literacy skills can also build a solid foundation for success in many areas of life

As we encourage and support the culture of reading, it is equally important to observe and celebrate International Literacy Day(ILD) which is observed on the 8th September every year. ILD was created by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organisation(UNESCO) in 1967 to “remind the public of the importance of literacy as a matter of dignity and human rights, and to advance the literacy agenda towards a more literate and sustainable society.” Every year, UNESCO selects a theme for ILD.  This year, the theme is “Transforming Literacy Learning Spaces” to help inform people of the importance of literacy learning spaces to build inclusive education for all.

According to Ivory(2022) there are numerous benefits of reading and I share the following key ones:

1. Boosts Imagination: When reading, we conjure images in our minds to build worlds and characters based on what we read, which takes our imagination to the next level. Plus, when reading about characters from diverse backgrounds, we can envision lives that differ from ours.
2. Develops Writing: Through reading, we encounter various writing styles, ways to structure sentences, and descriptive words and phrases. Studying the written word can help improve writing- whether it’s short social media posts, long works of fiction, or anything in between.
3. Increases Knowledge: Reading exposes us to information about a range of topics, from cultural and historical events to scientific topics. The more we read, the more knowledge we can gain.
4. Reduces Stress: According to studies conducted by cognitive neuropsychologist Dr David Lewis “reading for just 6 minutes can be enough to reduce stress levels by up to 68%.” Focusing on a single task of reading can help to ease tension.

Amongst us there might be Literacy Coaches and it is my hope and wish that September will be a busy month for them.

Yours In his Service,

Mokadi Mathye

National President: +2783 325 4676      

September Newsflash – VP

We enter September and realise that we are approaching the last four months of the year and you may be tempted to start slowing down, but spring is here and that is a time for green shoots to rise above the ground. It is a good time to shake off the winter blues and make new plans. Set yourself some goals that you would like to achieve before the holidays.

• Maybe networking – join some of the chapter and portfolio events.
• Maybe credentialing – what a great way to end the year.
• Giving back – join a portfolio and get involved as an active member.
• Look for a new course to add to your skills and knowledge, you can earn CPD points too!

As coaches and mentors, we all appreciate the importance of living in the now. So, if you want things to happen this year and set up for next year, NOW is the time to do it. 

News updates 

JGSG – Joint Global Statement Group

COMENSA will be joining with members of this international group to run webinars in November 2022 on Inclusion & Diversity and in January 2023 on Coaching beyond: Extending the reach and boundaries of coaching. So, watch this space for updates.
University of Johannesburg

COMENSA and University of Johannesburg (UJ) are jointly presenting a webinar on 16 November 2022. The topic is Coaching from an Intercultural Perspective. COMENSA will be providing the panellists and we will share the information with you in our next Newsflash.

Portfolio News

We now welcome Theresa Vivian Moila as the Chair of the Audit, Risk and Finance Portfolio joining us from 1 September 2022. We are pleased to have found such an experienced person to take on this important role with:

• Over 20 years’ experience in Senior Management in the Corporate World
• Over ten years’ coaching experience
• Over 15 years’ experience of serving in boards
• Over eight years’ experience of serving in Risk, Audit and Finance committees of Boards
• Over thirty years’ experience of mentoring young people 

We are also pleased to say that the Nominations and Governance Committee has now been formed under the Chairperson, Andre Swart, with their first meeting taking place next week.

We are still looking for someone to Chair the Information Technology Portfolio Committee. Someone who will help us to ensure that we take COMENSA forward in terms of our information and technology systems. If you are able to assist us, please contact me: Vp@comensa.org.za

Dear Coaching and Mentoring community,

I hope you are mentally, physically and spiritually well!

The Social and Ethics Committee would like to pay tribute to a long serving member of our committee, Andrew Swart who passed away last week.  Whilst Andrew stepped away from the committee in August 2021, to focus on writing his book, we still considered him a team member and a respected colleague. 

Andrew played a significant leadership role in the Ethics Committee for many years and led the committee’s transition from the Ethics Committee to the Social and Ethics Committee. 

He will be fondly remembered as a soft spoken person who enthralled many with his vast knowledge, philosophical perspective of life and ethics, storytelling and ability to engage with a diverse audience whilst still making everyone feel included. 

I met Andrew as a student member of the KZN Chapter, at this point I was deciding whether to become a member of SABPP or COMENSA.  After having a conversation with Andrew, I knew COMENSA and the Ethics Committee would feed my passion of being of Service to humanity.
As a member of the committee under Andrew’s leadership and mentorship I learnt the valuable lesson of humility, compassion, inclusion, the value of diversity and respect. As a human resources and labour specialist, I was taught to look at factual information, Andrew showed me the value of looking beyond the surface of an issue and seeing the multifaceted aspects of a matter. 

We will truly miss his physical presence and willingness to always be of service to COMENSA.  Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, as well as our Gratitude to them for sharing this humble humanbeing with us. 

Until next month be safe mentally, physically and spiritually.

With Love & Light

Ashnee Naidoo – SEC Chair

SEC@comensa.org.za

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
 
In August we had the pleasure of engaging with COMENSA members at the Limpopo Chapter event.

The topic was “The Value of Supervision for Start-Up Coaches and Mentors”
 
September Event
Date:  Monday 19^th of September
Time: 6pm – 7.30pm
Topic: “Is Contracting compromising you as Coach/Mentor?”
After a short talk, there will be an opportunity for a supervision experience in a breakaway room.  As this is an experiential session there will not be a recording.
 
Our Committee
We were delighted to welcome three new members to our committee this past month:

• Gorette Doria
• Lloyd Poelmann
• Mohau Mphomela

Wellness Tip
Stand up every thirty minutes while working at your desk.

COMENSA Investigations Portfolio Committee
Newsletter: September 2022
David Davis – Vice Chair
 
We are continuing the development of the new process for investigating complaints in COMENSA, as prescribed by The Code of Conduct and Ethics.  This can be found on the COMENSA website:
https://www.comensa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/COMENSA-Code-of-Ethics-and-Conduct-1.pdf
 
As a reminder, all our members sign up to the COMENSA Code of Conduct and Ethics, which details conduct related to all their dealings as a coach or mentor.
 
For this month, we share two items:
 
First, as a Committee, we wish to be representative of all chapters and thus request volunteers who would like to support the organisation to consider joining the committee.  Currently, we seek an additional member from Kwazulu-Natal.
 
Secondly, if you or a client would like to lodge a complaint, do use the online form and consider sharing the link with your existing clients as a basis to emphasise your commitment to the highest Standards of Conduct and Ethical behaviour.
 
The initial form can be found at the bottom of the Find a Coach or Mentor page https://www.comensa.org.za/find-a-coach-or-mentor/
 
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at the following email address: investigations@comensa.org.za

MCSC – Membership Criteria & Standards of Competence Committee

Are you paying attention to your brand?
 
Have you ever wondered what people say about you when you exit the room after having been in their presence?
The founder of Amazon believes that our brand is what people are saying about us when we are not in their presence.
So what is all the hype about a personal brand as the credentialed coach?
Branding is a crucial part of success.
Our branding is important because it is what makes us unique.
Our reputation precedes us and our brand is what we craft to present ourselves to our world via social media, presentations, lectures and webinars we present.
 
Your brand needs to be deliberately crafted and is more vital if you are an influencer and a credentialed coach that is offering executive leaders and leaders and entrepreneurs your set of gifts, skills and talents.

A Branding Checklist
 
Here are some of the items that you would need to pay attention to when you are intentionally and deliberately developing your brand. 
And by no means is it comprehensive.
In fact, should you want to receive a free article written by three experts on the subject of branding, please feel free to email me at mcsc@comensa.org.za.

1. Discover your drive and what motivates you. What are your skills and talents that you’re proud of?
2. Defining the aspects of your brand that are far more tangible. What are some of the features that you will be almost instantaneously recalled in memory, when people see them as they pass by?
3. What is it that you have to offer and who are you that would inspire others to trust your recommendation over any others?
4. What is the kind of content that you are posting both written and visual?
5. What are you most knowledgeable and passionate about so that you can become the “number one go-to person to speak to in this regard”?
6. When do you compare yourself to all the personality and style profiles that you have completed and have summarised: who are you?
7. What are the four things that you want to achieve using your particular brand?
8. Who are your audiences and avatars that you want to reach, and do you know what their pains expectations and frustrations are and how your skills and expertise can provide a solution for these?
9. What are your five intrinsic values and how are you messaging them to your audiences?
10. How you are intentionally manoeuvring and manipulating the visual and the messages, to the audiences to attract their attention.

Conclusion
Creating a strong authentic personal and unified brand takes time and effort. As we work through all the tasks needed to produce a concise, transparent, effective, impactful, and intentional brand that will touch the lives of those whom we coach.

Dr Bill Price
MCSC Committee Member
COMENSA Master Coach
COMENSA Master Mentor

And then a reminder about some important dates:

13 & 14 September 2022 – LeaderEx at the Sandton Convention Centre. We will be at Stand F1 and will also host the Coaching Corner where visitors are able to experience coaching. It will be great if you could visit us.    

22 September 2022 (Please note event date moved from 15^th to 22^nd September) – Pranesh Anandlal will talk about the future of Coaching and Mentoring in South Africa – starting at 18H00. Hosted by MCSC.

Recently Credentialed Members

Congratulations to our three members who have recently been Credentialed.

Mohau Mphomela – COMENSA Credentialed Coach

Coach Mohau Mphomela is the founder of Lead Africa Coaching (LAC) and COMENSA Gauteng Chapter Committee member and a new member of the COMENSA Supervision Portfolio Committee. When I joined the GP Chapter earlier in the year, we had set ourselves targets as committee members of by when each one of us would like to have completed our credentialing process. First it was the Chairperson who led by example and completed his credentialing last month, then I just completed mine now in August and other committee members are due to follow soon. 

Upon arrival at the GP Chapter I immediately contacted the Deputy Chairperson of the Membership Criteria and Standards of Competence Portfolio Committee (MCSC): Pranesh Anandlal Wow!! What a gentleman of note – from the very onset he was very open and receptive to assist me, and he took his time to outline the full credentialing process and what it entails, he encouraged me to first work on gathering all the necessary required documents for the process and I sincerely like to thank him so much for his time and for his patience too.

What helped me to stay focused is the very same question I always ask my clients after we co-create and help design actions steps for implementation for them, the question is “How are you going to hold yourself accountable to achieve steps you have set out yourself to achieve?’’ For me I announced to my GP Chapter Committee members and to my Supervision Portfolio Committee members that I am going to complete my credentialing process before the end of August 2022 which I did. One of my colleagues at the GP Committee Motshidisi Letloenyane also helped me a lot to hold me accountable to the step-by-step completion of the process, by keep on following up on me. I really owe it to her to do the same. Also, thanks to the chairperson of MCSC Andre Retief for being very receptive and more so creating a very calm, safe, and welcoming environment to want to complete the process.

Finally looking back, as much as intimidating the credentialing process might seem to be, I believe that once you focus and put your mind
on it, it is indeed an exciting and fulfilling journey that was very smooth. I would like to encourage our members to heed the call, to pursue this process, stay focused and get it over and done with and walk tall out there as credentialed COMENSA coaches.

Sanja Lutzeyer – COMENSA Credentialed Coach

Credentialed coach! What a fascinating, fun and enlightening experience this has been. And to think where I started… wow. While I have been on the personal development journey since I was 18 (and I have to admit most of my disposable income in my life has gone to courses, workshops and retreats to further my knowledge of myself and my “level of consciousness”), most of my life has been spent in academia and corporate settings. To now have my passion be my profession is incredibly rewarding and exciting. I would like to thank Integrative Coaching for the incredible coach training. It really was (and is) more like a way of life, than a training, and I have grown immensely as a human being. Thank you. Thank you also very much to COMENSA (especially Andre Retief) for the very warm welcome.

Then also:

Babette Barnard – COMENSA Credentialed Coach
 
If you find yourself having doubts about being Credentialed, maybe wondering if you will be able to do it, let’s chat and see where you are right now and how we can support you.

We are here to help YOU!!

André Retief

MCSC Chair

mcsc@comensa.org.za

GP NEWS: July Edition

In our GP Chapter AGM this year, we encouraged each other to increase own numbers on the COMENSA credentials list. GP Chairperson: Tsietsi Telite has responded to the challenge. He undertook the journey and is now a COMENSA Credentialed Coach. Thanks to Pranesh Anandlal (he walked the entire journey with Tsietsi) and Andre Retief for making it smooth in a very professional way. Congratulations Tsietsi. We continue to encourage our members to work towards attaining their credentials.

We have nominated our colleagues to assist in some of the portfolio committees of COMENSA. We will keep you up to date as and when we receive confirmation of their participation in those structures.

July marks Leadership and Mandela month. We pose the question: are leaders born or made? For COMENSA: GP, leaders are born. The leadership character in them then gets developed, honed and crafted into a beautiful gift that benefits humanity and the human environment.

We think back to the service, the sufferings and the sacrifices made by our leaders of yesteryear. We are providing the gesture of 67 minutes of coaching on 19 July, to reflect on what matters to each one of us. What matters to each one of us as individuals and as a collective. We want to make our contribution to catapult the youth forward through coaching, mentoring and supervision. An invite has been sent out. Please register for this interactive occasion.

We avail ourselves to provide pro-bono coaching and mentoring to those who will raise their hands for support this leadership month. Please contact the Gauteng Chairperson on the contact details below.

Tsietsi Telite       Gauteng Chairperson      gpchair@comensa.org.za

You can find contact details of other committee members via our COMENSA website https://www.comensa.org.za/Contact/Gauteng.

We convey our commitment to the cause of leadership development.

Please remember to:

• Renew / update your membership

Yours in service: Tsietsi Telite, Karabo Manyama, Joyce Baloyi, Motshidisi Letloenyane, Vesper Nkoane and Mohau Mphomela

NEWSFLASH June 2022- KZN

Greetings from the KZN Chapter

June saw us host the COMENSA supervision committee, which offered a supervision session to coaches in attendance.  We were honoured by the presence of Michael Cullen, an associate through the Association of Coaching Supervisors from Canada. Michael joined the supervision committee for the evening and led one of the supervision groups. The event started with Lesanne Brook, one of the COMENSA supervisors, explaining that the coaching muscle, like any other, needs to remain fit. She noted that supervision provides a space for coaches to keep coaching fit.

During the supervision part of the session, I joined Jeremy Clampett’s supervision group with four other coaches.  We spent thirty minutes in the supervision session, and I witnessed how skillfully Jeremy created a safe space for a fellow coach to resolve an issue of judgement she held towards a coachee, helping her decipher what was going on.  He involved the rest of us by letting each pose a question, which allowed a variety of insights to surface. The experience was powerful as we realised there is more to the perceived judgement than meets the eye.

Various teams reflected on their experiences thereafter. Although each group had an individualised experience, three elements stood out in the concluding discussion.  Supervision assists coaches in shifting their lenses; it reminds us to put our thoughts and emotions aside or, as Lesanne put it, “leave your cloak at the door when you enter into the coaching relationship” and to recognise and reflect on assumptions about a coachee. On a personal note, the supervision experience made me introspect my coaching and the need to be vigilant in my role in the coaching relationship.

Most of us, some time or the other, experience some judgement towards a coachee or find ourselves at a coaching impasse. It is reassuring to know that a COMENSA supervisor is available to guide us in overcoming obstacles when needed.  COMENSA supervision groups exist in all the provinces.  If you have not joined a group yet, ask your Chapter Chair or the COMENSA Administrator to connect you with a supervisor in your area.

A heartfelt thank you to the COMENSA supervision committee for the sterling work they do in helping us stay coaching fit so that we can maintain high ethical standards in coaching.

Stay safe!

Best regards,

Adina De Vries

KZN Deputy Chair

July 2022 Newsflash – Western Cape

Greetings to everyone from the Western Cape

We have officially entered the second half of the year. For some, it’s been a time of opportunity and learning. For many it’s been tough dealing with the numerous challenges of everyday life such as rolling black outs, the cost of life going up, to name just a couple. Our clients too face these challenges, and it is our job to be in their corner, and assist them as they search for purpose/meaning in their lives.

Our life’s life purpose consists of the central motivating aims of our lives—the reasons we get up in the morning. Purpose can guide life decisions, influence behaviour, shape goals, offer a sense of direction, and create meaning. For some people, purpose is connected to vocation—meaningful, satisfying work – not unlike the work we do as coaches and mentors.

But how do we sustain this for ourselves and others? Join the Western Cape Chapter for our next event as Klasie Wessels leads us in an exploration of Logotheraphy — a therapeutic approach that helps people find personal meaning in life, focused on the future and on our ability to endure hardship and suffering through a search for purpose.

TOPIC: “Coaching Towards Meaning and Purpose – Using the Principles of Logotheraphy”.

SPEAKER: Klasie Wessels

DATE:  Wednesday, 13 July 2022

TIME: 18:30 – 20:00 (PM)

VENUE: Zoom link will be sent

Sending you all best wishes,

Claudio, Teresa, Charne and Merlinda

LIMPOPO CHAPTER OF COACHES AND MENTORS OF SOUTH AFRICA, (COMENSA)2022

Hello to Limpopo Coaches and Mentors,

 Invitation to serve on the Limpopo Chapter Committee: Membership Secretary

We invite members who are willing to volunteer as Limpopo Chapter: Membership Secretary.to register your interest at lpchair@comensa.org.za or lpsecretary@comensa.org.za

To our members who need to credential, please log in to our website: www.comensa.org.za

for more details or contact mcsc@comensa.org.za  Explore the COMENSA’s improved website,

Thank you!

lpchair@comensa.org.za ,0836996600

CHAPETER CHAIRPERSON

REUBEN RAMMBUDA

COMENSA MASTER COACH 3179