BACKGROUND

As mentioned in the Regional Director's "For the Future" paper, WHO Western Pacific Region has had strong track record in staff development over the last decade – including significant increase in the ratio of female professional staff, an effective staff mobility scheme and the establishment of a regional mentoring programme.  The region will continue to build and maintain the technical excellence of staff, provide healthy and supportive working environments, and develop the skills and capacities the evolving nature of WHO work will require in the future, including through a greater focus on individualized staff career and development plans and opportunities.

This proposed initiative on executive coaching programme is aligned with the Corporate Framework for Learning and Development, particularly, under Objective 1: To equip staff to perform their functions at a level of excellence.  Executive coaching or one-to-one coaching is when a person works individually with an executive coach on their particular areas of strengths and weaknesses in order to fulfil their potential.  It is a catalyst for the enhanced performance of the individual and the teams they lead. 

Executive coaching is centred on developing high performing leaders.It is aimed at creating awareness, generating action, and facilitating learning and growth.It focuses on improving performance by helping individuals to develop and sustain new perspectives, attitudes, skills and behaviours.This happens through enhancing personal leadership skills, setting better goals, reaching goals faster, making better decisions, and improving communications and relationships.

PURPOSE/SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE OF THE ACTIVITY

In response to the Regional Director's "For the Future" paper particularly on staff development, within the approved budget, the Online/Virtual Executive Coaching Programme will be provided to senior managers and leaders, team leaders, and supervisors  of the WHO in the Western Pacific Region with different managerial and supervisory levels such as Division Director, WHO Representative, Country Liaison Officer, Team Leader/Unit Head/Programme Coordinator/ Technical Officer/ Programme Area Manager and supervisors, as a priority Staff Development and Learning (SDL) activity with the following objectives and target outcomes:

OBJECTIVES:

• • To focus on achieving leadership goals to be established;
• • To increase awareness and understanding of one's strengths and weaknesses;
• • To improve interpersonal skills – including influencing, motivating, presenting, resolving conflict and handling difficult people;
• • To discover and practice new leadership skills;
• • To resolve situational challenges that may emerge along the way; and
• • To provide practical techniques to deal with pressure and work stress, and how to achieve work-life balance.

OUTCOME:

• • Improved management, leadership and interpersonal skills
• • More creativity, empowerment and motivation to perform optimally
• • Greater commitment in achieving the goals of the Organization
• • Overcome personal barriers and situational challenges
• • Enhanced leadership, strategic planning and decision-making skills
• • Ability to inspire and motivate staff/teams
• • Confident communication and improved working relationships
• • Growth on gap areas, as initially surfaced from initial assessment
• • Ability to consistently provide specific, timely, and balanced feedback to staff/teams

DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES TO BE CARRIED OUT       

The selected contractor will:

• • deliver an online/virtual executive coaching programme for 30 senior managers and leaders in the Western Pacific Region to be implemented between 22 March and 5 November 2021 based on the agreed duration and detailed cost;
• • provide the timeline to deliver the coaching programme with details of total coaching hours per participant;
• • describe the activities to be carried out for the whole duration of the programme;
• • formulate the strategic approach and methodology to implement the programme;
• • conduct necessary assessment of and high-impact one-on-one coaching sessions for each participant with individual coach in relation to the objectives and target outcome of the programme;
• • establish regular coaching schedules in consultation with WHO considering different time zones in the Western Pacific Region;
• • provide developmental feedback and evaluation during implementation of the programme;
• • provide linkages to other developmental activities and content, and necessary support in between coaching sessions;
• • produce pre-assessment, progress and final reports to document and address the objectives of the programme, methodology, coaching sessions and participants, duration, recommendations and lessons learned;
• • inform its availability for any requested virtual conference call with the decision-makers to discuss the coaching programme and the next recommended steps as needed;
• • liaise closely with the designated officer/staff/team to inform any issues or concerns that need to be brought to the attention of WHO.

METHODS TO CARRY OUT THE ACTIVITY

The contractor will propose the most suitable, efficient and effective online/virtual approach/methodology to deliver the executive coaching programme to team leaders, senior managers and leaders of WHO considering the time zones in the Western Pacific Region with target participants from China, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Cambodia, Kiribati, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Viet Nam, Vanuatu and Samoa, between  22 March and 5 November 2021.

Outputs

Output 1: Programme outline and detailed description

Deliverable 1.1: Executive coaching programme detailed description, including pre-programme, including, for example, self-assessment of participants, process to determine gaps between current and desired level of performance, frequency and length of meetings, how and how often progress will be measured, process for wrapping up and evaluating the success of the coaching.

Output 2: Timeline of the Coaching Programme

Deliverable 2.1: Detailed timeline of the Coaching Programme for 30 Participants including duration of one-on-one coaching sessions per participant.

Output 3: Reports. The contractor will submit the pre-assessment, progress and final reports to the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) to document and address the objectives of the programme, methodology, coaching sessions and participants, duration, recommendations and lessons learned.

Deliverable 3.1: Pre-assessment reports at the beginning stage of programme implementation, including leadership assessment of each participant.

Deliverable 3.2: Progress Report by July 2021 or mid-point of programme implementation

Deliverable 3.3: Final Report and/or Financial Statement at the conclusion of the programme.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

The contractor should be or have the following:

• • An institution operating in the field of professional development with proven expertise in executive coaching programme development and implementation.
• • With more than five years of leadership coaching experience
• • Logistical and technical capacity to provide the Online/Virtual Executive Coaching Programme to a group of 30 participants based in different duty stations in the Western Pacific Region.
• • Ability to ensure that participants will have adequate access to the coaching sessions and other learning materials suitable for their development.
• • A dedicated one Project Manager who will be WHO's main focal point throughout the implementation of the programme who will demonstrate an adequate level of education and experience and be responsible for the management of the contractor's team.
• • An adequate qualified workforce (in terms of qualification, experience and number) to the programme to ensure its fully satisfactory and timely delivery.
• • Proven experience working with WHO, international organizations and/or major institutions or academe in the field of leadership coaching is desirable.
• • Highly skilled in the development and delivery of leadership coaching programme for professionals and those in leadership roles.
• • Proven work experience in the Western Pacific Region is desirable.
• • An ISO accreditation or International Coaching Federation (ICF) certification or an on-going accreditation process by a certified accreditation body will be an asset.

APPLICATIONS

Qualified and interested specialists should submit their CV {for individual contractors} or Company Profile {for institutional applications}, Cover Letter, technical and financial proposals, and other documents as mentioned in the attached Request for Proposal to the WHO Supply and Administrative Officer through WP RO UNGM at <[email protected]> and < [email protected] > by 18 February 2021 (17:00 GMT+8).

The cover letter should outline how their experience and qualifications make them a suitable potential contractor for this requirement and should include their proposal and availability.

Please use Tender Notice No. 121624 as subject to all submissions and enquiries.  Only successful institutions will be contacted.