1. Program overview
PuNolChi Coaching & Leadership is a participatory coaching program, in six 3-hour sessions by theme, that builds the ability to notice your own emotions, thoughts, strengths and values, express them creatively, and communicate with others in healthy ways.
Using food ingredients and many other sensory and symbolic media, along with stories, questions, dialogue and cooperative activities, it trains leadership competencies that flow from self-understanding → self-regulation → broader perspectives → relational connection → practice.
Rather than a leadership that teaches the right answer, it aims for people-centered self-coaching and self-leadership that helps each person discover their uniqueness, respect different ideas, and grow together as individuals and organizations.
2. Learning goals
- Explore your emotions, thoughts, strengths and values to deepen self-understanding and self-leadership.
- Through expressive activities and coaching questions, move beyond fixed thinking and build the ability to see problems from many perspectives.
- Learn coaching conversations that draw out people’s potential through listening, questions, empathy and feedback.
- Experience ways to communicate and cooperate with psychological safety while respecting different experiences and perspectives.
- Be able to design and lead PuNolChi Coaching & Leadership programs for personal, educational, counseling and organizational settings.
3. Expected outcomes
- ① Stronger self-leadership — Reflect on your emotions, thoughts, strengths and values, and build the power to choose and act on the direction of your life and work.
- ② Better emotional and stress management — Notice your current state of body and mind through the senses and expression, and explore ways to care for yourself in daily life.
- ③ Better creative problem-solving — Move beyond answer-centered thinking and use diverse perspectives and expressions to increase the flexibility to discover new possibilities.
- ④ Positive communication and relationships — Practicing listening, questions and empathic dialogue, build relational skills that respect and connect different ideas and experiences.
- ⑤ Stronger collaboration and organizational synergy — See members’ different strengths and perspectives as resources, and embody the experience of connecting ideas to create solutions together.
- ⑥ Better field application — Strengthen your ability to run participatory coaching and leadership programs in counseling, education, coaching, corporate and public settings.
4. Core learning areas
- ① Self Awareness | Noticing myself — Self-understanding through exploring senses, emotions, thoughts, strengths and values
- ② Self Leadership | Leading myself — Self-leadership through emotional regulation, choices, goal setting and self-care
- ③ Creative Thinking | Seeing differently — Creative thinking and problem-solving through expression and shifting perspectives
- ④ Coaching Communication | Life-giving conversations — Coaching communication using listening, questions, empathy and feedback
- ⑤ Together Leadership | Growing together — Relational and collaborative leadership that respects differences and connects each other’s strengths
- ⑥ Action Leadership | Living it out — Making action plans to apply what you have learned to your work, relationships and organization
5. The flow of PuNolChi coaching
Sensory calming ⇒ Expressing emotions ⇒ Reframing meaning ⇒ Relational connection ⇒ Everyday practice
- 1) Sensory calming — Slowly experience the materials and the space, and notice your present body and mind.
- 2) Expressing emotions — Express feelings and thoughts that are hard to put into words through color, shape, expression, symbols, stories and more.
- 3) Reframing meaning — With questions such as "How were you able to create such a creative expression?" and "What stands out to you most in this expression right now?", participants are coached to discover and integrate meaning on their own after expressing.
- 4) Relational connection — Listen to each other’s stories without judging or evaluating, and connect while respecting different perspectives and experiences.
- 5) Everyday practice — Turn insights from the activity into small actions to practice at work, at home, in relationships and in the organization.
6. Who it is for
- Professionals in counseling, psychology, education and coaching, and those preparing for related certifications
- Corporate HR and HRD staff responsible for employee growth and leadership training
- Managers, team leaders, organizational leaders and future leaders
- Teachers, instructors and program managers at schools, lifelong-learning institutions and public agencies
- Members of organizations who want to improve positive communication and relational skills
- Adults who want to develop self-understanding, personal growth and creative leadership
7. Sample activities
- 1) My Leadership Mind Table — Choose ingredients that symbolize who you are now and express your leadership resources and current state.
- 2) Strengths-Discovery PuNolChi — Express your own and your colleagues’ strengths and explore how they can connect within the team.
- 3) Perspective-Shifting Mind Journey — Express one situation in several ways and discover new perspectives on the problem.
- 4) Heart-Opening Coaching Questions — Practice questioning and listening skills that help others find their own answers instead of judging or advising.
- 5) Our Team’s Together Table — Connect different ingredients to create one shared artwork, experiencing diversity, cooperation and psychological safety.
- 6) Tomorrow’s Me Action Table — Turn the resources and insights you discovered today into one concrete action and make a plan.
8. Teaching method
Mini Lecture + PuNolChi Experience + Coaching Question + Reflection + Action
After a short theory session, participants express, talk, ask questions and reflect, and finally design actions to apply in daily life and the workplace. Facilitators do not evaluate the results or interpret the meaning of a work one-sidedly; participants are coached to give meaning to their own expressions and make their own choices.
9. Where it can be used
- Corporate leadership and organizational culture training
- Coaching-leadership training for managers and team leaders
- Competency training for new employees and middle managers
- Stress management and recovery programs
- Positive communication and team building within organizations
- Competency training for teachers, counselors and coaches
- Lifelong learning and adult personal-growth programs
- Workshops on creativity, self-understanding and relational growth
10. Instructors
Dr. Kim Ji-yu and other PuNolChi coaching experts
Developer of PuNolChi / Ph.D. in Educational Counseling · Developer of Food Expressive Arts Therapy (FEAT)
Development of and research on PuNolChi coaching and curricula
A leadership that notices yourself, understands others, connects each other’s possibilities and grows together. Leadership does not only mean the power to pull someone along from the front. It is the power to understand and lead yourself, respect the uniqueness and possibilities of others, create a better direction together, bring vitality to the organization and raise productivity. PuNolChi — a delicious, creative and integrative coaching & leadership — has the power to bring laughter and vitality to organizations and raise productivity.