Liz Luya

How long have you been involved with HKICC?
I’ve been a member since November 2009 and keep a close eye on what’s happening. I’d like to be involved more actively, but right now I’m swamped developing my businesses

What led you into coaching?
Wow, great question. A few things. In late 2008 I left a corporate career after 22 years because I wanted to do something different. After leaving I had a long hard think about my business passion and realized it’s the power of making a difference. Coaching is my outlet for doing that. I had been coaching at work for a number of years but decided to formally study under Results early 2009.

Whilst doing my study and starting my businesses I decided to give myself an extra challenge and trained to compete in the Gobi March, a 250 km ultra-marathon across the Gobi desert. The furthest I’d ever travelled on my own legs was 10 km so the training was tough. During the race I had severe problems with my feet and from day 2 (of 6) I was in extreme pain. What I learnt was that it really is possible to do what you want and it’s about putting your mind to work in the right places. Very liberating and hugely powerful now in the work I do with clients.

Who do you typically coach?
I have two businesses. One is “Luya Associates.” I coach women in business and owners of small companies. The other is “careers2inspire.” I coach people around their careers, be it having lost their job, or looking for a new career or job.

How does coaching in Hong Kong compare with other places where you’ve coached?
I’ve been here a while, but can tell you that a small incentive to start my business was the fact that when I was looking for coaches to use in my corporate life (I was an HR director and company director) I always ended up bringing them in from outside HK. The main reason being I couldn’t find the right people here. Now that I’m a coach myself, I realize that there are good people out there, except they’re just not easy to find.

I also think coaching here is behind Europe and the US in terms of its use by companies. Whilst I use face-to-face coaching, I also do online coaching. I have an online coaching portal and so far I haven’t met anyone else using online coaching as a model and yet it’s so powerful for some of my clients.

Tell us something unique about your coaching style.
Tricky question! I think there are two things, one is using online coaching – because I use a portal, my clients have a safe place to go to do their work. The other is that I just believe what I do works really well in that I have experienced much of what my clients are going through, and I think people see that.

What is your greatest accomplishment?
250km over the Gobi desert for a relatively unfit ‘older’ mother of 3.

What are you reading OR What music are you enjoying these days?
I'm reading 'The 4-hr work week' by Timothy Ferris - I guess you can now see what some of my goals are!

What do you do for fun and relaxation?
Spend time with my family. My husband is a wellness coach from New Zealand. Me, I’m from the UK originally. We have our 3 gorgeous children aged nearly 6, nearly 4 and nearly 2.

How much of your average workday is spent coaching?
It varies, but at the moment about 30% as I’m building a lot of content for my online work and two blogs for women in business and career coaching. In 6 months I hope it will be at 70%.

Tell us something unique about your coaching style. Describe your favorite tool/technique/psychometric assessment.
I use MBTI and like it, but of course my favorite tool of the moment is the online coaching portal.

As a leader in HKICC, in what direction(s) would you like to take the organization?
Ah, I have a fairly clear idea of this. I’d really like to see HKICC being the place that every corporate comes to when they are looking for their coaches. I’d like to see it as being a place that people in HK know for being the best place to search for their ideal coaching partner. I feel quite strongly that in HK coaching is a profession that needs a lot more visibility.

Liz Luya
Tel: 94682775
E-mail: lizluya@luya-associates.com
Website: www.luya-associates.com