Assessments: not so obvious

/0 Comments/in /by

Assessments: not so obvious By Jennifer Liston-Smith It’s not what people tell you, but what they cannot tell you that matters in assessment, revealedAdrian Furnham. “We need to go beyond the obvious to explore the underlying concepts,” said Professor Furnham, focusing on the provocative topic of assessment in coaching. Furnham, who is better known for his book on executive derailment, Elephant in the Boardroom, included an accessible outline of theories and models as well as some challenges. He emphasised that coaching psychologists have scope to draw on a range of tools and techniques, including observation, self-report, test and questionnaire performance, personal […]

Mentoring Diversity

/0 Comments/in , /by

PART THREE : MENTORING DIVERSITY Disability is increasingly important in business diversity. David Clutterbuck reveals the core issues for mentors One of my most emotive recollections of mentoring is taking part in a Civil Service programme for disabled staff. One of the participants was a Thalidomide victim. Partially sighted, with only rudimentary fingers at the end of stumps of arms, he turned the pages of the workshop manual with his tongue. And he fiercely yearned for promotion, which he achieved at the end of the programme. Disability has been the poor cousin of corporate mentoring, but it is increasingly an essential element […]

Asset management

/0 Comments/in , /by

ASSET MANAGEMENT Why should disability be a problem when you coach the ‘whole’ person? Surely it’s just another phase in the continuum of life? CoachBarbara Asimakopoulou and client Katerina Hurd report Business coaches are ideally placed to be equal partners to disabled people, helping them gain or regain control of their professional lives. The ultimate goal is to help them see their disability as just another phase in the continuum of life. Framing it in this way can assist the disabled to be autonomous agents. A useful assumption in coaching is that the client is ‘whole’, a resourceful and creative […]

Kim Morgan and Lis Merrick are this year’s Coaching at Work People of the Year

/0 Comments/in /by

1 March 2012 It seems to be getting tougher and tougher each year to decide on the winners of the Coaching at Work awards- there are so many deserving candidates out there. But for this year, we’ve made our choices: Kim Morgan wins our Coaching at Work Coaching Person of the Year 2011 award while Lis Merrick wins our Coaching at Work Mentoring Person of the Year 2011 award. They have made their mark in different ways but have in common a passion for the profession, generosity in sharing wisdom, and a commitment to raising standards. The judges were Liz […]

Troubleshooter

/0 Comments/in , /by

IS IT ON THE CARDS? A coach at a global organisation has discovered that his client, who wants promotion, is heading towards a disciplinary. However, his boss hasn’t told him this. Can supervision help the coach find clarity? A large multinational engineering company employs seven executive coaches. There ought to be clarity around the desired coaching outcomes through clear contracting and open discussion, yet this is proving hit and miss. HR has approached one of the coaches to take on an individual. The coach had an initial meeting with the client, who saw coaching as a way to support his hoped-for […]

Toolbox

/0 Comments/in , /by

Continuing our series looking at coaching tools and techniques, Coaching at Work road-tests the photoVoyage process THE WOW! FACTOR photoVoyage is a process that combines portrait photographs with facilitated conversation, raising self-awareness and allowing us to see ourselves as others see us. Here, Penny Millar, owner and director of photoVoyage and an executive coach, along with Peter Wilson, executive coach and Academy of Executive Coaching faculty member, reveal how they experienced Peter’s photoVoyage. Penny Millar: In coaching, as in life, I believe that personal authenticity is essential. photoVoyage allows us to look ourselves in the eye and talk about the […]

How to… help clients prioritise

/0 Comments/in , /by

By Magdalena Bak-Maier All too often clients waste time and energy on activities that weigh them down. But how do we make the best use of our time when time is so limited? Magdalena Bak-Maier uses three lenses, diamond, gold and lead, to help clients work out where to target their focus Time is limited. We all have the same 24 hours and yet some of us are so much better at focusing action towards notable outcomes and creating results. So why do others struggle? Focus and clarity about what’s important are at the heart of personal and organisational effectiveness. […]

The Coaching Chronicles

/0 Comments/in , /by

THE MIDDLE AGES Hello, I am Roach the Coach and I am your guide through the Coaching Chronicles. There are 4,500 species of us cockroaches so we are well placed, across the globe, and across time, to tell you about coaching… The Middle Ages is characterised by explorers desperate to find new lands, people and treasure. One of the most famous was Marco Polo, a Venetian traveller and writer, and one of the first Westerners to visit China. Polo’s father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, were jewel merchants. In 1260, they all left Venice to travel to the Black […]

Body of Evidence

/0 Comments/in , /by

A major development in coaching has been making an impact in North America, and it’s heading to the UK and the rest of Europe. Doug Strycharczyk reveals why evidence-based instructional coaching, designed to help the client implement proven practices, is such a valuable proposition To coaching purists, instructional coaching (IC) may seem a contradiction in terms, but it has a wide evidence base and proponents argue it offers a new and valuable perspective.Created by Dr Jim Knight at the University of Kansas, IC was developed initially for the world of education, but has applications in other areas too – the occupational, […]

Walk of Life

/0 Comments/in , /by

In a maze you can get lost, in a labyrinth, you can only find yourself. Coach Anneliese Monden reveals how her coaching clients are walking the walk, literally, and coming to their own conclusions. Labyrinths have been drawn and built for thousands for years. Today, they are being discovered again, as a powerful tool for stress reduction, connection with essential themes and true transformation. But why the revival? And why have we built one for coaching? The modern labyrinth The reasons are linked to the ever-increasing complexity of today’s world. Information overload There is an excess of information and an […]