The funny side

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A HAPPY MEDIUM: DR DANIEL DOHERTY I went to see the fortune teller. I crossed her palm with dollar bills. Then her dog bit me. In the Chelsea part of Manhattan, US, it is impossible to walk the streets without encountering psychic reading shops. As a scholar, with a serious interest in probing the practice of coaching from all perspectives, it occurs to me that the exclusion of fortune telling from the recognised canon of executive coaching practice is a serious omission. It would seem that psychic powers and luminous clairvoyance have been overlooked in the design of coaching competency […]

Viewpoint

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POWER MOVE by Tom Kenwood Can coaching in leadership really work? Yes, with trust Being a leader is a tough gig. Organisations expect leaders to have a list of qualities as long as your arm, and they invest heavily in leadership development as the panacea that will solve organisational issues. Despite this heavy investment, one in ten managers rate their boss’s leadership skills as ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’. At the same time, the traditional approach of command and control from a distance is no longer appropriate in organisations needing to adapt to rapid change and high levels of complexity. Perhaps […]

TroubleShooter: Fear no fall

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Anna has been offered a once in a lifetime project that will truly stretch her mentally. But the hugeness of what lays ahead has stifled her creativity. She cannot take the first step to bring it to fruition – and has completely locked down instead. Could coaching get her unstuck? Anna has been given a new project at work that potentially offers a huge opportunity for her to learn as well as show what she’s truly capable of. However, the novelty of the project and its challenges are paralysing her with indecision. What is going to help her take the […]

Master plan

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SPECIAL REPORT: Coaching masters programmes are a way for coaches to research fresh thinking and spark innovation in their work, but which masters should you opt for? Varya Shaw looks at what’s on offer across the market Do you feel certain of yourself as a coach? Do the skills you learned when you first trained still work well, and are you confident about your practice? If so, now could be the perfect time to stop, take a long hard look at what you do, and pull your practice apart. One way to do just that is by enrolling on a masters […]

Toolbox: ProReal Virtual Reality Platform

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IS THIS FOR REAL? 1 The tool What is it? ProReal is a virtual world software platform, designed for coaching. It uses avatars and symbols in a landscape setting to help clients build a visual representation of their situation. It can be used either remotely or in person. How does it work? The ProReal platform uses the thinking of Moreno and Jung, and builds on recent research into the value of virtual technology in supporting communications and talking therapy. It creates a 3D visual interpretation of a person’s world through story, metaphor, symbols and social mapping. Most communication in coaching […]

Profile: Dr Ilona Boniwell

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HAPPINESS IS…
Liz Hall talks to Positive Psychologist Dr Ilona Boniwell, founder of the first masters
in Positive Psychology in Europe and of the European Network of Positive Psychology, author, teacher, director, speaker and parent of five children. Not surprisingly, she feels well-qualified to discuss work/life balance. She stresses its importance and the role of coaching in helping others understand their choices

It’s refreshing interviewing Dr Ilona Boniwell. Funny, bright and warm, she’s happy to share that despite being a world-renowned expert on resilience and Positive Psychology (PP), she hasn’t got it all sorted.
I don’t know whether to be disappointed or relieved. I’ll opt for relieved, considering that optimism is rated so highly in the PP movement.
When we did the interview, Ilona was emerging from weeks of burning the midnight oil, completing validation paperwork for her latest brainchild, the International MSc in Applied Pos Psych (I-MAPP), which she launches in Paris and Cambridge this autumn. Uniquely, the programme offers students the choice of 12 modules, including coaching, and education.
Ilona already teaches at the École Centrale, Paris, including a module on Positive Leadership and on the Masters in Transformation and Innovation.
In addition, she lectures and speaks on PP and resilience widely, writes and edits books, does media work, including writing a monthly column for Psychologies magazine on modern family life and consults as a director of consultancy Positran, including advising the Bhutanese government. All this, and she is raising five children, four of whom are teenagers, aged 14,15, 16 and 17. The latter means her weekends are not always restful.
“I do feel myself quite qualified to discuss work/life balance! Three of the teenagers are boys, and you have to deal with multiple issues frequently at the weekend, yet still perform once you’re back at work. On Monday morning, I have to teach PP.”

NEWS RESEARCH

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Are you on top of your coaching? Many UK employers have no idea which of their staff are working with a coach, nor how much their business spends annually on coaching, suggests research by The Learning Curve While hundreds of thousands of pounds are being spent on executive coaching, only 15 per cent of organisations have calculated the return on investment (ROI) from coaching, according to a survey of 69 large organisations in the UK. Almost half (47.5%) do not know their total annual spend on coaching, while more than half of respondents do not know how many of their […]

Welcome to the June 2014 issue of the newsletter

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      Many more of you are considering doing a coaching masters programme and there is much more choice out there. Should you take the plunge? And if so, which one should you go for? Read our special report (see Highlights).  Less than a month to go until our annual conference, we’re getting very excited! If you’d like to tweet in the run-up to the big day on 2 July (and at the conference, of course), here’s the hashtag: #cawconf14 The tweetwall can be seen on our home page at www.coaching-at-work.com The conference has once again sold out, sorry to […]

ICF STUDY

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Optimising performance top reason for getting coaching, finds ICF study By Liz Hall Enhancing work performance is the top reason for seeking coaching, according to the 2014 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study. Following on from previous research by the International Coach Federation (ICF), the latest study provides expanded insights into the minds and motivations of coaching consumers around the globe. The survey was carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the ICF among 18,810 individuals representing 25 countries. Among all respondents who had participated in a coach relationship, the top reason cited for seeking coaching was to optimize individual/team work performance (42 […]

NEWS

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News Working mums praise support, yet feel prejudice The majority of women feel supported at work, but in reality are experiencing prejudice or discrimination, according to research by career coaching provider, Talking Talent. Eighty per cent of women feel their employer is supportive, yet 44 per cent say their gender has hindered their career or will do in the future. The survey of 1,000 professional women/ working mothers found that more than 70 per cent of women and 71 per cent of working mothers rate their employer positively for retaining and progressing female talent. However, 36 per cent have experienced […]