MANY FACTORS INFLUENCE OUR COACHING PERCEPTIONS

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A large-scale study of coaching behaviours has revealed significant variations in perceived behaviour according to differences in age, gender, nationality, whether people identify as managers, consultants or coaches, or as a client of coaching By Erik de Haan   The study was carried out by Ashridge Business School among 537 coaches, 196 consultants and 559 manager-coaches from 54 countries, and 221 of these coaches’ clients. It used the latest version of its Coaching Behaviours Questionnaire (CBQ), which has 72 items, mapping three ‘push’, coach-centred (directive) sets of behaviours – Prescribing, Informing and Confronting – and three ‘pull’, client-centred (non-directive) sets […]

GROUP COACHING ‘MUSICAL’ GOES INTO PRODUCTION

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Ever thought that there’s plenty of rich material from your coaching for a play, a novel, or even a musical? Two seasoned coaches are making this a reality with The Workshop – a Musical, based on group coaching, which is ready to go into production in New York. It’s been created by sister duo Thailand-based Chérie Carter-Scott and Netherlands-based Lynn U Stewart, who’ve been running personal development workshops globally for 43 years and have drawn on this work for the musical. They grew up in New York, seeing musicals and theatre with their parents. The 90-minute musical won’t just provide […]

COACHING AT WORK ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2017: NEWS ROUNDUP

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Alternative tyranny? In their interactive session based on their award-winning article, Is a coaching culture an alternative tyranny?, Karen Dean and Sam Humphrey involved delegates in small group discussions around questions including: What is a coaching custodian? What are the challenges and successes for coaching custodians? What’s the purpose of a coaching culture? How do you build a coaching culture? Dean and Humphrey see coaching culture as a means to an end rather than an end, which they felt organisations could run away with if these questions weren’t addressed, writes Sarah Dale.   Dorset revises strategy Dorset County Council has […]

COACHING AT WORK ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2017: BUSINESSES MUST FIND A NICHE

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Paying attention to quality relationship building, developing a niche and deciding to ‘bring your own stuff’ to your role as coach are key in building a successful coaching business, according to a panel on the ‘real business of coaching’. By Sarah Dale Coaching at Work columnist Ginny Baillie chaired a panel with fellow coaches Manjula Bray, Rebecca Hourston and Blaire Palmer. Each panellist lay out their history of using different business models including working with clients, as an associate and as an employee. All four were honest about their successes and failures in finding a business model that worked for […]

COACHING AT WORK ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2017: FCC PANEL – BEWARE DISRUPTORS

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Coaches need to be more aware of disruptors impacting the world of work, better recognise the changes already occurring and identify opportunities and challenges presented, urged a panel on professionalising coaching in a changing business context. By Nicole Berg The panel featured four members of the Future of Coaching Collaboration (FCC): Maria Symeon, global coaching leader, PwC; Joy Harcup, founder of Harcup Consulting; Sally Bonneywell, VP coaching at GlaxoSmithKline and Liz Hall, editor, Coaching at Work. The FCC is a multi-stakeholder group including representatives from corporates, leading professional bodies in the UK, academia, research institutes, and Coaching at Work. The […]

COACHING AT WORK ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2017: AQUILINA – TUNE INTO YOUR BODY TO SHOW UP WELL

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In many companies, despite well-intentioned efforts, the success of change programmes doesn’t last, often because of a lack of attention to the wisdom of the body and the shape of the organisation, suggested Dr Eunice Aquilina. By Sarah Dale   Dr Aquilina opened the conference by inviting delegates to explore what they noticed in slides of people at work, set to Rag ‘n’ Bone Man’s song, Human, involving the audience as she delivered her message that we need to focus equally on being and doing. In her keynote: ‘Living practices for navigating emergent change’, the author of Embodying Authenticity, said, “The […]

COACHING AT WORK ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2017: MCCAIN CULTURE CHANGE INVESTS IN STAFF BEHAVIOUR

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Integrating coaching strategy with business strategy, sponsorship at board level and ensuring ongoing long-term partnerships, have been key success factors in McCain’s pilot coaching-based culture programme. By Nicole Berg The programme, with Starr Consulting, has seen output from factories increase, sales and profit at the Scarborough plant (one of McCain’s largest) rise so significantly that it’s twice won a company award since 2010, and plants dismantle the ‘command & control’ structure, taking out five layers of management and reinstating one. At the global frozen food company, which has 47 manufacturing facilities on six continents, the programme has delivered other benefits […]

COACHING AT WORK AWARDS 2017: THE RESULTS

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Our 7th annual Coaching at Work Awards took place in London on 5 July. Coaches and mentors from our growing industry came together to celebrate a year of achieve. Liz Hall reports This year’s Coaching at Work Awards saw Maria Symeon, Steve Ridgley, Claire Breeze, Alison Hodge, Peter Duffell and Carmelina Lawton-Smith win awards for their contributions to the coaching profession. Those highly commended were Ellen Peters, Annette Fillery-Travis, David Clutterbuck and Doug MacKie and Anne Welsh. The awards were announced by editor Liz Hall at a ceremony at the end of the annual Coaching at Work conference in London on […]

OPINION: COMPETENCES – CAPTURING OUR BEHAVIOURS

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Competences have come under attack in recent years. They are either used wrongly or picked apart to find fault. David Sleightholm comes to their defence I’ve been involved with competences in their various forms for many years, and I’m noticing a pattern in articles written about them in coaching journals. They tend either to set them up to do things they were never intended to do, and then analyse how and why they fail, or they document poor practice in their deployment. The conclusion is that they are a bad thing. I beg to differ! Competences are useful, when deployed […]

OPINION: REFLECTIONS – DANCING WITH FEAR

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How do you coach a senior leader inhibited by fear of failure? Working systemically and mindfully will help access resources for you and your client By Lindsay Wittenberg I’m working with a number of clients – all in different organisations – who are frightened. And when I look back over previous clients I realise that some of them have been frightened too. All are senior leaders. They’re frightened of not living up to expectations, the criticism that this will bring, and the possible consequences (failure to get a promotion, failure to land a job, failure to keep a job). They’re […]