As his advanced coaching programmes concludes, how is one of our students planning to use what he has learnt?
The marathon is almost over. After completing the fourth and final residential module of my course, in a few weeks I’ll be presenting my coaching model and being assessed on how well I put it into practice. At the same time, I’m building my new business. The final module was about leadership and organisations. What is leadership, and how can coaches support its emergence in their clients? One thing seems clear: with the shift away from hierarchy and formal authority to networks and interdependence, leaders need self-insight more than ever.
This module was also a time for review. My first objective for the course was to scrutinise my current approach against best practice and to develop a personal coaching model.
Well, my coaching has been scrutinised all right. I understand better the value of being able to explain what coaching is about and ensuring good contracting at the outset. The strong emphasis on practice in our triad work helped me transform over-long, often closed questions into short, open ones. And I’ve learnt to resist the urge to present my clients with a conceptual framework for each of their issues!
I’m also managing my sessions better. To many clients, the end seems to be deciding how to fix the problem. Yet there are several more steps needed to turn that decision into action. Considering obstacles, timescales, stakeholders, delegation… this is the nitty-gritty that delivers results, and it takes time that needs planning in.
On the positive side, I’ve been reminded about how well I can build rapport. Clients have commented on how my focused attention and straightforward, relaxed manner quickly win their respect and trust.
Throughout my career – as a doctor, television programme maker, senior manager, counsellor and coach – building effective relationships has been an essential part of the job, and is why the client-coach relationship lies at the heart of my coaching practice. My experience is that if people feel confident and safe they will talk openly, often for the first time, about issues that may profoundly influence their behaviour. Only then can they begin to change. The rewards can be substantial, not only for their business objectives but in their life and work generally.
My second objective was to manage the switch from internal coaching to being an independent. It’s a big change, it takes time and energy, and it’s vital to be clear about my model and the niche I want to work in.
Most of my clients at the BBC were senior managers on the BBC leadership programme; I realised during this last module that leadership is an area where I have something to offer. The range of the BBC’s activities meant I was able to work not only with media executives but with clients across the professional services: legal, finance, HR and marketing. And having spent a career in public service, my conclusion is that my target should be senior executives in the public sector. Wish me luck!
Dr Henry Campion, until recently a senior manager and lead coach at the BBC, is now an independent executive coach. He is a qualified psychosynthesis counsellor and has been a student on the Academy of Executive Coaching’s Diploma in Advanced Executive Coaching.
Develop and extend your knowledge and skills for coach-mentoring senior executives within a wide variety of organisational contexts with the Certificate in Advanced Professional Practice in Senior Executive Coaching and Mentoring. For more details visit www.cipd.co.uk/training/acce or call our customer service team 020 8612 6202