Professional Coaching

Hello and Happy New Year. This is a special blog to share with you the work we are currently doing across Europe with our C.O.A.C.H. programme to develop 100 teachers, head teachers and senior education professionals to become qualified coaches. The learning from the pilot programme will be disseminated later in 2017 and in the…

There has been a lot of discussion and research about the nature of intelligence and how the way we use our various intelligences affect our success both in life and in the organizational world. When Robert Dilts (1999) started researching what made the difference between successful and underperforming individuals and teams, he made several notable…

Record Keeping: Performance, Conduct & Ethics Adapted from an article by Emma Pratt – October 27, 2016 In this digital age issues around record keeping are often a source of angst and sometimes confusion for coaches. Throw in the data protection and privacy laws that prevail in different geographies and guidance provided by professional bodies…

Having recently run a workshop on how ICF competences overlap with management and leadership competences and are therefore just as applicable for an in-house coach as an external one, I suddenly realized that they are also applicable to those wanting to be a great associate (a person who works as a self-employed resource for another…

Years of corporate experience informs my observation that senior professionals work very much as ‘individual experts or brands’ rather than as part of the professional service firm. Previous research underpinning the context is limited, although developing as the time for change approaches. Putting the individual ahead of the firm in this way leads to divisiveness…

Coach Supervision is becoming vital in the professional practice of coaching. Tender documents now ask for supervised coaches and often request a reference from the coach supervisor.  The CIPD report on coach supervision suggests that coaches and organisers have different views about the benefits of coaching supervision. Coaches are interested in making themselves more effective, while…

Welcome to students from Lycée D’ARTAGNAN – Nogaro in The Gers, SW France. Next week they will interview Sally Vanson in English about the similarities and differences of living and also running businesses in UK and France and the cultural differences between France and English speaking countries. They will then write up their answers and…

Whether a lawyer, accountant, junior doctor or professional coach, the definition of professional work is transient and depends on the challenges and make-up of the groups and a detailed analysis of professionalism and power. When examining the relationship between professionalism, knowledge, the state, social stratification, organizations, bureaucracy and social power (Abbot, 1988; Hanlon,1993; Macdonald, 1996;…

I spent this morning reading two journals from a professional development organisation. What started off as a curiosity and relaxing half hour with a coffee, quickly became a deeper reflective exercise. There were numerous articles about individuals which read as egotistical narrative CVs. Written with a huge ‘past’ orientation, they were celebrating the contributions of…

This short essay by Dr Simon Western addresses Jacques Lacan’s famous comment “don’t give up on your desire”. The first part discusses the meaning of this statement, and also how it is misread. The second part offers a coaching case study to show a practical application. “Don’t give up on your desire” is often misunderstood as a…