Training your people to become internal coaches

Would you rather train your own staff to become coaches, or hire external coaches for your organisation? As I’m travelling north to deliver coach training workshops in Newcastle and Nottingham, I recall another coach trainer recently telling me that she has noticed a trend: more organisations are sending their own staff to be trained asContinue reading “Training your people to become internal coaches”

Helping a team rebuild the habit of listening

This week I was in London to run a team coaching workshop for the senior leadership of a 350-year-old institution. The brief: help the team understand how they could communicate and collaborate better with each other – in one day. After a period of significant change, this team of passionate and well-intentioned leaders had begunContinue reading “Helping a team rebuild the habit of listening”

Heading into autumn

“Summer’s gone, winter’s in your eyes” – See the Lights, by Simple Minds. I have various team engagements coming up this autumn but if you are a sole leader looking for a fellow traveller I still have a few slots available for individual coaching. Contact me.

On boundaries

Yesterday I had a great day at the British Racing School near Cambridge where I was invited to contribute to a coaching seminar with medical doctors. As ever it was an exercise in mutual learning. With my geospatial background I offered the fractal nature and fuzziness of the British coastline as a metaphor for boundariesContinue reading “On boundaries”

Zen and the art of saving the planet

I am loving this book, which offers a more human path to a sustainable world. Zen wisdom provides a clear case for client-centred leadership and coaching skills for everyone. The book cites the example of Christina Figueres, the diplomat who architected the 2015 Paris Agreement. Getting buy-in from 200 nations seemed impossible. But as anContinue reading “Zen and the art of saving the planet”

Building a coaching culture in a brick factory

I spent this week in a brick factory! With a leadership group keen to build a coaching culture. At the start, one of the managers said: “I don’t do emotions.” He said emotions made him “uncomfortable”. “That sounds like an emotion,” another replied. And that was the first of many lightbulb moments. In a directiveContinue reading “Building a coaching culture in a brick factory”

What the latest evidence on coaching means for coaches and clients

This week I came across an interesting paper from Erik de Haan, a renowned researcher and director at the Ashridge Centre for Coaching. We now have scientific evidence that coaching is effective. What’s really interesting in this meta review is that coaching works regardless of the method used – but the best outcomes are mostContinue reading “What the latest evidence on coaching means for coaches and clients”