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Coach Development

Look Beyond the Surface

2024-12-05T20:03:01+00:00

The Secret to Lasting Success for Coach Practitioners Coaching is an incredibly rewarding but demanding profession. While, we as coaches, devote ourselves to guiding others toward growth and success, this work can sometimes come at the expense of our own well-being. To be effective and resilient, coaches need to invest in our own wellness – not just as a “one-off” exercise, but to develop and maintain a life that cultivates a sustainable wellness journey. Globally, a recent ICF research report1 showed that 85% of coach practitioners reported that they have clients who request help with their mental well-being, with business ...

Look Beyond the Surface2024-12-05T20:03:01+00:00
  • Doing Good vs. Avoiding Bad

Doing Good versus Avoiding Bad

2024-10-25T17:55:40+01:00

Last Christmas I heard a recording of a zoom meeting in which the ‘Leader’ was addressing his team to discuss their performance and results as the year was drawing to a close. The meeting was the final one scheduled before the Christmas break. There was a very high level of emotion being expressed and sentences such as: “ This is not f***ing acceptable”. “If you think this is good enough, then you don’t f***ing belong here”. “I’m probably going to get the sack now because of you”. “Just know that none of us might be here in January”. “This is ...

Doing Good versus Avoiding Bad2024-10-25T17:55:40+01:00

Achieving the PCC Credential: My Journey with Coach Advancement

2024-10-25T17:55:25+01:00

Embarking on the path to earning the ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential has been a transformative experience, both professionally and personally. As I reflect on this journey, I recognise how it has profoundly shaped my coaching practice, fuelled my passion for continuous growth, and set me on the path toward coaching mastery. Validating My Skills Achieving the PCC credential is more than just a milestone; it’s a significant validation of my coaching skills. This certification from the International Coaching Federation (ICF) acknowledges that I’ve met rigorous standards and demonstrated a high level of competence. It’s a powerful testament to ...

Achieving the PCC Credential: My Journey with Coach Advancement2024-10-25T17:55:25+01:00

In search of the Sleeping Elephants for Sustainable Change

2024-08-05T17:21:33+01:00

Many years ago, I studied Transcendental Meditation, and the teacher shared a story which I have always remembered, and which really helped me to understand the concept of accessing a greater level of depth in my meditation practice. Years later, this story has also served well many times as a way to describe working at a deeper level with our coaching clients. The story goes… If you imagine your mind to be like a house, when you first begin to meditate, it’s like a process of spring cleaning your house – you can quite quickly notice and are aware of ...

In search of the Sleeping Elephants for Sustainable Change2024-08-05T17:21:33+01:00

The Alchemy of Grief

2024-08-02T20:00:57+01:00

Grief can look many different ways. In our culture we tend to reserve grief for when someone dies, but it goes far beyond that. Grief is nuanced and, if we allow it, we can touch on it in the endings that are present every day. We grieve when we lose or change jobs, when a beloved pet dies, a relationship ends, family estrangement or difficulties, your children growing and going to school or leaving home. Sometimes even allowing something good can bring grief with it, you may move home, leaving behind your old home, change jobs, leaving behind people, teams, ...

The Alchemy of Grief2024-08-02T20:00:57+01:00

Do you have a Clear Agreement?

2024-04-19T04:42:56+01:00

The current ICF Core Competency model was produced as a result of a two year long job analysis exploring the knowledge, skills, tasks and activities needed for any practitioner to operate skilfully as a professional coach. Amongst many other things, this extensive research gave rise to the identification of five key themes which were considered of significant importance for inclusion in the final body of work. One of those key themes was the ‘expansion of the coaching agreement’ described and defined as having three distinct levels: Agreement for Coaching Relationship. Agreement for Overall Coaching Plan and Goals. Agreement for Session ...

Do you have a Clear Agreement?2024-04-19T04:42:56+01:00
  • Shwezin Win and her Children

From Scepticism to Advocacy

2024-03-01T17:54:58+00:00

How Coaching Education Transformed Me as a Professional and a Parent As a sceptic of coaching, I never imagined it would play a significant role in my life, let alone enhance my skills as a parent. In my last corporate environment, my only experience of coaching, was fruitless and unhelpful. Why? Firstly, I was given Executive Coaching when I was at my lowest point. Even though I was in the final two, I didn’t get that top director role — something I had been striving for and worked towards my whole career. I was devastated, and I felt there was ...

From Scepticism to Advocacy2024-03-01T17:54:58+00:00
  • Linda Stephens, PCC, Art and Alchemy of Coaching participant

Linda’s Story: The Importance of Credibility

2024-02-23T16:05:45+00:00

Linda Stephens, PCC (United Kingdom) is founder and Managing Director at Cobalt Red, an international executive coaching business geared toward senior C-suite professionals and those aspiring to become C-Suite. Alongside her paid business, Linda offers pro bono coaching to alumni of the African Leadership Academy (ALA). “These are the creme de la creme from all over the African continent. They go to Jo'burg, to go to university, they get an internship, they then go to Harvard, Stanford, or Oxford, and when they graduate with their Ph.D., that's when I meet them. They're usually in their late twenties or ...

Linda’s Story: The Importance of Credibility2024-02-23T16:05:45+00:00
  • Kate Jennings, PCC, Art and Alchemy of Coaching participant

Kate’s Story: Learning the Alchemy of Coaching

2024-03-01T17:53:10+00:00

Kate Jennings, PCC (United Kingdom) is an executive coach for Kate Jennings Coaching based in Stamford, just north of Cambridge. Kate works with a range of organisations in the UK and throughout Europe helping their leaders excel through developing leadership skills and behaviours. Kate come into coaching through counseling. Through her post-grad therapy qualification about 25 years ago, she decided she didn’t actually want to work as a therapist. “I've always been fascinated by how people tick, what makes us ‑ us, what we can do to bring out the best in ourselves,” she explains. In 2007, Kate ...

Kate’s Story: Learning the Alchemy of Coaching2024-03-01T17:53:10+00:00
  • Coaching Maturity

Pathways to Coaching Maturity

2024-03-01T17:53:03+00:00

Within the coaching community, we often hear the term ‘lifelong learner’ as being something that we, as practitioners of coaching, are encouraged, and even expected, to embrace. From an International Coaching Federation (ICF) perspective, this idea of lifelong learning is marked and highlighted in several ways: We have the credentials of Associate Certified Coach (ACC), Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and Master Certified Coach (MCC) as a way of noting various stages on that journey. We have a credentialing system that requires us to renew our credential every three years, with Continuing Professional Development (CPD) being part of that renewal process. ...

Pathways to Coaching Maturity2024-03-01T17:53:03+00:00
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