Coach Development

What is the ultimate purpose of Coaching? The International Coaching Federation’s (ICF) definition of coaching describes the purpose as maximising the client’s personal and professional potential. Maximising our potential implies growth, and to leverage our growth we need to effectively apply our awareness, insight, and learning. Therefore, a key part of a coach’s role is to partner with clients in support of them becoming more aware, to have insights that lead them to learn new things, which, when applied through appropriate action, results in growth and development…and them fulfilling their potential!   The ICF Core Competencies are defined and described ...

A Key Strength and Skill for Any Coach Recently, a mentee shared a poem that really resonated with me. It came from Chris Guillebeau’s blog which included the author’s thinking on the meaning of the poem. The poem is from a 14th Century Sufi Poet called Hafiz and, as Chris states, it really illustrates the concept of empowerment. The Small Man Builds Cages For Everyone  The small man Builds cages for everyone He Knows. While the sage, Who has to duck his head When the moon is low, Keeps dropping keys all night long For the Beautiful Rowdy Prisoners In ...

The term “trust the process” is one that is often heard within the sphere of coaching, in fact I have used it myself when teaching coaching skills, along with other related terms such as “trust yourself, trust your client…trust the process”. In all honesty, when it was first said to me as a student of coaching, I didn’t quite understand it as I was still so fixed on trying to learn and of course, ‘master’, the skills of coaching. Over the years, I have gradually developed a greater understanding of what I think this means and one of the most ...

The art of reflective practice – for our work and for ourselves. When a new year begins, we often reflect on our last year and ponder on our future and coming year. At the start of 2020, my article New Starts-New Beginnings was on intentions for the coming year that also had the element of reflection in it. Interestingly, when you look at the definition of ‘to reflect’ or ‘reflection’ it has a number of different definitions based on how you are using the term. Which made me think about the notion that reflection isn’t just looking at what we ...

Coaching is a dialogue that is intended to facilitate forward movement in service of the client maximising their potential. Whilst taking next steps and actions after coaching sessions is important, so often a coaching conversation can become limited to a single focus on eliciting actions, which significantly limits the potential of coaching and I think also somewhat misses the point. As a Mentor Coach, when listening to coach recordings, I often notice a hurried, and sometimes even leading energy from the coach towards the end of the session, that seems singularly aimed at capturing a list of actions. When exploring ...

An often less used tool in a coach’s toolbox is the use of Silence. Let's take a moment to review the purpose and power of silence in coaching and indicate where it is embedded within the ICF Core Competencies. Maintains Presence (CC5) - one of the sub-competencies states: “Creates or allows space for silence, pause or reflection”. This is a more general ability, demonstrated across a coaching conversation as part of the coach’s approach, and indicates the extent to which the coach is being comfortable in allowing space and pauses to enable the client to think and reflect. Listens Actively ...

When we first start training and learning to become a coach, our focus, perhaps quite understandably, is on the learning, understanding and application of some of the relevant skills and competencies. We might call this the “doing of coaching”. Like when we learn any other new skill, getting to grips with the basics and the technical skills are an important part of the foundational process of our professional development. In this way, we can then build upon that foundation and become more natural, fluid, creative and intuitive in our work.  This is why we call our ICF accredited coach training programmes: The Science ...

When and how can a coach offer insights or thinking without it turning into advice giving? Or without using their expertise? Here we will explore the concept of the coach demonstrating vulnerability—which often comes from being able to be comfortable with the idea of ‘not knowing’, especially, when offering insights and comments, not assuming them to be ‘the truth’. First, let's look at some of the sub-competencies that I feel speak to this concept: ICF Core Competency 2: Embodies a Coaching Mindset 2.1 Acknowledges that clients are responsible for their own choices 2.5 Uses awareness of self and one’s intuition ...

Reflecting, summarising and paraphrasing in a coaching conversation is an important skill that a coach needs to learn. It’s not just the skill itself that is important, it can often be more about when to do it, and indeed ‘if’ to do it (the art) than what and how to do ‘it’ (the science). What I notice in early day coaches is that this skill is often overused in terms of what is reflected, summarised or paraphrased and is perhaps not always truly in service of the client, as it being used as a learned behaviour to demonstrate ‘hearing’. In ...

In last month’s article, we looked at ‘Maintains Coaching Presence’, one of the eight ICF Core Competencies in the updated model that comes into effect later in 2021. We specifically explored the relationship between this and Competency 4 Cultivates Trust and Safety, the place, purpose and value of presence in coaching, and some of the psychological thinking that underpins this important element of coaching skill. In Part 2, we look at some of the barriers to presence and how we can develop and convey this important quality to our clients in our work with them. What gets in the way ...