Coaching

Coaching is a series of structured conversations that guide you towards expressing more of your potential at work, through a process founded in management theory, philosophy, psychology and, more recently, neuroscience, behavioural economics and organisational psychology. 

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Through this process, we help you generate new insights, access more of your potential, leverage more of your strengths at work and feel more comfortable experimenting and trying different things. Disrupting existing thinking patterns and building new ones, together with identifying and embedding new behaviours are all possible ways that coaching can enhance your performance and well-being. 

Coaching is fundamentally different to other performance-related interactions, such as managing, leading, counselling, training, mentoring or consulting. 

 

Coaching focuses on unlocking your potential to maximize your own performance. Crucially, it does so by helping you to learn rather than by teaching you. Coaching utilises Socratic methods and dialectic inquiry to challenge your assumptions and provoke critical thinking and enhanced problem-solving. 

 

It is fundamentally different to the traditional behaviorist teaching models that rely on the transfer of wisdom or knowledge from a more qualified or experience person to a less qualified or experienced one. 

 

While other forms of performance related interactions remain appropriate and will often complement coaching, we consciously seek to avoid providing advice when coaching in the belief that: 

 

“As interfering help is given, ability and self-confidence are taken away.”

                                                                                                                                                              

I Ching, Chinese Classical Text

Coaching can be challenging so is best suited to high-potential and high-performing individuals who may benefit from being stretched in order to maximise their performance.

 

At our initial meeting, we can discuss whether coaching is right for you. If your performance might be better enhanced through training or mentoring, then we can support through these options instead or in addition to coaching.  

Organisational coaching sessions are aimed at enhancing workplace performance. Therefore, our coaching sessions will focus on issues related to the workplace, but not to the exclusion of the many inter-personal and intra-personal factors that may impact on work performance. It is frequently necessary for the coach and coaching counterpart to discuss issues that may be seen as personal. These issues may include the beliefs and feelings that you hold about yourself and the world, and how these factors impact on your performance at work. 

 

However, it is important for you to understand that you control the direction of our sessions, and we will not discuss any issues that you do not feel comfortable discussing.

Yes, all information shared with your coach, whether in writing or during coaching sessions, is confidential and will not be disclosed to any third party, except where:

 

1. agreed with you and your organisation;

2. the coach is under a legal obligation to do so; and

3. the coach has a genuine reason to believe that the counterpart is in imminent danger of self-harm or hurting another person. 

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Further, as a member of the Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership, we adhere to the International Coaching Federation Code of Ethics and all applicable laws relating to data privacy. 

No, you can engage us for private coaching without notifying your employer or manager. While not strictly necessary, it is however helpful to understand your team’s and / or organisation’s agenda so that your coaching outcomes can be most effectively aligned.  

 

However, you may wish to discuss coaching with your manager as a way to enhance your personal impact within your organisation. Effective organisational coaching elevates personal impact in order to benefit both the individual and the organisation. 

 

In addition, coaching often helps identify wider environmental constraints on employee performance. Therefore, it can be a useful tool for leaders in maximising organisational effectiveness more generally.

 

We can be engaged by your employer directly and assist with any business case to secure organisational sponsorship and support for your coaching journey.