My Coaching Approach
I am an Executive and Leadership Coach offering one-to-one and group coaching . The real value coaching offers is to help you see and understand your problems at a much deeper level, so you can solve them for yourself - long after the coaching engagement ends. If you really understand what’s going on for you and you understand your thinking, then it’s like having the key to unlock future problems ... to find the solutions and possibilities for yourself
Type of Coaching I Practice
There are many different types of coaching. The type of coaching I offer is Organisational (Executive and Leadership).
Having worked as part of executive groups and managed teams of varying sizes, I have a first-hand appreciation and deep understanding of the challenges faced by leaders – and with more than two decades of experience as a manager, mentor and coach, I am committed to helping leaders achieve personal and professional growth.
Every engagement is bespoke. In coaching we will focus on your strengths and explore the shifts you might need to make to enhance your effectiveness as a leader.
All coaching services are available face-to-face (in Adelaide), or virtually (virtual across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region).
Testimonials from leaders I have recently worked with provide the best insight into how these leadership capabilities have been enhanced through my coaching.
A list of client organisations I have worked with can be viewed here.
Tools & Techniques I Use In My Work
Prospective clients will often ask what tools and techniques I use in my coaching work. All professional coaches use various skills, tools and techniques to facilitate personal and professional growth in their clients.
When I first studied to become a coach, I learned to coach using the GROW model. As I gained experience, I also learned how to utilise the CLEAR principles in my coaching work. Along the way I completed additional coach training programs (including things like Conflict Coaching, Positive Psychology, Cognitive Behavioural Coaching) and learned to work with a variety of coaching models and tools.
I believe in continuous learning and development, and I draw on contemporary research in psychology, management, and adult development to support my coaching clients. I am fascinated by many approaches, so I have completed qualifications in areas like Positive Psychology, and Cognitive Behavioural Coaching. I also studied Coaching Supervision, which utilises different models and frameworks that I can draw upon in my coaching work.
There are also hundreds of different psychometric tests and leadership assessments, measuring everything from psychological fitness to cognitive ability, skills and performance. Diagnostic and psychometric tools can also be used to support coaching. I have chosen to be certified in a number of these, but their use will always be carefully matched to the client’s coaching objective – and it is not always useful to introduce such a tool into the coaching engagement
Coaches collect many coaching tools and techniques over time, but the key is to never become too attached to any of them. That means there may be coaching engagements where we don’t use any specific tool or technique, but then we may need something for one client in one coaching session and that’s what makes it worth having!
Master level coaches describe coaching as the ‘process of making people think’. The coach’s capability to help you to think differently can make you feel differently and when you feel differently you will behave differently.
It sounds too simple, but the most important capabilities a coach needs to help you think differently are presence and listening. These are skills that take hundreds-thousands of hours for a coach to master, but ultimately, they are more important than any specific tool or technique.
Through a process of inviting introspection and self-reflection, I will help you develop increased awareness of how you might be limiting yourself… to naviate a way through what is in the way of you achieving what you want and being the best version of yourself.
What do coaching credentials mean?
Being able to structure a coaching conversation and demonstrate an ability to meet the ICF’s ‘minimum requirements’ is what enables coaches to gain their initial coaching credential with the ICF (ACC). At this level, coaching can be effective, but can be quite transactional
When you progress to the higher level of credential with the ICF (PCC) you are required to make a significant shift in the way you coach. At PCC level there is less of a focus on ‘coaching the problem’ and more of a focus on ‘coaching the person’. The ICF have a clear set of core coaching competencies and there are specific markers that indicate a PCC level of coaching – the skill of being able to coach in alignment with these markers is what differentiates an experienced coach (with at least 500 hours of coaching experience) and can create a transformational coaching experience for the client.
To be credentialed at Master level (MCC), you must acquire more than 2000 hours of coaching experience.
For many years I have been mentoring other coaches in demonstrating understanding and application of the ICF’s ‘PCC Markers’ in their coaching.
I have been certified as a PCC with the ICF since 2018 and I am certified by the Association for Coaching at the level of Master Executive Coach.
Areas of Coaching Specialisation
Stepping-up
Making the shift from operational to strategic.
Developing your confidence and managing self-doubt.
Enhancing your leadership reputation/brand.
Speaking-up
Building better relationships.
Influencing others.
Having uncomfortable conversations.
Giving (& receiving) feedback.
Leadership presence.
Resilience & Motivation
Responding (instead of reacting) to conflict.
Overcoming your inner critic (self-criticism).
Finding your ‘mojo’ again.
Decision-making
Learning to say no… and when to say yes!
Transitioning to a new role, or to retirement.
Career decisions: direction, impact & legacy.
“…the thing that happens in the roots changes what happens in the branches for generations. If you just polish leaves you get one season of shiny leaves” (quote by Jennifer Garvey Berger, Introduction to Developmental Coaching).
