At the 1st International Meeting of Coaches in Prague hosted by the Czech Coaching Association CAKO coaches from across the globe were brought together for three days of presentations, workshops and dialogue to foster the sharing of knowledge and ideas. The climate was of respectful international collaboration amongst coaches from different professional backgrounds and approaches to coaching.

Everywhere you look these days you see the term coaching. Coaching took off as a niche in the personal development industry in the 1980’s. Since then a number of organisations providing specialist coach training and development services have been at the forefront of a rapidly growing industry. One of the themes highlighted at the CAKO IMC was the fact that expertise in the practice of coaching is drawn from a number of different traditional areas of practice. As this is the case it is important to ensure that practitioners are appropriately qualified both in coaching practice and have relevant training or qualifications in related domains of practice. Discussions and a presentation by leading UK Coaching Psychologist Pauline Willis highlighted that the Business and Psychological underpinnings of coaching are key areas which are gaining popularity and importance. Increasingly advanced coach training programmes are looking to traditional disciplines such as psychology, organisational development and management for tools and techniques that will increase the depth and power of the coaching relationship.

The open and collaborative climate set in the Czech Republic though the 1st IMC is a fitting precursor to a major event due to be held in Dublin 2008. The Global Convention on Coaching or GCC as it is known, has been brought together to support the mutual exploration of the future of the coaching industry by all stakeholders in coaching. Difficult questions such as ‘what does the specialist domain of knowledge for coaching consist of?’ and ‘what training and qualifications are really needed for a practitioner to set out shop as a ‘professional’ coach?’ will be covered through the process of dialogue and scenario development.

One of the leaders of this initiative speaking at the Czech conference was Australian Psychologist and co-editor of the ICPR, Dr Michael Cavanagh. At the end of three days of sharing and dialogue, Michael extended a warm invitation for all coaches and other stakeholders in coaching, from all backgrounds and all countries, to come forward and take a place in a global consultation process that will continue in the spirit of openness and collaboration that was modelled in the Czech Republic in September 2007. Support for the GCC has been strong across the coaching community with a number of prominent names stepping forward to take part in the working groups that form the operational engine of the convention.

Participation in the open consultation in the lead up to a convention event to be held in Dublin in July 2008 is open to everyone who has an interest in any aspect of coaching as a domain of practice. The consultation leading up to the convention over the next six months is taking place online, so participation is free and easy if you have computer access. If you are interested in taking part you can complete the online application form at
www.coachingconvention.org

The International Coach Meeting
20th - 22nd September 2007
Prague, Czech Republic

The International Coach Meeting, which is going to take place in autumn in Prague, it is a Great Happening in the following points:

* PERFORMANCE – the Alfa and Omega of every successful company – it is the central point of the Meeting where the most competent of all will participate
* The Best International Coaches will participate. They come from ICF (International Coach Federation), EMCC (European Mentoring and Coaching Council), AEC (Academy of Executive Coaching), and also from Association for Coaching
* Interaction, workshops, individual discussions and answers to various questions, which will move the Coaching World ahead – through other questions
* Multinational standard and professionalism of the visiting coaches and excellent organisation are a must for such a unique event to happen.
* The Meeting is necessary for owners of companies, managers, students and others who are aware of the potential and benefit of ‘coaching’ in companies

More information can be found at http://www.cako.cz/meeting/

Pauline Willis will be speaking at this event http://www.cako.cz/meeting/?page=Speakers/willis

Starting a Technology Business
Thursday, May 24th, 2007 5:30PM
Venue: Harwell Conference Centre

This event is intended for people thinking of starting a technology business or those who already have. It aims to be informative and thought provoking. There will be a series of short presentations on why technology businesses are different, what issues you will face as an individual and how to fund your ideas. These will be interleaved by actual case studies and rounded off by questions to the speakers.

Discussions will continue informally over refreshments and a buffet afterwards.

Pauline Willis will be speaking at this event

Further information and registration details can be found on the IET Oxford website
IET Oxford Local Network

As part of an MSc Occupational Psychology at City University, London, I am currently working on a dissertation that seeks to improve current knowledge about the relationship between the effectiveness of managerial (i.e. executive) coaching and the work environment.

I am inviting people who experienced coaching whilst working in a managerial role to complete an on-line questionnaire. The questionnaire takes approximately 10 minutes to fill in, and it is completed via a survey dedicated website which guarantees complete anonymity.

If you received coaching, I would be grateful if you would spare some time to complete the questionnaire. I would also appreciate if you would forward this message to your colleagues who have participated in coaching.

As a member of the British Psychological society, I am bound by strict ethical guidelines.

All answers are confidential & anonymous, and are for research purposes only. In the final report only aggregated results will be reported, which means that no-one can be personally identified by their answers. Participation is voluntary, and you can withdraw from the questionnaire at any time.

If you decide that you can take part, thank you so much, I am extremely grateful for your input.

The questionnaire can be accessed here
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=789862690885

So that I can meet my project deadline, I would appreciate if you would complete the questionnaire by 25 October, 2006.

Should you have any questions or comments please contact me at LJStewart@mail.com.

Once again, thank you so much for your assistance and for your participation in my research. Your input is greatly appreciated.

Kind regards
Lorna Stewart

In this one-day programme, we will explore both the benefits and pitfalls of accessing the current range of development options available to you from Coaching Supervision through to the many specialised Coaching and Coaching Psychology qualifications currently being marketed to psychologists.

We are confident that by taking an informed and innovative approach to identifying your professional development needs in relation to Coaching Psychology Practice, you will be able to identify the ‘best value’ development solution to suit both your professional needs and your budget.

What will I actually ‘take away’ if attend this one day workshop?

The key output from your engagement with this workshop which includes telephone and email based support after the event, will be the creation of a personal development plan. You will develop this plan yourself using the information we provide for you along with a facilitated ‘self-assessment’ of your existing competencies relative to coaching psychology competencies and capabilities.

Date: October 2nd 2006
Venue: Oxford

Download Flyer Here
For more information contact pauline.willis@lauriate.com

If coaches and mentors are interested in the psychological aspects of coaching and are not yet a member of a professional body coachingpsychologist.net will provide details of relevant bodies to join in your country or region. For information about which psychology body or associations you can join in your country submit request Here

coachingpsychologist.net professional development and supervision network offers an innovative and cost effective approach to professional development and supervision for coaching psychologists. Coaches and mentors who are interested in the appropriate application of psychology to coaching and mentoring practice are also welcome. Membership is ‘free’ for anyone who is eligible to join. However, if you have products or services that are relevant to the coaching psychology and are interested in promoting them a fee will be charged for any ‘advertising’.

How does it work?

The professional forums offered at coachingpsychologist.net essentially work as peer consultation or supervision groups very much like the ones that are set up either formally or informally by colleagues offline. These online forums will, however, provide continuous access to professional support groups as well as a diverse range of members from across the profession of psychology globally. This international perspective provides significant benefits to professional practice and facilitates the flow of new ideas and practices.

Another key aim of coachingpscyhologist.net is to support the practice of coaches who are not themselves psychologists but who are committed to the appropriate application of psychology within coaching practice. Coachingpsychologist.net takes a very welcoming view that facilitating the transfer of psychological ideas and methods through coaching for use in all aspects of life and work is a good thing. However, this bounded with a very clear caveat. And this is that it is important that if coaches are going to use psychological ides explicitly in their pracice they need to have access both to the knowledge base of psychology and professional support in applying psychological principles appropriately within coaching practice. Coachingpsychologist.net does, therefore, offer a range of ‘open’ forums where coaches and psychologists can discuss issues of common interest.

International referral service for coaching psychology services

The site will also include a referral service so that coaches who are seeking specialist coaching supervision in coaching psychology can find appropriate supervisors easily. The referral service is powered by the CMN www.coachingnetwork.org.uk referral database. If you are interested in joining the referral database more information is available Here

To register interest in joining the coachingpsychologist.net community of practice go to http://www.coachingpsychologist.net

Earlier this year, and in conjunction with ‘firecracker’ films a Channel 4 production company we launched a research project to capture ‘celebratory stories’ and cautionary tales.

Many thanks to everyone who has generously shared their experiences so far. We have collected some interesting stories. As this has proven to be a valuable way of collecting information from the clients perspective we have decided to keep the research element of this project going.

So if you are a client of coaching or mentoring services and would like to share your experiences of the coaching process please do let us know.

All responses will be treatest with the strictest confidence and only grouped summary data will reported unless you give your explicit permission for us to share your story as ‘case study’. We are planning to select ‘indicative’ case studies to share with coaches and mentors to support continuing professional development. Research results will be written up and submitted to publications such as the International Coaching Psychology Review and Coaching at Work magazine and all participants will be sent a copy of the research findings if they are interested in seeing them.

One day conference designed for Medical professionals to explore pathways to success that achieve career goals and personal fulfilment. Lauriate Director Pauline Willis will be presenting a session on professional competence and standards in the delivery of mentoring services in health care settings.

Whilst a great deal of mentoring is delivered informally there is increasing pressure for all mentoring practitioners to either attain specialised qualifications or work with expert supervision. Standards specifically designed for mentoring services management and provision have now been developed and Pauline will overview coaching and mentoring standards setting initiatives currently in development within the UK.

She will also present the professional competency framework for coaching and mentoring identified through the EMCC’s Standard Project which is being used to support coaching and mentoring standards development in the UK.
Go to
http://www.academicmedicine.ac.uk/uploads/Cygnus%202006%20conference.pdf
For more details.

Coaching at Work (CAW) magazine features viewpoint on the importance of managing the boundary between coaching and psychology

Coaching at Work magazine published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in the UK targets HR professionals with an interest in coaching and mentoring focuses on topical issues facing both organisations and practitioners.

Lauriate director Pauline Willis presents her viewpoint on boundary issues between coaching and psychology in the April 2006 issue of Coaching at Work magazine published by the CIPD. The article titled Labelling Boundaries can be accessed by clicking here (325KB PDF).

Firecracker productions are professional filmmakers who are making a documentary for Channel 4 and are eager to hear both celebratory stories and cautionary tales from people who have worked with either a life or business coach.

The filmmakers are seeking to create a documentary that will inform both coaches and their prospective clients about what to expect in terms of responsible professional coaching practice.

A questionnaire has been developed to capture both celebratory stories and cautionary tales about coaching from the client perspective which should achieve the aim of supporting the filmmakers in finding people who are willing to take part in the documentary, as well as collecting valid and reliable research data about the issues being explored. We are hoping that a broad range people who have both positive and negative experiences of coaching will participate.

If you have purchased coaching services and would like to be interviewed as part of the documentary your details will be passed on to the film producers who will make decisions about which stories to feature. If, however, you want to participate in this survey for the purposes of providing research information only, then all of the details provided will be treated with strictest confidence.

The questionnaire is in 4 parts which cover:-

• Information about your coach and coaching programme
• Impact of the coaching on your life or business along with ‘the full story’ in your own words
• Additional background information that will support analysis and reporting
• Participant contact details

If you are interested in sharing your Celebratory Story or Cautionary Tale for the purpose of taking part in the filming, you should complete the questionnaire by January 31st at the very latest.

Interested?
Go to https://members.lauriate.com/Survey/
to tell us about your Celebratory Story or Cautionary Tale