Professional Development Coaching
Most people spend a huge amount of their lives working, either in paid or unpaid roles. Our observation is that many people undergo years of technical training for their roles, but in contrast have very little training or coaching when it comes to developing key non-technical skills such as being collaborative, handling disagreement, being an effective communicator, making difficult decisions and managing and leading people. Our professional development coaching is designed to help people be more effective in those roles by developing these key non-technical skills and attitudes, and to find much higher levels of enjoyment at work.
We seek to make each client coaching session a source of inspiration, greater confidence, challenge and practical wisdom.
Our first goals are always to build strong relationships of trust and professional support, whilst establishing a clear coaching agenda defining what greater flourishing looks like for each client. Our professional development coaching is usually based on a package of between six and twelve sessions, one per month. Very often, after an initial coaching assignment, we move to quarterly meetings. We have worked with many clients now for a number of years. We usually meet at a client’s site, at a mutually convenient quiet meeting place (e.g. in London, Oxford, the Cotswolds), or online via video. Before starting any coaching assignment, we always agree a fixed fee contract, so that clients are assured that there are no unexpected extra costs.
To help build this agenda we may use 360 feedback analysis or psychometric questionnaires. Each session is then geared to achieving the agenda. We do also provide articles for clients to read before some sessions and we will often provide e mailed feedback summaries. Our style is predicated on the following:
- Building a warm professional friendship
- Providing affirmation, support and respect
- Respecting the boundaries and confidentialities of the client
- Providing challenge and constructively critical feedback when appropriate
- Seeking the client’s welfare and greater flourishing at all times.
When a client is being sponsored by an organisation, we do give summary feedback to the employer if they require it, though this is almost always checked with the individual first. In working with employers, we will also often arrange an initial and possibly a final session with the person being coached and his or her line manager.
Professional development skills
Key skills we focus on include:
- One to one communication
- Presentation skills
- Influencing skills
- Building mutual relationships of trust
- Handling disagreement
- Collaboration and team skills
- Assertiveness
- Decision making
- Building confidence
- Giving feedback
- Decision making
- Understanding yourself and others
- Coaching
- Emotional intelligence
- Emotionally intelligent leadership
- Resilience
- Developing and maintaining a strong emotional life at work.
Flourishing professionally
The top image on this page reminds us that for most people, the work context is often extremely challenging. It can feel at times that we are being battered by storms, rains, winds and choppy seas. Flourishing at work requires us to be resilient, assertive, able to have difficult conversations, respond well to and manage change, be able to make difficult decisions and have really good people skills. The bottom image reminds us that it is hard to flourish more if we simply focus on skills. Almost always new perspectives are needed. This requires us to step back, reflect, see ourselves differently, as well as seeing situations and people differently. Often flourishing at work can mean learning not to be so driven or so anxious, and re-learning how to relax and enjoy work more. Occasionally it means finding a different context or role that fits us a lot better.
