Category Archives: Coaching

Coaching Groups: Action Learning Sets by another name?

Alternative approaches, Coaching

Whenever I share my thoughts with others, they ask questions I haven’t yet thought of. This is true no matter how long I’ve spent brainstorming the questions I think others might have.

I am grateful for a question I hadn’t considered in relation to Coaching Groups: in what ways are they similar to or different from Action Learning Sets? This question came from Ben Sheath, Training and Development Manager at British Gas and my colleague on the Training Journal Daily Digest. Since I’ve never been a member of an Action Learning Set – at least, not one that has gone by that name – I was not in a strong position to answer the question. Thankfully Ben was able to share a link to an introduction to Action Learning Sets at ActionLearningSets.com and willing to share his own experiences. As I write I am still teasing out the similarities and differences between the two.

The introduction to Action Learning Sets begins by saying “Action Learning is an accelerated learning tool which can be applied to any number of different workplace (and personal) issues and challenges”. So far so similar – a Coaching Group also addresses an agenda set by members of the group. This agenda can be as wide and as deep as members choose. Still, I have a suspicion as I read this first sentence which is confirmed by the article’s second question: “What sort of problems do Set members discuss?” This for me, sets an Action Learning Set apart from a Coaching Group. For whilst an Action Learning Set appears to be problem-focused a Coaching Group is clearly outcome-oriented. That is, members of a Coaching Group come together to establish what goals they would like to pursue and members work with their coach and with each other to pursue their chosen goals. Insofar as the members of a Coaching Group address problems, it is in service of these goals.

What are the implications of this difference? I suspect, though I don’t know for sure, that Coaching Groups hold a bigger picture in their sights than do Action Learning Sets. And when group members are working in pursuit of a goal (rather than seeking to solve a problem) the questions they need to answer are, to a greater degree, about themselves. Whilst the Action Learning Set member may focus on how to re-design a process or to establish dialogue with colleagues in another department, the coaching client is more likely to be asking what beliefs are holding him back or what new way of thinking about a goal is likely to open up new and accelerated progress.

It seems to me that this is a matter of degree. At one end of the spectrum you might have a group that is looking at processes and systems and in which limited introspection is needed. This group is more likely to be called an Action Learning Set (or Quality Circle) than a Coaching Group. At the other end of the spectrum a group might be looking at how to improve behavioural effectiveness (as a leader or coach, for example) and this, to me, implies a willingness to reflect, to build self awareness and to share one’s self with the group. This is the Coaching Group.

One statement jumps out at me from the introduction to Action Learning Sets. This is the statement that Research has found that if a skilled facilitator is present, the Set is more likely to be successful. This is the statement that, for me, unites both approaches. For no matter the name or stated purpose of a group, the facilitator or coach needs to be sensitive to the readiness of group members to engage in learning at varying depths – from the surface “how tos” to deeper exploration of personal needs, values, behaviours and even identity. For me, this implies both clarity at the outset about the purpose and processes of the group and an ongoing dialogue with group members about their readiness to move forward.

My thanks to you, Ben, for helping me to tease out these similarities and differences.

Tracking back

Coaching

Well, that’s a new one on me. Claire Chapman, a colleague in the coaching profession who has recently started to supervise coaches, has introduced me to the term “trackbacking”.

Claire was taken by my recent post on coaching supervision (Coaching supervision: when anticlimax is the key measure of success). This in turn led her to write a post of her own (Coaching supervision – coaching assured) in which she included a link to my posting.

So what’s it called when I trackback her trackback? As you might be able to tell, I’m still learning.

Protecting your name on-line

Coaching

Today I take one more action from the list of recommendations I took away from my conversation a few weeks back with my friend Kenny Tranquille. As if being a talented coach and nutritionist is not enough, Kenny has taken on the role of my E-mentor.

Like many people, my business interests are simple at first glance (coaching senior leaders) and more diverse on close inspection. My business website represents one view of my interests and still, perhaps there’s a place for a site which represents the greater diversity of my business and personal interests.

There’s another question, too. How is my name protected on the internet? One way to do this is to register my name as a domain name. None of my many namesakes have done this yet so I go for the most universal domain name I can and register www.dorothynesbit.com with my internet provider.

I am raring to go – the most basic package allows me to create a one-page website and I am looking forward to doing this very soon. Still, I have to wait for my confirmation e-mail which is due to reach me within the next 24 hours.

I’ll keep you posted.

How is coaching faring during the recession?

Coaching

The Training Journal Daily Digest has come up trumps again. Responding to a posting requesting recommendations for some executive coaches I offer to share details of trusted colleagues – it’s not the done thing to recommend oneself on the Digest and still, I’m always delighted to put people in touch with skilled and able coaches. Minutes later, one of my colleagues on the Digest lets me know she’s put my name forward.

Oh! And what’s more, one of my former Hay colleagues lets me know he’s recommended me as a coach to senior leaders in his own business. I experience feelings of great delight at these “seeds sown”. Much of my work comes to me via these kinds of referrals and whether or not these particular seeds turn into coaching assignments, they contribute to an abundance of possibilities and make it more likely that I can contribute my skills to help individuals and organisations to build leadership capability.

But how is coaching faring during the recession? This a question that is visting one of my colleagues today. She writes:

Dorothy, over the past few days, I’ve learnt that several services and colleagues in my three worlds are running into difficulties. It seems as if it is getting ever harder to secure referrals, to find paying clients, or to fill workshops.

Just as a ‘reality check’: have you noticed trends in this direction in your coaching circles? On the one hand, these developments come as no surprise to me. On the other hand, I wonder whether those of us who hold strong positive beliefs can manage to “surf through this era on an entirely different wave”… I hope from my heart that the latter is the case.

In my own practice, one client organisation stopped its executive coaching across the world last year in response to the crisis in the finance sector. Currently, another client is taking a break pending his new budgetary period and has made it clear that he’d prefer to continue our work together. Whilst small businesses like my own tend to experience both ups and downs these examples are clearly related to our current economic climate.

Oh, the paradox! If ever our leaders need coaching it’s now! For the levels of uncertainty that come with our current economic climate are such that “drawing on experience” – even experience of past recessions – is not enough. And yet it’s at this time that organisations are most likely to tighten their belts and reduce their investment in coaching and other development programmes.

I take time to explore a link provided by another colleague to an article about coaching in Personnel Today. Two things stand out. The first is the recommendation to invest in coaching leaders ahead of any other group – after all, in times of change, it’s our leaders who lead the change. I also notice that recent research by the CIPD suggests that coaching is proving to be one of the great survivors of the recession.

I hope so. Of course, coaching makes a significant contribution to my income. Far more than this, coaching has a major role to play in developing leadership capability and this, in turn, makes it more likely that our leaders will create intelligent and highly effective organisations.

I wonder, what do you think?

Scheduling postings

Coaching

Well, a small thing has been making a huge difference to my blogging in recent days.

My e-mentor, Kenny Tranquille, highlighted an unexplored link on my blog: post options. It has enabled me to start to schedule postings. So, when I have time, I can write two or three postings and schedule them to appear whenever I want.

So, in case you think I’ve been busy all the way through the summer, you might like to know that I’m away right now – back from my holiday on Tuesday 1st September.

LinkedIn – for the dummies amongst us

Coaching,

It’s no surprise to most people that many of us fear the activity we call “networking”. Perhaps one reason for this is that we take a very narrow view of it: isn’t networking when you go round a room of strangers trying to meet people who might buy what you have to sell? And isn’t it a pretty horrid experience to have stilted conversations with all sorts of people who don’t want to be sold to?

Today I speak with Jonathan Kemp of SmartWisdom, whom I met via my old friend the Training Journal Daily Digest. Jonathan asked me if we could talk about blogs and I’m delighted to help. No selling here – just two colleagues helping each other out. What’s more, as Jonathan updates me on the progress of his work, I realise I know people who may benefit from learning about Jonathan’s work. He agrees to send information I can forward.

We talk about my own progress in building an online presence. Jonathan tells me that when he first signed up to LinkedIn he bought several books to help him make the most of it and recommends LinkedIn for Dummies by Joel Elad. I decide to order a copy and I’m looking forward to browsing this book and to enjoying whatever gems it offers.

For me, this is “networking” at its best. I enjoy the pleasure of supporting Jonathan and take away a few gems myself. Perhaps my friends and contacts will benefit from an introduction to Jonathan’s work – and if they don’t, that’s fine, too. And I take away a few gems that support me. Even Joel Elad gets a sale.

Who knows, maybe you get to benefit, too.

Naymz – another online opportunity

Coaching

Today I investigate Naymz, another opportunity to make information available online.

This is not a five minute job! I complete a profile and add links to my LinkedIn account, my blog, my Twitter account – oh! and not to mention my company website. It takes 40 minutes or so.

One feature makes life easy: it takes next to nothing to send out invitations to those people with whom I am already linked in. Another defeats me – at least for now: having added all the links I mention above, how do I go the next step and create the link necessary to show my recent Twitter activity on my profile page? I decide to leave this one – at least for now.

Making the most of your e-mail signature

Coaching

Well, now that I’ve signed up to Twitter and learned to create a hyperlink, surely it’s time to make the most of my e-mail signature as a way to let everyone know. Come to that, I’ve been blogging for over a year now and have yet to highlight this at the bottom of my e-mails.

Today I add two hyperlinks to my e-mail signature so that people can see I am on Twitter and have a blog. And by the use of the hyperlink I have made it easy for people to go directly to each one.

This experience is a reminder of the way technology is the great enabler. It took me five minutes to edit my e-mail signature and having done that, this information will automatically appear at the bottom of every e-mail I send out.

Writing this blog posting – which I hope will benefit others who, like me, are seeking to create a visible online presence – did not take much longer.

Choosing your professional coaching training

Coaching,

There’s a question I get asked (in various forms) so often that it’s time for me to write about it on my blog: what training courses do you recommend for me to develop my coaching skills?

Of course, the answer depends largely on your response to a further question: what do you want to gain from the training programme you choose? In the main, the people I field questions from are looking for a professional coach training – one that will get them on the road to becoming a professional coach or one which will help them further to develop skills they are already using professionally.

This in turn raises another question: are you planning to pursue professional accreditation and if so, with what body? The field of professional accreditation is highly diverse and often confusing – a reflection, perhaps, of coaching’s current status as a young and emerging profession. I ask this question ahead of time because some programmes are accredited by the accrediting bodies. This suggests a mark of quality and also plays a role further down the line. For example, the International Coach Federation accredits programmes (as Accredited Coach Training Programs or ACTP, for example) and offers an optional accreditation route for graduates of these programmes which is different to that offered to others. Given the highly fractured nature of coaching accreditation in the UK and the international nature of coaching I opted to pursue accreditation with the International Coach Federation.

There are many other questions to consider. For example, is it enough to go for a “generic” programme or do you want to choose one which focuses on your own coaching specialism (“executive” or “life” coaching, for example)? I have taken the view that all coaches, no matter what their specialism, have core skills in common and this is reflected in the programmes I recommend below. So, here are some thoughts about specific programmes.

Firstly, I took my own training with ITS. This was a comprehensive NLP-based training – you don’t get to graduate from the coaching programme without first achieving your certified NLP Practitioner and Master Practitioner status. It’s a mark of the value that NLP can add that many experienced coaches include training on these programmes as part of their continuing investment in their professional development. I can recommend this path highly based on my own experience.

Secondly, not least because they were early into the market, the Coaches Training Institute has trained many great coaches, including my own. Even if you don’t take their training, it is based on thinking and approaches which permeates many coach trainings.

One coaching programme which has caught my attention is run by Coaching Development. Its founders, Philip Brew and Colin Brett, set out to raise the bar in training coaches and I’ve noticed that it’s been highly recommended both by newcomers to the profession and by experienced coaches who have opted to follow the course.

One further programme is run in the US by Coaching That Works. I mention this programme because of my interest in Nonviolent Communication. Martha Lasley, who designed the programme, has based this programme on NVC principles. All the programmes I mention in this posting are ICF-accredited programmes.

Perhaps it’s worth adding that, with such a large and growing market, this posting is simply scratching the surface of a large topic and reflects my own choices and experience. This can lead some people to ask: how do I begin to choose? So my final remark is this: whatever you choose will be a step in the right direction rather than your final destination. If you’re serious about offering a high standard of coaching to your clients, you will continue to invest in your development as a professional coach and will no doubt choose to take part in further programmes along the way.