Do you want to hear my coaching secrets?

I was delighted and honoured when Karen Williams of Self Discovery Coaching asked to interview me for her book "The Secrets of Successful Coaches", especially when she included me in the company of several other coaches whom I personally admire and find inspiring: Michael Neill, Suzy Greaves, Allison Marlowe, Duncan Brodie, Steve Marriott, and Suparna…

Coaching Tip – Increasing Creativity

“Imagination is more important than knowledge”- Albert Einstein Many clients often express a desire to develop personal creativity. The pressures of living on a day-to-day treadmill may mean that time is spent in coping with demands rather than reflecting in a creative way. The following are a series of activities that a client can engage…

A creative use of the SWOT Analysis in Coaching

The SWOT analysis is usually used as a tool for decision-making in business. The acronym stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats and originated from research undertaken at the Stanford Research Institute in the 1960’s (Feisher, C, Bensoussan, B, 2002) The SWOT analysis is often used to help individuals consider the current position of the…

The relevance of CBC in the small business world

I recently received a question as a comment to an earlier post and, rather than keep it buried there, am posting both question and my reply as a separate post here. “I am interested to understand the extent to which CBT and cognitive behavioural coaching is relevant in the world of small business. My experience…

Conclusions About CBC

CBC can be used as a main approach to coaching an individual or as part of another approach.  A number of coaches who do not identify themselves as being cognitive behavioural use many of the skills and techniques from this approach in their work due to their effectiveness. Some do not subscribe to the CBC…

Case Study – Communication

James, a senior director in an international financial services group responsible for structured finance execution, was referred for coaching by his line manager. Although he was seen as being technically able, he came  across as cold and disinterested, and this had had a negative impact on the people he met. One of the objectives of…

The Challenges of Cognitive Behavioural Coaching

In CBC there are three types of challenges that are used to help the client re-evaluate their thinking. 1. Empirical/evidence based “Where is the evidence that you must not make a mistake otherwise you are a failure?” 2. Logical “Just because you would like never to make a mistake how does it logically follow that…

CBC Case Study – Change

Simon was the branch director of a group of 45 London branches of a major retail financial services organisation.  He had previously successfully managed a smaller group of 30 branches in the South East and this had led to his recent promotion. Since Simon’s appointment, a major restructuring programme had been announced, leading to the…

Identifying Cognitive Distortions

In CBC, emphasis is put on identification of self-defeating thinking and thoughts are elicited by using tools such as a ‘thoughts record form’ where the individual is taught how to identify his or her thinking style. The individual is also asked to begin to identify the types of cognitive distortions they engage in which colour…

CBC Case Study – Confidence

Michael was the director of strategy, and a board member of a prestigious city institution.  He had instigated a number of projects that were regarded as being of signifcant benefit to the business. However, he had found that his positive start was now being undermined by an inconsistency in his approach. Although successful, he believed…