Your Coaching Journey

'Every coach needs a coach' is one of those statements that does the rounds from time to time. It is frequently seen on social media feeds and is more often than not asserted as an absolute truth.    Obviously, coaches who coach coaches have a vested interest in spreading this view and so we thought we would explore the notion, give the topic a good airing and share our thoughts on the podcast.   ...

We have explored the theory of Transactional Analysis (TA) in a previous episode, and have also spent time on other episodes discussing the Drama Triangle and the Parent, Adult, Child models that stem from TA.    In this episode we dive a little deeper into another theory that stems from the world of TA, the theory of Drivers. You will already be familiar with a couple of the psychological drivers...

This week, we've taken the opportunity to share a podcast that was recorded 3 years ago, when our own podcast was still a gangly youth.    Tom was invited on to the marvellous Rachel Morris's 'You Are Not a Frog Podcast' and had a conversation with Rachel about the different coaching approaches that exist.    In this hour-long episode Tom and Rachel explore the benefits of coaching and how wonderf...

What sort of coach are you?   Whether it's your marketing, how you describe yourself on your website, or applying for personal accreditation, we thought it might be useful to understand the term 'Executive Coaching'.   In this episode we explore executive coaching from a couple of perspectives, what it entails and why you might want to engage with it as a title. Enjoy the podcast? If you're enjoyi...

An essential part of learning to coach is practicing the skills of coaching. Delegates on our Doctors' Transformational Coaching Diploma often ask us how they can find some practice clients.   We have ways of attracting practice clients for our students, but when they're looking to boost their hours, we offer our advice on finding their own.   In this episode,we thought we would share this advice...

Join us for a celebratory conversation in which we share our reflections on the last 5 years of engaging with our wonderful coaching doctors on the Doctors' Transformational Coaching Diploma programme.    We have much to celebrate, although there won't be any fanfares, party poppers or marching bands. Sorry to disappoint. There'll Just be a celebratory cup of tea and a good old chat about what run...

We began our exploration of Neurodiversity in Coaching in episode 146, with a bit of an introduction to the topic and the terminology around both neurodiversity and neurodivergence.    Today we want to venture a little deeper into one particular neurodivergence - ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder to give it its full title. ADHD is a phenomenon that is receiving increasing attention...

We have discussed both presence and absence in the coaching room in previous episodes, and today we want to venture a little deeper around the concept of presence in coaching.    We all know when we have experienced someone who is fully present for us; someone who has listened and allowed us to feel heard and understood.    Presence makes a difference.    We will all have also experienced times wh...

What have the Stoics ever done for us?   Well apart from aqueducts, wine, irrigation, sanitation, the roads, medicine, public order and the baths, the Stoics also gave us a few different ways of thinking about events that we have no control over.    The Roman stoics, Seneca and Marcus Aureleus and the Greek stoics, Zeno of Citium and Epictetus, along with a few other philosophers, used their ancie...

Positive Psychology is a popular coaching approach with the doctors on our transformational coaching diploma. It feels uplifting to coach using positive psychology, but there is much more to the approach than just inviting people to smile more and see put a more optimistic spin on events.    We've talked about Positive Psychology in previous episodes, and in this episode we dedicated to explore in...

A topic that is frequently brought to the coaching room in one guise or another is work-life balance. So, we're questioning to what extent work-life balance really exists and if we're working with someone who brings this to coaching, how do we support them in moving towards achieving more balance in their life.    Join us in this episode as we explore what approaches and which tools could be usefu...

In this episode we are exploring  four different psychological phenomena that might just show up in the coaching room.    They are concepts that originate in the world of psychoanalysis and therapy, and whilst their presence may well have been seen as problematic, they are also commonly occurring  phenomena for ordinary people and information for us in the coaching room.     The four concepts that...

Whether you are with your coachee or not when you're coaching them will depend on a number of variables, but there's a good chance these days that you are more likely to be in a virtual coaching room than sitting face to face with your coachee. Some telephone coaching still happens but not so much, these days.  In this episode, we discuss the pros and cons of both ways of working, and some things...

If you're talking to coachees about their role, their career or their work colleagues, you may find that they have quite narrow ways of viewing what works and what doesn't work in their team.    They may view the way they go about things as the right way and can't understand why other team members don't just behave in the way that they do. They may express concern, or frustration, at their team me...

As transformational coaches we very much focus on self-exploration and self-acceptance for the coachee; challenging their current thinking and helping them explore new perspectives; supporting them in finding new ways to go about doing things and encouraging them to become more who they really are.    That said, sometimes coachees may want to work towards a specific tangible goal, develop a realis...

Hope is one of the 24 VIA Character Strengths identified by Martin Seligman and Chris Peterson back in 2004 and included in the Values in Action inventory that they created.    In this episode we explore how Seligman and Peterson defined Hope. We also introduce Rick Snyder's 'Hope Theory' and discuss other ways that we might consider the concept and how it relates to coaching.    Tom provides a ve...

Back in Episode 132 we revisited some of the tools that we had already explored on earlier episodes of the podcast. That episode went down very well, particularly among our own alumni, who found the episode to be a wonderful reminder of some of the tools that they learned on our Doctors' Transformational Coaching Diploma.    In looking back we realised that we've explored around 30 different tools...

When it comes to the way that coaching is approached and then discussed, there have traditionally been four different discourses that have become embedded in the coaching world. Simon Western, a leadership and coaching academic, identified the four discourses back in 2016 as being: -   The Managerial approach The Psychological approach The Soul Guide approach The Network approach   In this episode...

It is said that you can't manage time, you can only manage yourself, but we know that some topics brought to the coaching room, like overwhelm, making difficult decisions, unrealistic expectations, and boundaries, can often look like a time management issue.    In this episode we talk through how we might help someone in the coaching space, and explore two activities that might be useful to undert...

We love the broad spectrum of doctors that come through our coaching programme. In this episode, Helen is chatting to Dr Lisa Clift who has a background in Paediatrics and General Practice. Lisa now splits her time between roles as a doctor in adult prisons and children's secure homes, and her work in a private Lifestyle and Obesity Clinic.     Join Helen and Lisa on this episode of the programme...

Coaching conversations are a great space in which to support individuals in engaging in a spot of meta-cognition; doing a little thinking about their thinking. With a little help, our coachees can explore their potentially unhelpful thinking around a scenario that is proving difficult for them.    There are different ways of approaching such situations and various tools that we can utilise, as coa...

When coachees are facing difficulties in their work or home lives it's easy for them to spend their time in the coaching room in problem-talk. They often speak from a place of helplessness and a lack of resources. Using a strengths based approach can allow a coachee to connect with their own inner resources, and some external resources too, to allow them to think through their situation, find thei...

In this week's episode we begin what will be a much wider exploration of neurodiversity in the coaching arena and will start with some basics.   Join us as we explore some of the history of the concepts  of neurodiversity and neurodivergence and the evolution of the nuanced terminology that can lead to some confusion around the topic. We also start to think about what neurodiversity means to us as...

A model from the 1970s, Egan's Skilled Helper Model (ESHM) is often taught on mentoring training courses, and many of our coaching doctors have come across it from such training.    Having evolved from the therapeutic space ESHM sits well within the coaching environment and has some interesting elements to explore.   Join us in this episode as we explore the ESHM model, its benefits and its limita...

Whilst many of our coaching doctors are GPs, the students on our Transformational Coaching Diploma come from all areas of medicine. In this episode Helen catches up with Dr Montio Morgan, a consultant ENT surgeon who is a part of the coaching network within her trust.   Montio has been a doctor for 35 years and a consultant ENT surgeon for 23 years. A mum of two adult children, she is thoroughly e...