I write to you with a new spring in my step.

Coaching is my passion and so it has been natural to committed myself to it over many years since my discovery of it. Some 12 years have passed since that time and my continued growth and development in this industry continue to pay wonderful dividends in the organisations we work with and the leaders we are lucky enough to interact with.

As you know we have sought to align our coaching company with the International Coach Federation (ICF) as we feel that this delivers a number of key benefits to our current and future clients looking to use us.

These are;

• Enhances credibility of coaching as a professional development tool
• It reassures clients that we are experienced and professional coaches.
• Demonstrates we have high professional standards.
• Shows we stand by a strong code of ethics.
• Confirm we have both high levels of coaching knowledge and skill.
• Illustrate that we take ongoing professional development seriously
•  

According to a recent ICF survey conducted by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, over half of organisations using coaching request to use a coach with credentials and this expects to grow as coaching develops around the world.

So it is with pride and pleasure that I inform you that I have now attained the credential of PCC (Professional Certified Coach), a credential that ICF see as a mark of a strong and proven coach.

We see this as another way that we are seeking to deliver powerful and impactful coaching to our clients

Best regards

Nic

As Executive Coaching in the Middle East is still a fairly new offering, corporate organisations are still relatively unsure of how to be certain the Executive Coach you are looking to hire is a qualified professional.

So included here are some of the recommended steps to take when seeking a professional executive coach to work with your top management;

1. Governing Bodies of Coaching; There are a number of governing bodies for coaching globally and regionally. Of these the  best know and most respected are;

·        The International Coach Federation (ICF). The ICF exists to Build, Support and Preserve the integrity of the coaching profession through programs and standards supported by the individual membership. It is based in the US and is the most known and integrated global body for coaching today.

·        European Mentoring & Coaching Council (EMCC). EMCC exists to promote good practice and the expectation of good practice in mentoring and coaching across Europe. This regional body is primarily effective in the European area.

The main value these bodies offer is in setting and maintaining minimum standards of industry specific qualifications, experience and professionalism. Members of these organizations must agree to operate to a Code of Ethic’s and this gives companies & individuals some level of piece of mind in the selection of a coach.
 

2. Coaching Qualifications; There are many organisations all over the world offering coaching courses these days. Sadly not all of these courses offer the depth and knowledge really required to be effective in today’s coaching environment. To know that your coach has achieved a recognised level of coaching qualification you must know if this is recognised by a reputable governing body, such as ICF.  

3. Coaching Credentials; So we now know if the coach has received a minimum level of coaching qualification but how do we know if that knowledge has been developed through constant and continuous education in the latest coaching perspectives, or through professional practice of those skills in a working environment. The answer is by looking at their coaching credentials that are offered and supported by key governing bodies. Current ICF credentials are;
   • ACC (Associate Certified Coach)
   • PCC (Professional Certified Coach)
   • MCC (Master Certified Coach)

These credentials mean you are dealing with someone who has an on going, professional involvement with coaching at the highest ethical and experiential level.

To know more visit the ICF website at www.coachfederation.org

Onward for here other factors that will need to be taken into account to make sure you have the right coach for the right client are compatibility, chemistry, specific knowledge, experience etc

At Woodthorpe Wright Associates we only use coaches that have an ICF recognised qualification and who support that with extensive knowledge and experience within the coaching industry.

1. Current leaders are being stretched to maximise the growth and profits of companies. (i.e. pressure on the individuals to deliver)
2. Companies are active in sourcing talent from other companies in similar industries to sustain this growth. (i.e. pressure on companies to hold onto the top performers)

Today I was lucky enough to see a presentation by a gentleman that ran the whole length of the Great Wall of China.  He and his friend ran the equivalent of a marathon every day, that is roughly 42km's or 24miles for those that have never had the challenge of running a single marathon, every day except 1 rest day a week for the period of roughly 4 months!!!

The Great Wall is about 4000km long and one of the great wonders of the world, running through many different terrains including desert and even mountains.

It firstly blows my mind that someone could think of running that distance in such a time span and having done a marathon some years ago I am in awe of the unbelievable committment to the dream. The inspiration? Well while watching a 50th anniversary celebrations of the conquering of Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary on TV, David Grier (the man that did the running!) recalled seeing Sir Edmund pointing at the mountain and saying "That is my Everest...I challenge you to go out and find yours"

There were 2 key points that really struck me from his presentation.

1. Its about the journey not the destination. It is how we experience the journey every step of the way that has the biggest impact on our lives. The goal is relevent but if we focus purely on it we will miss the opportunity to deepen our awareness and life experience across the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of ourselves. In essense we miss out on the real juice of life.

2. You have to CHANGE! If you try to avoid it you will be the one that come off the worst. Change is imminent so know that what you have, know and do today has a high probability of being something else tomorrow. Resistence will only work against you. As an executive coach in Dubai you would think that I would have this point well and truely understood but even today I realised that it is so easy to fight simple change, in the belief that I know better! So make sure you are not fooling yourselves and just playing lip service to change.

So finally I too am now inspired to go and seek out my Everest, to deepen the experience of my journey...what will you do?

Our traditional view point of self confidence is that leader’s/winner’s have it in unstoppable quantities while those that are struggling are severely lacking in it.

However, I frequently come across senior leaders that will tell me they lack confidence in certain areas and without it they are finding it difficult to move forward. In essence they feel stuck and in some more serious cases they feel overloaded, highly stress and without any sense of control.

The bottom line is that the level of confidence can be directly related to the clarity we feel in these areas. When our view of the future is unclear or hazy we find ourselves holding back and being unsure of what to do or say. We question ourselves and this can set of and chain reaction that rocks the foundation of confidence.

Coaching is powerful in helping the client to address the clarity of situations that previously acted like blocks or hurdles in the way of forward movement and greater success. Once we know what we want and can see it clearly, we engage our knowledge, experience and skill moving us forward and reconnecting us with our confidence.