In this issue
Features
Coaching below the surface: enhancing organisational leadership
Kim Turnbull James on a systemic approach to leadership
BRIEF coaching: a solution focused approach
Co-founders of BRIEF, Chris Iveson, Evan George and Harvey Ratner explain the working model in practice
Out of the dark and into the light
Transformational coaching in a women’s refuge. Lynda Freeman
A serious profession
The importance of getting neuroscience into the foundations of executive coaching. Dr Paul Brown
Regulars
Message from the chair
In focus
Executive Head of Diversity, Gill Fennings-Monkman
A day in the life
Coach and trainer Aboodi Shabi
On the coach
Linda Aspey in conversation with Julie Hay
Research
Articles from this issue are not yet available online. Divisional members and subscribers can download the pdf from the Coaching Today archive.
Editorial
As I write this, most of the UK is basking in unseasonably warm sunshine, and it makes me wonder what kind of weather we will all be enjoying (or not) by the time this issue is published in little over six weeks’ time. The unpredictability of our weather is something of a national obsession and small wonder, when it can have such an impact on our work, our leisure time and our mood. Our best-laid plans are often subject to last-minute change due to an unexpected snowstorm, shower or heatwave, and once again we are reminded that change is the only constant and that uncertainty is really the only thing we can ever be certain of.
Following the recent resignation of former Chair of BACP Coaching, Linda Aspey, Jo Birch in her capacity as current Chair of the division, explores this notion of coping with the unexpected in her new regular column – a piece she delivered literally hours before catching a flight to Mongolia, where she will be living and working for the next eight months. I am delighted to have Jo on board as series editor for our new ‘Thinking Global’ series, launching in our summer issue. In the meantime, I am also delighted to welcome outgoing Chair Linda on board as our regular columnist for our new Coaching Today interview series, ‘On The Coach’. You can read Linda’s interview with Julie Hay in this issue.
Shifting landscapes are also something of a theme in our feature ‘Coaching below the surface’ in which Professor of Executive Learning at Cranfield School of Management, Kim Turnbull James, suggests that a systemic approach to leadership coaching can help organisations be more responsive to the challenges of leading in an age of uncertainty. In another exclusive feature, Dr Paul Brown argues for the adoption of neuroscience within executive coaching if the profession is to have a long-term future. Art meets science in a creative approach to goal-setting with the BRIEF solution focused method, illustrated by the authors of the recently published Brief Coaching, while in a poignant and inspiring article, coach Lynda Freeman describes her experience of working with a group who are all too familiar with uncertainty – that of vulnerable and abused women in refuge.
With further regular features from members of our executive team, including a new ‘In Focus’ series and a research column by Barry McInnes, you will see that there have also been some shifts between the launch edition of our journal and this one. I want to thank you for all of your comments and feedback on the first issue (a selection of which are published in our Letters page) and please do keep writing in to let me know what you think, and keep your ideas coming. You can contact me at the email address below.
Here’s to navigating those shifting sands as we celebrate spring and move into summer…
Diane Parker
Editor
editorial@bacpcoaching.co.uk