The Association for Coaching

At this risk of sounding a bit pompus, I decided that this year I wanted to give something back to the profession that has put food on my table these past ten years. I have joined the Communication Committee of the Association for Coaching (AC).

I attended my first meeting in London last week, and had a great time – thanks everyone!

The ACs flagship event of the year is the annual conference which this year is themed “Going Global”.

Going Global 2010

Here’s what it says on the website:

‘Professional Coaching comes of age’

‘Going Global 2010’ will expand our thinking and build upon the principles and cornerstone of coaching as the profession, organisations, leaders and their people emerge from a significantly challenging time.’

Following the success of past Association for Coaching (AC) conferences, this 4th International conference being held in London on the 11th and 12th March 2010 at the 4.5 star Victoria Park Plaza, will celebrate where coaching is now at – emerging into a truly global profession.

Going Global 2010 promises some of the most powerful and challenging speakers in coaching, while giving you the opportunity to master your coaching skills and connect with peers and other movers and shakers of the coaching world – whether you are an experienced professional coach, a buyer or sponsor of coaching, a leader looking to advance your coaching skills and professional development, or an organisation using internal/external coaching for executive /staff development.

Feedback from past delegates (all previous AC conferences have sold out) has shown that this bi-annual event is known to provide a stimulating and challenging learning environment, that connects the industry, and is both fun and inspiring. We look forward to seeing you there!

“Going Global 2010 will hallmark where coaching has now moved to in our evolutionary growth – one that is credible, collaborative and purposeful – and is starting to make a greater difference in the world in which we live/work!”

– Katherine Tulpa, CEO, Association for Coaching

Unfortuantely a clash of schedules prevents me attending this year, but I’m happy to chat to anyone trying to decide whether or not to attend

The two sides of service

What was sir expecting?

I was on my travels again last week. On Thursday I was speaking at the Chartered Management Institute annual conference in Leicester. As I was travelling on to London the next day, the CMI very kindly arranged for me to stay at the local Lenny Henry Inn (Names have been changed to protect the innocent, but UK television viewers will know the chain concerned).

The lovely Carla checked me in and this delightful woman couldn’t have been more helpful if she tried. First off we discovered that her system did not show me booked in for dinner as part of the deal. “No matter”, said Carla, “we deal with the CMI all the time, so I’ll give you a voucher and I’ll sort it out with them tomorrow. You just go and relax.”

“Wow, thanks,” said I. “Could I get and Iron and ironing board as well? I need to iron a shirt.”

“You can”, replied Carla, “but if it’s just a shirt, Ican do it for you.”

I declined, but what a service!

Unfortunately my experience when I booked into a hotel in London the next day couldn’t be more different.

Again I won’t name names but it rhymes the Pravel Hodge

Want to check in before 3pm? £10. Want to check out after 9am? £10. Want us to mind your luggage? £5. Want to come down six floors to borrow an iron? 30 minutes max, then a £5 penalty. What next? Want a bed……? I spent most of my stay holding my breath for fear I’d be charged for inhaling!

Now, I understand low-cost business models, but I object when people are just taking the Mickey. I was also intrigued to notice how much time reception staff spent explaining these ridiculous charges to disgruntled guests. Surely the cost of their time far exceeds any income generated by early check-in fees or left luggage charges.

From now on I shall vote with my wallet and would advise you to do the same!

7 more coaches for 2009

Looks like Speed Coaching

Ran my final course for 2009 last week. As is now customary I post here the participants’ learning objectives with my final thoughts. Names have been cunningly disguised.

Luke            Coaching within remote management

Coaching helps with managing remotely in two ways. Firstly by giving a structure to conduct conversations over the phone with an emphasis on taking action (Way Forward) and secondly by getting maximum value from any face to face meetings that you do manage to have.

Leia           Coaching around resistance to change

People only resist change when they cannot see “What’s in it for me?” you can now use coaching to explore people’s reasons for resisting change and help them discover (become aware of) the benefits of changing for themselves (choose responsibility)

Han             A refresher

I hope you left feeling refreshed! And with some wider and deeper insights into coaching

Ben             Formalising prior learning and coaching without expertise

You need expertise to teach; but not to coach. As long as your people have the expertise, you can use coaching to help them use it to best effect.

Lando           Coaching for support

Coaching is not in any way limited to a boss-subordinate relationship. As David’s PA I think you have a unique chance to coach at NCFE, free from some of the other issues that come with the line management relationship.

Artoo         Coaching as part of line management

In the end it’s about managing resources (time, money, etc) and coaching people. I hope the light bulb is still burning brightly

Darth                 Coaching to get the best ‘out’ of people

Coaching is about helping someone to get the best performance out of themselves – the potential for which was always there. Coaching is about supporting the release of that potential.

Our first coaching skills training programme for 2010 runs on 13-14 January at the Redworth Hall Hotel, Newton Aycliffe, UK. For more details Click Here.

CMI Scottish Conference 2009

What do you notice about the ball?

My thanks to the organisers of this year’s Chartered Management Institute Scottish Conference. I had the final plenary slot in which I delivered my talk ‘Coaching for the Recovery’.

My feeling is that current economic circumstances are forcing us to acknowledge what we should have been doing for years: moving some of the responsibility for learning and development from HR to Line Management. The advantages of so doingare that we can:

• Replace formal training with ‘on-the-job’ coaching

• Develop people every working day (coaches and coachees)

• Achieve the same results with fewer resources

• Improve quality and lessen mistakes and wastage

• Ensure learning is derived from every experience

• Demonstrate your commitment to your current staff

• Help those that have left or need to leave

From this strategic point my talk moved onto specific tactics that managers can employ to incorporate coaching techniques into their management style. We threw some juggling balls, ‘interfered’ with each other and gave away some books. All good fun and useful too I hope.

If anyone reading this would like the slides from the talk, please just leave a comment or drop me a line at matt@mattsomers.com

More managers that coach

I don't know, you tell me!

We ran our core programme, Coaching at Work for a client of ours last week. I once again record here the participants’ Personal Learning Objectives along with my closing comments.

Names have been changed to protect the innocent but I’ll send a free paper, Coaching for an Easier Life, for anyone who spots where I’ve got the replacement names from. Just leave a comment.

Foster                Something of a refresher

I hope it was! Coaching is certainly a skill that we can all benefit from revisiting from time to time.

Brown               Find something new within coaching

You mentioned the ‘Aims Cake’ specifically and I hope there were other areas that enabled you to build on what you knew already.

Upson      Coaching for motivation

In the end people can only motivate themselves. As a leader the best we can do is to create the circumstances that give the best chance of that happening. However a coaching conversation will quickly reveal sources of demotivation.

Lescott             Coaching to get ready for change

People will change when they:

•    Believe they can
•    Value the outcome
•    Are willing to try

And coaching is the best way of exploring these areas

Bridge             Coaching vs Line Management

I believe that people are inherently unmanageable. You can manage budgets and systems but not people. Coaching is the way to have people taking ownership and responsibility within the team, leaving you with more time to ‘manage’ in the traditional sense.

Wright-Phillips              Coaching for empowerment

You cannot give people empowerment; but they can feel empowered. This is about focusing on the Responsibility principle and being quite tough to begin with at the Options and Way Forward stages.

Barry             Coaching as opposed to carrot and stick

The carrot and stick is useful for donkeys but not much else! On a serious note, whilst the carrot and stick may get you a result in the short term its unlikely to endure and may end up causing resentment over time.

Jenas            Coaching for focus

Focus follows awareness. Ask me questions that get me more aware of my situation and my mind will naturally find the right things to focus on. Remember Catherine and the ball catching.

Milner                Coaching as part of line management

Once again: manage things; coach people

Rooney                See coaching from a different perspective

There are any numbers of different ways to coach. My models and things are but one way and I hope our training has added to what you’d learnt and experienced elsewhere.

Bent             Coaching for answers

Clearly we can’t coach out of people that which isn’t there, but through careful use of the Options stage we really can tap into people’s creative juices and dramatically increase the chances of them coming up with their own solutions.

That was the week that was

Last Sunday I hopped on a train and headed south for a week’s worth of activity in my old stamping ground of central London. ‘Twas a most interesting week for a variety of reasons and I wanted to record my thoughts and ideas here.

On Monday I delivered our workshop The Inner Game of Presenting. Our client was keen that we put together a programme that did not mean the participants having to make an actual presentation as part of the training. Quite a challenge and so I decided to work with my colleague Fiona Francis who is a corporate actor. Fiona was able to model the behaviours of a hapless presenter and then, with ongoing feedback and coaching from the group, gradually develop an effective presentation style. It proved to be a great learning experience and the feedback was quite amazing. (By the way the distance learning workbook on which this training was based is available at http://beyourownpresentationcoach.mattsomers.com/)

Tuesday had me delivering as session as part of the CIPD’s Coaching Across Teams and Cultures event. It was funny going from talking about making a presentation to having to make one myself, and I was aware of having picked up some really good tips from the previous day. The session was well received and generated some good debate on the move from coaching one on one to coaching in groups or teams. There was a great question on coaching virtual teams and I’ve produced an article on the subject which I’ve posted here too. If anyone would like the slides and accompanying notes, just email

The British Library

me or leave a comment.

Wednesday was a day of meetings and – not having any Central London premises – I was in need of a base. In the end I settled on The British Library on Euston Road with it’s combination of decent coffee, outstanding cake and free Wi-fi. I didn’t want to run my meetings in Starbucks but there were plenty of people that were. There were laptops and ringbinders everywhere and it was clear that many of the people participating in these meetings were from offices along the street. I guess meetings done this way will become more and more popular given that the chances securing a meeting room in most offices are about the same as winning the lottery.

Speaking of which, on Thursday I found myself on an upper floor of a building near Canary Wharf conducting a follow up day for a cleint of ours who had done Coaching at Work in the summer. Glorious views and little sign that the Credit Crunch had turned the finacial sector into a ghost town.

So, by now it’s Friday and another version of The Inner Game of Presenting.This version was for participants comfortable in delivering a mock presentation and the coaching from me and the rest of the group proved really effective in getting folks ready for when they have to do it for real.

With that done,  I threw myself at the mercy of the rail network and trundled back to North East England, tired but with a sense of accomplishment and a slice of British Library cake wrapped in a serviette!

Are you bright enough to figure it out?

I placed the following puzzle in my newsletter and put the answers here so people couldn’t cheat just by scrolling down. To subscribe to my newsletter please register at www.mattsomers.com.

What do the following words have in common?

1. Banana
2. Dresser
3. Grammar
4. Potato
5. Revive
6. Uneven
7. Assess

confused monkey

No, it is not that they all have at least two double letters….

GWB

still confused

Answer: In all of the words listed, if you take the first letter, place it at the end of the word, and then spell the word backwards, it will be the same word!

Well I think it’s interesting and no, I couldn’t figure it out the first time either.

More coaches……

On your marks, get set.....

We ran our core programme, Coaching at Work again this week. Here are the participants’ Personal Learning Objectives along with my closing comments.

Names have been changed to protect the innocent but I’ll send a free paper, Coaching for an Easier Life, for anyone who spots where I’ve got the replacement names from. Just leave a comment.

Jack: Coaching for the development and motivation of Team Leaders

I hope that you feel that you’ve learnt enough to pass on to your Team Leaders. Actually one of the best ways of reinforcing things that you learn on a course is to try to teach them to other people. I recommend that you cover PERFORMANCE = Potential minus Interference and the Performance, Learning and Enjoyment triangle in the first instance.

Kate: Coaching for thoroughness

The simple coaching question here is “How thoroughly can you do this?” As people figure out the answer, they naturally and automatically discover ways of being more thorough. Magic!!

Sayid: Coaching for self….then team

I think it was Gandhi who said “If we want to change the World with whom should we start, ourselves or others?” (but he did only make one film!)

Hugo: Coaching for proactivity

This is about our second key principle of Responsibility. It’s about getting people to choose to be proactive rather than trying to make them proactive. In turn this is about creating an interest in the benefits of the proactive approach knowing now that focus follows interest.

Sun: Coaching for “Emotional Intelligence”

The term itself was brought to our attention by Daniel Goleman, with his book ‘Emotional Intelligence and Primal Leadership’ in 1995. Essentially it’s about being aware of your own emotions as well as the emotions of those around you, understanding how those emotions impact on behaviour and learning how to adapt your behaviour to achieve the desired outcome.

What better way than coaching, with its emphasis on the raising of non judgemental awareness, to get people in touch with these things?

Aaron: Coaching through challenging times

There are few more challenging times than helping people come to terms with possible or actual job loss. Just remember that some people and organisations pay an absolute fortune to outpalcement organisations for career coaching. You now have the ability to provide real, meaningful support to people facing this major change. You might not be able to stop the waves, but you sure can help them surf!

All change!

Been a while since I’ve posted as I’ve been very busy this summer making some changes in the business.

Firstly, we have moved offices. After 10 years at the Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) in Sunderland, I decided it was time for a change and we’re now based at The Old Brewery in Castle Eden.

The Old Brewery

So why the move after all that time?

Well it was certainly nothing to do with the level of service from the BIC which was always excellent. I don’t think my business would ever have taken root without their help and I would recommend that any new (or indeed existing business) based in the area check out their offering at www.ne-bic.co.uk

Coming here to The Old Brewery was more to do with creating a change in thinking. I was tired of getting in my car and undertaking the same journey each day. I was tired of waving at the same people as I arrived in the car park, much as I loved them all!

I felt my mind was getting stale and flabby and I wanted to shake things up.

My new office looks out on a leafy lane and  a golf course. There is an Italian restaurant on site which is lovely but I won’t be eating there very day for fear that my next blog post will be about gargantuan weight gain.

The second major change came about because my IT guru, Kris was moving on to pastures new. I was following the usual channels of talking to agencies to find a replacement when I friend of mine got in contact asking if I knew anyone with a vacancy for a marketing graduate.

I met with Ashley and offered her the role there and then. Being a graduate this summer must be pretty miserable I reckon and my own family is affected as my nephew and his girlfriend work hard to get themselves fixed up. Ashley had not a whiff of ‘victim’ about her though and was just keen to find something that would enable her to build her experience and strengthen her CV. I’m glad I had something to offer her.

So, we’ll unpack our crates and so on, then I’ll post again soon on all things coaching. I’m away on a business trip next week too, which means airports and planes and  a strong possibility therefore of some dreadful customer service for me to rant about when I get back.

Introducing Colin

Finding the right focus

Following my post ‘Focus’ the other week, many people got in touch asking about the back story behind the clip of this guy hitting a golf ball.

Here’s the link again if you need it.  www.mattsomers.com/mattgolf.htm

So….

Colin was a participant in our coaching skills training programme a year or so ago. Like many of our clients he was keen on discovering modern, up to date ways of getting results through people. He was finding that his tried and tested techniques of ‘command and control’ just weren’t working anymore.

We got to the stage of the course where I expose the limitations of an overly directive, telling style approach and begin instead to illustrate how a coaching approach based on questioning creates much more learning and insight. We were also discussing how a coach does not need to have any actual expertise in the subject on which they coach.

This was a step too far for Colin and he began to protest quite loudly. “That’s nonsense”, he said ” you must need to know what you’re talking about.  I can’t hit a golf ball to save my life,  so someone would have to teach me what to do. You couldn’t coach me through that!”

The clip – and here’s the link again www.mattsomers.com/mattgolf.htm – shows what happened next.