Taking control of your own professionalisation
Part 1 - The journey begins
With a short series of articles, I would like to share the experiences from my coaching training with you in the coming months. What made me decide to take a coaching training? What were my experiences during the training?
My first encounter with coaching training was during an internship when I was a student. A personnel developer told me about his findings and how much they helped him in his work. This aroused my curiosity and led to my interest in becoming more intensively involved with coaching.
What does coaching mean? Definitions abound and one is given by Passmore and Fillery-Travis (2011): "A dialogue between a coach and a coachee based on the Socratic method and directed toward the future, in which the coach employs open-ended questions, active listening, summaries, and reflections aimed at stimulating the coachee's self-knowledge and ownership".
In companies, coaching is used as a tool to develop and support people. Increasingly, managers are familiarizing themselves in training sessions with an more and more important perspective: The manager as coach. In trainings and in consulting I have already accompanied many people in their development. My goal now is to consolidate the right mindset and to expand my repertoire of tools so that I can support people even better in their self-reflection and their access to their own resources. My aspiration is to really make a difference in the other person's life, which will help them in their progress. Through the training I would like to reach a higher level of professionalisation to ensure sustainable effectiveness in coaching and consulting.
Henley Business School as a suitable partner
The Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching at Henley Business School seemed particularly suitable to me. The reasons for choosing Henley were, in addition to the common criteria, the high standard of quality, the appreciative consultation beforehand, the possibility of subsequent certification with the International Coaching Federation (ICF), the proximity to the business world as well as the international group of participants and the network that can develop from this.
Module 1 - Align the compass
Very excited and full of expectations I went into the first module. They were met to my complete satisfaction. Two remarkable coaches led us through the topics and exercises of the online event. They challenged us to step out of our comfort zone and certainly stimulated everyone to self-reflection.
The online module was a successful combination of theory, implementation and variety of methods. The contents were versatile. Among other things, the interventions according to Heron and the GROW model (J. Withmore) were very helpful in strengthening one's own actions. Even familiar contents were deepened and discussed in such a way that their more conscious use will bring significant added value. An aha-experience was to deal with active listening once again. As a trainer, I have worked a lot with this topic in terms of content, and yet I think I have to keep reminding myself to be very present in the here and now with the conversation partner. The theory was discussed together and could still be applied in practical exercises such as individual coaching during the training and transfer phase. The combination of implementation, own reflection and the feedback from the others was invaluable.
The conscious pausing and reflection on strengths and areas of development, but also on one's own experience of conversations, leaves a lasting impression. It is good to observe oneself in a guided reflection without evaluations and to deal with the alignment of one's own compass.
Our group consisted of people from a wide range of industries (e.g. executives, HR managers, consultants and coaches) who were willing to learn and were warm-hearted. Initial contacts were formed right from the beginning. I am very motivated and look forward to further exciting content in the modules, intensive work on myself and further exchange with my inspiring fellow students and coaches.
