04: Coach Development, Self-awareness and the Concept of Self

In this podcast episode, Dr. Natalie Lancer hosts a discussion on the role of coach development, self-awareness and the concept of self in coaching. Dr. Julia Carden presents her research on self-awareness, distinguishing it from self-knowledge and self-consciousness. Heather Frost explores the concept of self, drawing on her doctoral research looking at 25 belief systems, highlighting its complexity and the practical impact of understanding a client’s concept of self. Dr Elizabeth Crosse details the three developmental strategies that emerged through her doctoral research: the craft, the being and the art of coaching.

We examine:

•     Why is self-awareness important for coaches?
•     What is the difference between self-awareness and the concept of self?
•     How are self-awareness, self-knowledge, and self-consciousness linked?
•     What are the challenges involved in demonstrating competency vs capacity development?
•     How can we utilise the coach’s and coachee’s self-awareness in coaching practice?
•     What do clients’ beliefs about self mean for how coaches tailor their coaching?
•     How can the three underpinnings of concept of self: stability vs instability, thoughts of self as a unique expression of me vs the self as an illusion, and unity versus multiplicity, be used to generate a concept of self scale?
•     How does understanding the concept of self increase the coach’s self awareness of beliefs and bias? And how can this benefit coaching outcomes?
•     What is the difference between Continuous Personal and Professional Development (CPPD) and Continuous Professional Development (CPD)?
•     Why is it more helpful to think of coach development as a learning journey than a linear progression?
•     How do we know what coaching development opportunities to invest in?
•     What are some practical ways to develop self-awareness?

Self-awareness enables coaches to forge deeper connections with clients and furthermore, it seems we can only take clients as far as we have gone ourselves. We discussed how a focus on preparing the self rather than content, allows coaches to trust their abilities and concentrate on other aspects of their practice. As we wrapped up the episode, the guests shared how engaging and reflecting in formal and informal professional and personal experiences have influenced their development. Our guests today are:

Dr Julia Carden is an accredited Master Practitioner Coach with the EMCC, a Professional Certified Coach with the ICF, an accredited coaching supervisor and is a Visiting Tutor at Henley Business School.  Julia was an officer in the Royal Navy, and then specialised in assessment and development centre work, and Learning and Development.  She fundamentally believes that as coaches we must first, and continue to do, the work on self – because who we are is how we coach.  This approach is underpinned by her PhD research which explored the role of self-awareness in the development of the coach. She is a NLP Master Practitioner, an accredited Time to Think Coach, a Fellow of the CIPD, and is licensed to use a range of psychometrics.  Julia completed the Henley MSc in Executive Coaching and Behavioural Change in 2014.  

Heather Frost is the Founder of People and Practice, Co-founder of Think Perspective, an accredited coach, Doctoral Researcher and Visiting Tutor at Henley Business School. She is a Henley accredited coach, an accredited Senior Practitioner with the European Coaching & Mentoring Council (EMCC Global), and an accredited Coach with the International Coaching Federation (ICF). Heather has over 20 years of global experience coaching individuals, teams, leaders, and organisations for systemic behaviour change and development. With an MSc in Coaching & Behaviour Change from Henley Business School (UK) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology (BPsych) with a minor in Philosophy from the University of Newcastle in Australia, she holds the Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching from Henley Business School (PCEC), and is also a Breakthrough Coaching Advanced Practitioner from WBECS (now coaching.com). 

Dr Elizabeth Crosse is a Master Certified Coach (MCC) and works as a coach, mentor and supervisor. Her practice focuses on Continuous Professional and Personal Development.  This has evolved from over 30 years of involvement with the coaching profession and being a research practitioner interested in how coaches develop expertise. Elizabeth is passionate about lifelong learning. She has navigated dyslexia and dyspraxia to transition from an early career in education to becoming a senior HR professional specialising in people development before setting up her coaching-consultancy business, specialising in strategic leadership. Along the way, she became a fellow of the CIPD, a Master Credentialed Coach with the ICF (MCC) and completed a Diploma in Coaching Supervision. She achieved three Master’s degrees (Education, Counselling Psychology and Coaching and Mentoring) and a Doctorate in Coaching and Mentoring. 

Your host, Dr Natalie Lancer, is a Chartered Coaching Psychologist, and British Psychological Society (BPS) Registered Supervisor. She is the Chair of the BPS’s Division of Coaching Psychology and an accredited member of the Association for Coaching. She is the host of this podcast series and invites you to email any comments to [email protected]

https://www.bps.org.uk/member-networks/division-coaching-psychology 

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