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I find that clients and potential clients respond with more energy to their experience of how I am than to what I know – and equally, who I am, and how my ‘being’ shows up, have a significantly greater impact on my coaching than what I do.

I believe that as a coach I need to cultivate a high tolerance of uncertainty and of the unknown, a lack of intent, and a diminished need to be right: in short, to be present without letting my knowledge get in the way. I need to to let go of ‘knowing’ while at the same time my coaching depends on knowing something about the process of change.

My article ‘Letting go of knowing’ in ‘Coaching at Work’ of March/April 2017 explores this tricky balance. E-mail me at lw@lindsaywittenberg.co.uk for a pdf, or download it here if you’re a subscriber to ‘Coaching at Work’.

Photo by home thods via Compfight

Letting go of knowing: new article in 'Coaching at Work'

Clients and potential clients respond with more energy to their experience of how I am than to what I know - and equally, who I am, and how my ‘being’ shows up, have a significantly greater impact on my coaching than what I do.

Compassionate leadership

Compassion at work increases our willingness to trust: our brains respond more positively to bosses who have shown us empathy – and compassion increases the health and wellbeing not only of employees but also of the bottom line. When compassion is low, engagement and levels of discretionary effort are low, retention and recruitment are more difficult, stress and absenteeism are high, and success becomes more elusive.

Nourish Your Practice: new article in Coaching at Work

My article 'Nourish Your Practice' has been published in Coaching at Work January 2017. My reflection before and after every coaching session is an intrinsic part of any coaching that I deliver: without it I would be simply skimming across the surface of what is actually going on and what the possibilities for change could be. I encourage my clients to reflect too.

Practitioner in Systemic Coaching and Facilitation

I've achieved the Practitioner Certificate in Systemic Coaching and Facilitation. My use of constellations - which are a key part of this work - facilitates clients' growth through my coaching. The approach illuminates the hidden dynamics in relationships, teams and organisations, clarifies what may be puzzling or unclear or difficult, and enables change to happen at a level beyond only behaviour management or leadership models.

Neuroscience of gender and performance

In a recent article in 'Coaching at Work' I distil learning from a workshop on the Neuroscience of Gender and Performance. Nurture rather than nature accounts for many of the gender differences we observe in the workplace: male and female brains aren't as different as we're used to thinking.

'What lies beyond': my latest article in Coaching at Work

Attending the cremation of a previous client, and being surrounded by dozens of people who had been part of his life, made me realise that in a coaching relationship I hear and see only a tiny window on the client: their stories reflect just a fraction of who they are - and if I am to deliver real value in my coaching, I need to go far beyond the constraints of the coaching objectives to a deep understanding of who the client is, and can be, in their contexts and systems.

Self-leadership

Unless we know how to lead ourselves, we can’t expect to be effective leaders of others - and self-coaching engenders a capacity for self-leadership as a pre-condition for leading others. High-quality leadership isn’t a check-list: it’s a question of how the leader brings the essence of themselves to their role, and for this, leaders need to courageously examine their own practices and thinking, and to build their self-awareness, self-understanding, and awareness of how the systems of relationships and influences around them work, and how they impact on each other.

Making an impact - through self- and system-awareness

Creating an impact that is authentic - and therefore compelling and lasting - means going beyond the tools and techniques for managing body language, creating rapport and getting 'in the zone' for a presentation. The individual needs to be at ease with themselves through a high level of self-awareness and centredness, and a comprehensive clarity about their relationship to the systems they move within.

Post-truth leadership

We are witnessing the rise of post-truth politics: a culture in which statements are framed largely by appeals to emotion, completely disconnected from the political facts, and in which factual rebuttals in discussion are ignored. Are we also seeing the rise of post-truth leadership?

'Everything has changed': my latest article in Coaching at Work

My latest article explores what leadership needs to be in the light of the shock Brexit referendum result - and what will now change about my coaching during this period of uncertainty

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