CSA Newsletter January 2014

Content

1. Directors’ Update
2. Current Thinking
3. CSA News
4. Calendar of Events 2014
5. Information about AOCS
6. Articles
   • The Gift of Mindfulness, Elaine Patterson
   • Leadership and Wicked Problems Chris Gale
   • Tales from the Supervisors Chair: Insights for Coaches, Julia Menual
   • Measuring Innovation Creativity and Change Karyn Prentice
   • Those Moments when we Lose Presence, Amanda Ridings
   • Tammy Turner on Coaching Supervision –  ICF Article
   •  Mongolia: Transformation and change – starting with myself! Jo Birch
7. CSA Community Events/Workshop
8. Book Review

1. Directors’ update

Welcome to 2014!  We hope that you enjoy this bumper edition of the CSA newsletter- packed as it is with ideas, articles and events. We have decided to have four newsletters per year from now on. CSA graduate, Fay Young is our new editor, so welcome, Fay.

CSA continues to grow:

• Our first book on supervision is now published and selling well – see www.fullspectrumsupervision.com for more details of this original, evidence-based publication.
• The second CSA supervision diploma programmes in Australia and Singapore begin next month.  The CSA training team has developed accordingly – it is now 25 strong to cover all our international programmes.
• Sam Magill, the Programme Leader for the CSA/US diploma in supervision, will give one of the keynotes at the Oxford Brookes International Supervision conference this year – June 27^th, at Ashridge Business School. Great news for Sam who has presented at several ICF international conferences.  Great news for the conference too! If you would like to know more about this excellent conference, click here…….

Supervision is expanding its reach

It is clear to us that supervision is moving out from its more traditional contexts of professional enquiry and support, into the world of business and organisational life.  It is such a valuable addition to learning and development in these contexts of increasing complexity and rapid change. So, although CSA will continue to train executive coaches in supervision, we are expanding our supervision programmes to include those who have coaching as key part of their role – leaders, managers, business people and HR. Here’s why supervisors are needed in organisations:

‘An IBM Global CEO Survey found that the great majority of CEO’s expect that business complexity is going to increase, and more than half doubt their ability to manage it. The sheer difficulty of keeping a corporation afloat in such turbulent economic, political, and social waters is beyond most leaders’ experience and mental capacity…….’ Barrett C Brown

The reflective processes of supervision ensure that business leaders have space and time to think about their work and have access to the informed support that supervision offers. The on-going accompaniment of a skilled supervisor creates a robust relationship, one which generates deep enquiry, new insights and a reliable anchor which is enormously valuable to leaders. At best, this can result in leaders who have:

‘ enhanced and highly-attuned mental, emotional, and relational capacities that others don’t. They not only see and feel situations and people differently, but they see and feel more than other leaders. They sense more connections, nuances, perspectives, and possibilities. They are able to act with greater wisdom and deeper care than ever before, and this empowers them to be able to reliably generate organizational transformation. It also strengthens their ability to effectively respond to the complex, ambiguous, and sophisticated challenges of 21st century leadership.’

(The Future of Leadership for Conscious Capitalism, MetaIntegral Associates Barrett C Brown)

Miriam Orriss and Edna Murdoch

3. CSA News

News from France

Geneva: A one day conference and workshop on Coaching Supervision was organized by ICF Suisse Romande in Nyon, near Geneva (October 2013).
Gilles Roy (CSA Programme Leader, France) and Sylvie Shoen-Schlumberger (CSA graduate supervisor from Belgium) were invited to present the CSA approach of coaching supervision to a group of 30 experienced coaches and received a warm welcome.

Paris: A French group of coaching supervisors with an international scope has created PSF, (Professional Supervisors Federation), gathering together several Supervision Training Leaders from different French Training Institutes, including Gilles Roy and CSA. www.professional-supervisors.org

GILLES ROY gilles.roy2@orange.fr
Formation Evolution et Synergie, 3 Avenue de la Synagogue 84000 Avignon
Tél person 06 13 09 19 21 Tél pro 04 90 16 04 16
www.coaching-pnl.com et www.intelligence-collective.net

 4. Calendar of Events 2014

CSA Coaching Supervision Programmes 2014 -2015

January: USA 16 – 18th (finishes May 16-17th)
Australia 29-31st (finishes August 5-8th)

February: Singapore 5-7th (finishes (August 12-15th)

June: UK (course finishes)

September: USA 18-20th (second cohort begins)

October: France 3-5th (finishes June 6-7th 2015)
UK 16-18th (finishes June 18-19th 2015)

5. Information about AOCS

AOCS was formed by CSA graduates who are passionate about supervision and wanted to create a platform for both CSA students and graduates to promote themselves to gain more supervision business, to continue their learning and CPD, and to anticipate future trends that are affecting the coaching sector.

AOCS is a not-for-profit organisation that is independent of, but linked to, the main coaching associations. We are guided by a council of founding members representing all coaching bodies, and are led by our Chair Erik de Hann who drives the organisation’s goals through a small group of honorary members, advisors and volunteers. Edna and Miriam are honorary members and endorse our approach.

Coach Supervision is increasingly being demanded by global organisations, buyers and accrediting bodies, and is moving beyond the pioneering stage and is now receiving the attention it deserves and is gaining focus from the large coaching organisations, such as ICF.

Our purpose
This is why the Association Of Coaching Supervisors (AOCS) was established, with the aim to be the only association in the coaching industry that offers a supportive platform exclusively for coaching supervisors and buyers of coaching supervision.

Our aim is not to accredit supervisors, or to act as a training school, or to replace existing coaching bodies/associations, but to supplement current relationships and to provide a real focus on supervision.

CSA special offer: members can join AOCS through a ‘fast track’ agreement by completing the joining form: Click here
A supervisor reference will not be required (as graduation infers satisfactory skills and approach) and new members can join for a reduced fee of £75 or equivalent, in their first year of membership. Student members can promote their services (perhaps at lower fees whilst studying) to gain experience, and then upgrade to full membership once qualified.

www.associationofcoachingsupervisors.com

6. Articles

The Gift of Mindfulness

By Elaine Patterson

“Remember that mindfulness practice is a radical act of love. This means that compassion and self compassion lie at its root”
Jon Kabat- Zinn (1990 pg 303)

A Gift to Myself
This Christmas I gave myself the gift of mindfulness. I decided to immerse myself in the practice and discipline of mindfulness by participating in an eight week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Programme (MBSR) with colleagues at Penna. The programme was run by Karyn Prentice. Karyn is one of the Coaching Supervision Assistant Directors and Founder of fletcherprentice & associates.

Background to MSBR
MSBR was originally developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, at the University of Massachuetts. MSBR
is a secular programme based on Buddhist principles of mindfulness mediation. Through practices based on the focused awareness of the breath in our bodies we learn how to become fully present to ourselves and to our experiences in the here and now. Research has shown how this can help to reshape the neuroplasticity of our brain and hearts to help us find more joy, peace and ease in our lives. As Kabat-ZInn said:
“you can’t stop the waves but you can learn to surf”

My Discoveries
I came to the programme after a series of sadnesses looking for healing. I left finding a new way of living my life. The programme made me rethink some of my discoveries. Read On……

Leadership and Wicked Problems

by Chris Gale

Among the many interesting contributions Keith Grint makes to current thinking about leadership is his exploration of the approaches or ‘style’ we might adopt in dealing with different types of problems at work. He uses a simple description of three sorts of problems – Tame, Wicked or a Crisis – to raise some critical and important questions about leadership practice, and our (in)capacity to adapt our approach in often very varied contexts. Briefly he reflects an understanding that –

Tame problems – are those we have seen before and are reasonably familiar with. Though they will require work and thought, we feel that we can rely on our current expertise and experience to see us through. These tame problems can be handled by using a Managing approach, basically using established management processes, systems, and techniques to ‘solve’ the problem.
For example we might notice that our staff use many different systems to manage their diaries and meetings, resulting in missed opportunities and confusion. Implementing a shared and common technical approach to this might be seen as a managerial solution to a tame problem. (if you’ve noted already that this might not be quite so simple – that will be one of the challenges we will get to below)
Wicked Problems – are those that are inherently much more complex, and ones we will not fully understand (or will see very differently from others). We may not have encountered this sort of issue before, (or have avoided it) and may not have the experience to draw on in dealing with the unfamiliar. These wicked problems require leadership – the need to get people together, both to understand the challenge in the first place, and to work with others to ‘make progress’ (these are not usually ‘solvable’ problems in the same way as tame ones might be)  Read On…….

Tales from the Supervisors Chair: Insights for Coaches

Julia Menaul

What’s out there; that’s in here?

Last year, when there were one-day strikes in the public sector over cuts, I was facilitating a supervision group within the NHS. The session was going OK but I felt we were getting “stuck”.

After coffee, one lady made an interesting comment:

“Most of our colleagues are out on strike today but not one of us has mentioned it here; I wonder why, because what’s outside is probably in here with us.”

This was obviously one switched on coach! She drew our attention to a crucial element that often pops up in coaching; namely that we all operate in a wider system and that coaches must notice what is happening in the ever widening circles emanating from their client, through the clients workplace and even into the clients sector.

I was reminded of this only recently when a coach, John, came to me for supervision and wanted to talk about how he could acquire more supervisees to develop his own supervision practice as he had finished his training in the last year.

His goal for the session was:

“Ways to be more proactive in getting supervisees but at the same time not to over commit myself because of my other work”

Read On…..

Measuring Innovation, Creativity and Change

by Karyn Prentice

CSA Assistant Director of Training

One afternoon a few weeks ago I was reading and a sentence jumped out at me. No matter what came after that my eyes kept travelling back to those words as it registered its impact on me. I noticed how it kept showing up again and again in my work with coachees, supervisees, and in leadership programmes that I was working on over the following few weeks. It’s a quote from US social researcher and author Brené Brown: ” if vulnerability is the most accurate measurement of courage it is also the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change”.

For me this sentence has enormous resonance in coaching supervision. We create a non-judgemental environment for our supervisees to bring the whole range of their work and themselves to supervision; their successes, their questions, their dilemmas, their stuck bits. We invite them to feel safe enough to bring all these things, and with it to allow themselves to open, to trust and experience a degree of vulnerability as they hold up their work up to a joint scrutiny, illumination and celebration. This perambulation around the ‘garden’ of their professional work is an act of courage since they bring who they are as much as what they do, into dialogue.

The importance of this goes beyond the immediacy of the session. Read on………

Those moments when we lose presence…

by Amanda Ridings

In coaching and supervision practice, being present is such a ‘holy grail’ that I risk my reputation in saying that I am currently fascinated by the moments when I lose presence, or times when I’m not able to be present enough. As I study this element of my practice, I find that ‘being present’ is more elusive than I might readily allow! Influenced by my deepening understanding of meditation (in the Kagyu Buddhist tradition) and my continuing development in Leadership Embodiment practices and T’ai Chi Chuan, I’m exploring the extent to which I’m able to:

• be present in different circumstances; and
• recover the quality of my attention in moments when it is most needed.

This article outlines some of my personal journey, and sets out my next steps, as I begin to support other practitioners in a similar exploration.  Read on…..

Tammy Turner on Coaching Supervision

ICF Article

The ICFA Professional Standards’ Committee receives regular inquiries from member coaches looking to enhance their skills and further develop themselves. This is not surprising at all as any coach knows you are your service. There are many courses, qualifications and certifications available on the market to suit everyone. However, if you want individualised, personal professional development you are looking for either professional coaching, supervision or mentoring. Though do you know what you actually want?

In fielding questions, we’ve discovered that there is a fair amount of confusion as many coaches think they want ‘coaching’ or ‘supervision’, when what they are asking for is actually what the ICF would term “mentor coaching”. Currently, ICF defines Mentor Coaching as “coaching for the development of one’s coaching, rather than reflective practice, coaching for personal development or coaching for business development, although those aspects may happen very incidentally in the coaching for development of one’s coaching.”

The ICF also “stipulates that all of the Mentor Coach aspects may be included in Coaching Supervision but it can and does include many more aspects which a trained Coaching Supervisor is able to recognize and address. Issues which reach beyond those in Mentor Coaching and which are often brought to coach supervision at any point in a coach’s professional life.”

So knowing what you want as an outcome is the first place to start. Here are some clear guidelines.  Read On……..

Mongolia: Transformation and change – starting with myself!

By Jo Birch

CSA Graduate 2011, tutor on Singapore and London CSA Diploma in Coaching Supervision programmes

As I look out the window, squinting past the strong sun’s rays, I count… eighteen, nineteen… 20! I delight in watching the graceful, gentle movement of the Demoiselle cranes and their young as they paddle in shallow pools and streams. I look upwards into the pure blue sky and see countless birds of prey, some floating down to rest on fence posts – watching as the bus passes. At this time of year the steppe is littered with herds – horses and foals, sheep, cows, goats… camels here and there – young and old Mongolian herders ride, or walk, with their livestock. Mongolia – flourishing wild life; vast expanses of space; biggest ever skies. When I drove along this road for the first time in the winter I saw only three herds in the 6 hour journey – now there are so many I can’t count them. In winter it was like crossing the top of a cake, slicing through frosted icing – through deep, deep snow and ice, at around -30C.

Mongolia has over 300 sunny days a year – winter and summer. It’s the second largest land-locked country in the world, said to have 3 million people and 43 million livestock.

‘Airag-o, airag-o!’ The young girl calls from the edge of the road. She hopes the driver will pull over, spilling passengers to buy from her table top stall. The family ger (round tent like a yurt) has been moved near to the road for the season. She holds a round bowl of airag – fermented mare’s milk – high up in her palm, arm straight and outstretched. Countryside airag is the best – especially that from Uvurkhangai, the province where I live.

Mongolians eat meat in the winter, slaughtering animals in November when the temperature drops well below freezing and starts falling into the winter averages between -30c and -50c. Meat freezes and lasts all winter. During the summer months traditionally only rice and dairy products would be eaten. Various factors including rising wealth and wider availability now means Mongolians eat meat throughout the year… and vegetables are not too popular, except as animal fodder.

It’s very common for Mongolian herding families to move up to 4 times a year. Everything is packed, in the traditional order, onto the van – previously onto camels or horses – and moved to the new location depending on the season. Life in a ger is tough with no running water, even in gers in the city or town, and fires need to be lit for survival in the extreme winter temperatures.

I’m travelling to the capital city, Ulaanbaatar or UB, from my home town, Arvaikheer. It’s 7 or 8 hours bus ride – 470 kilometers. It’s a slow journey. Mongolians are great travellers, they are nomadic people. The children on the bus rarely complain, they travel quietly, sleeping sometimes. No toys, books, crayons. Mongolians have a different concept of personal space to that within my country – during the ride it’s not uncommon to find a nearby baby being draped across your knee, or a stranger’s head resting on your shoulder.

96% of the Mongolian population are of one ethnicity. Foreigners, like myself, especially outside UB, are still rare. Babies and children look and stare – adults are friendly and smile… especially at my attempts to speak Mongolian. We have a music video on the bus – I hum along to the now familiar tunes – and then some slapstick Mongolian comedy which makes everybody laugh.

Sometimes the road ahead has crumbled and the bus needs to carve a new route through the steppe. The steppe may look gently undulating from a distance but anyone who has ridden across it in any motor vehicle can assure you it’s bumpy and unpredictable…and soon becomes a journey for those with a ‘good constitution’. There are very few roads here. Most travel is across the steppe on these turbulent tracks.

I’m wondering. I am providing leadership support to the senior team of a regional hospital. How does the history, land, environment and culture of the people, affect what I am doing? How is it similar and different to how I would approach the task in the UK?  Read On…………

6.CSA Community

New Book by CSA Graduate.

Jackie Arnold, whom many of you may well know and who is a succesful author, has just published her latest book on Coaching Supervision.  CSA thoroughly recommends this book to you – here are the details.

Coaching Supervision at its B.E.S.T.

Events/Workshops

Exhibition by Jill Fairbairns (CSA Graduate) and Iona Stern

Paintings by JILL FAIRBAIRNS (CSA Graduate) and IONA STERN
EXPRESSIVE WORKS Monday 20TH – 26TH January 2014 10am – 6pm
54 The Gallery, 54 Shepherd Market, London W1J 7QX
Preview at: www.fairbairnspaintings.co.uk and www.ionastern.com
I’m having an exhibition, sharing a gallery with a friend. Please come along if you can. I shall be at the gallery most of the time. I don’t want to miss you, so if you’re coming please let me know when.
07900 246 068 jill@jillfairbairns.com

Leadership Embodiment level 1 in a Coaching Context

Monday 31 March 2014; Monday 12 May 2014; Thursday 12 June 2014
Amanda Ridings, Brighton

About the programme…
Leadership Embodiment is a practice which draws on principles from martial arts and mindfulness to develop capacity to be present, confident, compassionate, and connected, even when pressured or stressed.
This ‘level 1’ programme takes place over 3 days, and explores Leadership Embodiment practices in a coaching context:

• Day 1: Exploring personal presence
• Day 2: Exploring your impact in coaching relationships
• Day 3: Exploring resistance in a coaching system

We will explore those moments in which we lose presence, or centre, learning to recognise the early energetic signals that enable us to recover quickly. You can expect to gain insight into your habits and patterns in moments of pressure in your coaching practice, and to understand their impact on the coaching system. We will explore how to cultivate a more resourceful presence in demanding situations.

Each day builds on the previous day. In the intervals between the workshop days, you have the opportunity to put your learning into practice, becoming familiar with the impact of recovering centre in challenging moments. Increased confidence allows deeper exploration in the next session, opening the possibility of fresh insights.

In experiencing the power of this approach, an executive coach participant said:

‘We have a pattern to how we react in difficult situations. Working with Amanda helped me to understand what my pattern is, how it manifests itself in my behaviour and how to regain that centred place. This will be invaluable in my work with coaching clients and in understanding how I react within systems.’

About Amanda…
I am an APECS accredited executive coach and am accredited as a coach supervisor by The Coaching Supervision Academy. I am an award-winning author and a T’ai Chi instructor. Since January 2010, I have been training with Wendy Palmer, founder of Leadership Embodiment. My website is: www.originate.org.uk.

About the venue and costs…
The fees for the three-day workshop are:

• £900 for those funded by their organisation; and
• £600 per person for those funding themselves.

Please note that this is a programme where each day builds on the previous day. The workshop is non-residential.

Dates – March 2014 to June 2014

The venue is in central Brighton and the programme will run from 10am to 5pm each day.

Coffee and tea will be available from 9.30am.

Questions?

For more information, or a booking form, please email Amanda@originate.org.uk
Leadership Embodiment level 1 – coaching context

International

Institute of Coaching, USA (Harvard Medical School Affiliate)
Coaching in Leadership and Healthcare Conference
September 12-13 2014 Boston, MA USA

Julia Menual

I am running a series of afternoon sessions based in Manchester – for more information on these sessions see our website and see details below.

To get us off to a flying start in 2014 we will be focusing on the importance of the system in your coaching. Using our own challenges and dilemmas from our coaching clients we will look at these with a systems lens to see how we can add more value to our coaching session and therefore to our client for greater shifts.

“Systemic Coaching Supervision is the supervision of a coach or team of coaches which :
• Is informed by a systemic perspective;
• Is in service of all parts of the system learning and developing
• Attends to the client in relation to their systemic context(s)
• Includes and reflects upon the coach and the supervisor
as part of the systemic field.”
Hawkins 2011

Supervision for coaches is now a growing need with more corporate clients and associate consultancies expecting coaches to be in regular supervision. Accreditation and membership of coaching bodies is also driving the need for a supervisor. We provide you with a certificate of attendance for you to use as evidence of your CPD.

So what are you waiting for? 2014 could be the year you supercharge your coaching practise!

Looking forward to seeing you.

Julia
Julia Menaul BA (Hons) Psych,
CFCIPD, FITOL, MAC.
Association for Coaching Accredited Coach
Qualified Coach Supervisor

Details of Sessions
• The session takes place 3.30 pm – 6.00 pm.
• As usual these will be PAYGO events, costing £75.00 + VAT per session. Due to changes in payment policy on the part of the venue we’ve had to increase the cost of the session and ask for pre-payment.

Please book here https://sparkgroupsupervision2801014.eventbrite.co.uk . However, you can book and pay for 4 sessions together in advance and get them at last year’s cost of £65.00 + VAT per session!                                                                                                     (Contact support@sparkcoachingandtraining.co.uk for the special code you’ll need to take advantage of this discount offer.)

• The venue is Luther King House, Brighton Grove off Wilmslow Road, Withington, South Manchester M14 5JP (Map). If you’re using sat nav, please check your route beforehand as some sat navs have difficulty in pinpointing Luther House.
• Please arrive around 3.15 pm (for 3.30 pm). Grab a coffee in the dining room which is on the right through reception. The meeting room is through the open courtyard – which one it is will be indicated on the board in reception.

7. Book reviews

Review of Full Spectrum Supervision, Editors Edna Murdoch and Jackie Arnold

The subtitle of this collection is “Who you are is how you supervise” and the selection of essays contained within it amply illustrates this truth in a wide and fascinating range of ways. In doing so it reflects and explores the multifaceted framework of Full Spectrum model of supervision.

It is aimed primarily at coach supervisors but I believe that any coach who wishes to deepen the skilfulness, impact and enjoyment of their practice would gain a great deal from reading this. As indeed I did! They would also appreciate how valuable having supervision can be in adding depth, insight, confidence and value to their work.

The editors have brought together contributions from seven leading supervisors and each of these explores a key element of supervision: ethics; mind, body and metaphor; heart-to-heart transformational learning; reflective learning; mindfulness and presence; a psychodynamic approach; and transpersonal supervision. These apparently disparate pieces are integrated as each author demonstrates how their approach expresses aspects of the Full Spectrum model.

The book is both academically robust and yet highly readable, rich with fascinating case studies which many readers will relate to drawn from a range of coaching contexts. There are exercises, models and meditations aplenty.

The Full Spectrum model pervades the book and brings the reader home again and again to its core truth: that it is “the selfhood of the coach or supervisor which is the key that unlocks all doors”. A thoroughly excellent read.

Kate Edmonds
ICF Master Certified Coach, Mentor and Supervisor