Some of the world’s leading practitioners and academics in the field of coaching will be passing on their expertise at an event next month.
The annual Wales Coaching Conference is taking place at the Vale Resort on Thursday, March 14, and provides an opportunity for Wales’ top coaches to gain in-depth knowledge of the newest approaches and practices, and allow delegates to network with some of the most influential names in coaching.
The theme of the conference, which is organised in association with Academi Wales, is “Human Dimensions”, with keynote speakers Dr Catherine Sandler and Julie Starr.
To complement the keynotes, there will be a number of masterclasses throughout the day. These will be exploring themes of “Resilience”, “Rethinking” and “Resources”. Delegates will be able to take away knowledge and practical solutions around topics such as mental toughness, the Emotional Profiles TriangleÔ, Coaching for future leaders, and more.
There will be 12 masterclasses, all led by some of Britain’s best coaching professionals in the industry. Here’s a preview of what’s in store!
Session 1
- Coaching’s Borderlands: Making a Model – Mary Hughes
Our Professional landscape is complex, sometimes a coach feels lost, inadequate and questioning what coaching actually is, feeling they wander through a relational maze of other Professions. While sometimes we know when a client needs something/someone other than a coach, often it feels just a grey area. Inspired by my clients, my supervision research currently explores the borderlands between coaching, teaching, mentoring and counselling.
- Neuro application in Coaching and the Butterfly Model – Victoria Hall
Neuroscience is fast becoming a hot topic. It is so important for coaches to understand what makes people tick so that they can gain self-awareness and make the best of who they are. This workshop will provide some practical insights from Neuroscience which can be utilized in any coaching methodology and also introduce a new concept of coaching structure.
- Use of Video Conferencing tools as a coaching medium – Paul Laughlin
This workshop explores the use of video conferencing (VC) as a medium for coaching clients (focussed predominantly on one-to-one coaching). Paul Laughlin is an experienced coach working with leaders in large businesses across a range sectors in UK, Europe & USA. In this workshop, he shares both an overview of the technology options available and his personal experience of pros & cons of using this medium.
- Leaders who coach – a retention solution? – Kate Cooper
Since publishing Creating a Coaching Culture in 2011, the Institute of Leadership & Management’s research programme has revealed increasing pressure from new entrants to the workforce to be ‘coached’ rather than ‘managed’ and how disparate definitions of coaching actually are. In this session Kate digs deeper into the research findings and considers the extent to which leaders need to take coaching seriously.
Session 2
- Mental Toughness and the MTQ48 – Doug Strycharczyk
Mental Toughness is an important concept which has four, well evidenced, core constructs- Control, Commitment, Challenge and Confidence. Research shows it is strongly linked to Attainment, Well-being, Aspiration and Positive Behaviour. Widely used, in over 80 countries, in Coaching and Mentoring at all levels it embraces notions such as Mindset, Grit and Learned Optimism. The associated psychometric measure supports both diagnosis and evidence based practice.
- What drives your coaching conversations? – Julie Starr
Building from Julie's keynote; this session takes theory into practice, with a ‘back to basics’ exercise to help practitioners become more self-aware of their common drivers and traits as they coach someone else. Come expected to work, self-reflect and to give and receive feedback.
- Effectiveness of adding coaching to training initiatives to increase their impact. – Vivien Kelly
This will be of interest to delegates looking at how coaching can maximise the impact of training across a wider field than leadership and management. It will look at how coaching might help address some of the complex problems of the health service (and other public institutions) by innovating at a grass roots level. Delegates will be invited to consider how they might apply the idea in their organisations.
- It’s never too late to start making better choices – in Decision Making – Bethan Johnson
How do we make better choices and understand what derails us…
There is often ambiguity and uncertainty in our jobs, and so not every detail of the decisions or the context we face is clear or predictable.
However, the forces that derail people’s decisions are predictable: they intervene to sway our behaviour and do so at the subconscious level. We do not realise these forces are influencing our decisions.
Session 3
- Emotional Profiles Triangles – Dr Catherine Sandler
In this interactive masterclass Catherine will build on the ideas shared in the keynote by introducing the Emotional Profiles Triangle™ (EPT), a model she developed after working with leaders under pressure during the 2008-9 economic recession. The model highlights three styles of leadership, each with its own strengths, and links these to three related types of defensive behaviour which is triggered when the leader becomes too anxious to regulate their feelings and behaviour.
- Explore and Walk – the value of coaching using the outdoors – James Moore
We often use the language of transformation, but in reality our thinking and actions are normally about doing something a bit better (positive capability). This transactional approach will only get us so far, and because our work challenges normally mean we need to do different things and doing things differently, we need new approaches to our thinking.
- Mediating Objects – Arthur Turner
Arthur has been working with creative interventions in coaching and mentoring for the past five years relating to the theory that surrounds mediating objects. This session will cover some theory but will try to focus more directly on the practice of using objects in coaching sessions by providing figure puppets as an example. Participants will go away from this thought-class better prepared for experimentation in the coaching cycle and it will build confidence in the use of creative techniques.
- Coaching for future Proofing – Bethan Emanuel
A workshop to consider the way you can use the law of attraction to build capacity in your clients.
In an environment where we are all doing more with less, we have initiative overload, regulations are abound, we as managers and leaders need to engage with our workforce, and manage our talent to maximise performance. We need to do the right things rather than doing things right in the well versed words of Peter Drucker. This session will take delegates through the journey of building resilience in our clients and making room for capacity, establishing a mindset change and harnessing the strength within to determine future life and work goals.
It promises to be a jam-packed day at the Wales Coaching Conference! The event has sold out each year, if you haven’t already got your place then book now to avoid disappointment
If you are already attending then don’t forget to book your place at your masterclass session – check your emails for more.
There’s just 3 weeks until the #USWCoachingConf2019 at the Vale Resort. We look forward to meeting you on Thursday 14th March!
To find out more about the Wales Coaching Conference, visit here.
