Articles

Every professional has been in the meeting where everyone agrees on a plan, feels genuinely energised, and then walks back to their desk where the plan quietly dies under the weight of emails, deadlines and competing priorities. The thinking was good. The follow-through was missing. That gap - between insight and sustained action - is why I have extended De Bono's Six Thinking Hats into an 8 Hat framework.   Read: Think Better Together: De Bono's Six Thinking Hats +...

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A structured reflective exercise to align success with what truly matters nowSuccess is often shaped by external expectations - family, culture, organisations, and society. Over time, these definitions can become outdated or misaligned with who we are becoming. This reflective practice invites you to pause, examine, and consciously redefine success in a way that is authentic, energising, and sustainable.   Read: Redefining Success: A Reflective Practice                            ...

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Across global work with senior leaders, coaches, facilitators and organisational professionals, one consistent pattern emerges: technical capability alone is not what differentiates effective leadership. What matters more is how individuals think, relate, regulate, and act within complexity. Leadership is experienced by others, not declared by role.   Read: Emotional Intelligence in Leadership Practice                                                      ...

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The innovation framework was built around a seminal discovery: that there are 10 distinct types of innovation that need to be orchestrated with care to make game-changing innovations. This approach to innovation that looks at innovation through the lens of 10 dimensions, was invented at Doblin, around 1997. Doblin is a global innovation agency, founded in 1981 by Jay Doblin and Larry Keeley. According to Doblin’s website, the agency is approaching innovation based on people and multidisciplinarity. On the website,...

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This non-linear process approach to reflective SUPERvision gives SUPERvisees (leader, coach, therapist, teacher...) a simple, repeatable way to slow down experience, learn from it, and carry that learning forward into real practice. The rhythm of Stop, Stay, (Re-)Start makes for intentional reflection and creates a container that balances psychological safety with challenge: enough structure to prevent reflection becoming vague rumination, and enough openness to surface what matters in the work, in the relationship system around the work, and in the person doing...

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The Authority, Presence, Impact (API) model, attributed to Professor Peter Hawkins, offers a powerful lens to articulate what often feels intangible in our professional lives - how we show up, how we influence, and what lingers after we leave the room. This model is useful with leaders, coaches, and teams - it deepens awareness, shifts presence, and amplifies impact enabling us to be conscious of what we wish to create and who we are showing up as. Read: The Authority,...

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Reflective SUPERvision can be understood as examining what comes up for us – our thoughts, feelings, choices, actions and reactions. It may also include reflecting on ways of working with colleagues, co-coaches, our SUPERvisor, our professional development needs, the business side of our practice, and habits that show up over time. Read: Why You Need Reflective SUPERvision for Your Board Coaching Work Article                                   ...

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The International Coaching Federation’s (ICF) recently refined Core Competencies (September 2025) have introduced a powerful emphasis on “Partners with the client to integrate learning and sustain progress throughout the coaching engagement…” (8.07). This is not just a technical refinement; it signals a recognition that coaching is not a neat, linear process and that learning needs action for it to be fully utilised. Read: Integrating Learning into future action: How the ICF's Updated 2025 Core Competencies Advocate a Focus on Transitions...

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Effective team coaching harnesses collective wisdom and facilitates deeper systemic insight, fostering sustainable change and innovation. Central to achieving this is cultivating a ‘Systemic Thinking Environment,’ where individual and collective potential flourish through intentional behaviours. Drawing on systemic principles, this guide adapts ten foundational components originally developed by Nancy Kline, reimagining them specifically within team coaching contexts. Read: Creating a Systemic Thinking Environment in Team Coaching: A Practical Diagnostic Guide                     ...

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We all have a default way of looking at problems and our role in them. Whether it’s a minor issue or a full-blown crisis, there is a narrative that automatically plays out in our heads, colouring our perception of solutions. Sometimes, this perception is correct; other times, it’s counterproductive. However, understanding how we approach conflict - and positively reframing our role -can make real solutions possible. This is where the Drama Triangle and the Empowerment Triangle come in. Let’s explore...

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Transactional Analysis (TA) is a psychological theory developed by Eric Berne, in the 1950s, that examines interactions between people as transactions. It categorizes people's behaviour into three ego states: Parent, Adult, and Child. These ego states influence how we interact with others, and understanding them can help improve communication and resolve conflicts. TA coaching  uses this model to analyze and change unproductive behavior patterns by helping individuals recognize their ego states during interactions. The goal is to foster healthier communication...

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Imagine your CEO asks you to prepare a crucial presentation with just days to spare, on top of an already full schedule. The stress is real, and it’s easy to lose focus. This is where the Eisenhower Urgent/Important Principle can transform your approach. It helps you prioritize tasks by distinguishing between what’s truly important and what’s merely urgent. By using this principle, you can reduce stress, focus on long-term success, and deliver high-quality work under pressure. Let’s explore how to...

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Our work in organisations across various sectors has shown that building trust between people alone isn’t sufficient to make delegation effective. Leaders must also carefully assess the level of trust in the organisational processes and align their approach accordingly. Delegation continues to challenge many leaders. Whether it's an overburdened manager looking to alleviate burnout or an executive aiming to take a well-deserved break, delegation is often necessary but frequently avoided. Handing over responsibilities can lead to anxiety, tension, or unsatisfactory...

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John Heron’s Intervention Model offers six categories of Intervention that can be applied in any feedback or enabling process. These apply equally to interventions in one to one and group situations. John Heron offers his approach as a conceptual framework for understanding interpersonal relationships and as a means of analysing a range of possible interactions between two people in work or personal situations. Read through the list below and familiarise yourself with each category. Knowing the range of interventions can...

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In his book the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989) Covey distinguishes between proactive people – who focus on what they can do and can influence – and reactive people who focus their energy on things beyond their control. Reactive people maintain an attitude of victimisation and blame. The model is based on two circles. The first is our circle of concern. This includes a whole range of things – global warming, the state of the economy, the clothes...

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The Circle of Concern, Influence, and Control is a model that helps people identify and focus on what they can change in their lives. Being able to recognise the difference between the things you can change and those you can’t will help you build your resilience. At times we all focus on things that impact on us but over which we have no influence and control. This reduces our resilience because we expend energy on things we cannot change, instead...

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Understanding action logic helps leaders & teams develop greater self-awareness, adaptability, & effectiveness. Leaders who recognise their dominant action logic can identify strengths, limitations, & opportunities for growth, allowing them to make more conscious decisions & improve their leadership style. For teams, action logic fosters better collaboration by highlighting how individuals interpret challenges, communicate, & respond to conflict. When teams include leaders at more advanced action logics—such as Achievers, Individualists, & Strategists—they become more innovative, resilient, & capable of navigating...

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This exercise raises a client's awareness and allows the client to plan a life that is more satisfying and closer to their definition of balance. It also helps clarify priorities for goal-setting. Balance is personal and unique to each individual - what may be satisfying or balanced for some may be stressful or boring for others. Ask your client to review the 8 categories on their Wheel of Life. The categories should together create a view of a balanced life...

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Values are “fundamental attitudes guiding our mental processes and behaviour” that “produce the belief that life is meaningful and serve as a measure of how meaningful one’s actions are, that is, consistent with that person’s value system” (Vyskocilova et al., 2015). Values clarification involves identifying your personal value system and creating a hierarchy of values to consider when making decisions, choosing ways to ‘be’ and live by. This value system can help you to exit your comfort zone in order...

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Psychometric assessments are becoming a more common tool to support talent management, selection and organisational culture/environment of it. The assessment tools are utilised for a wide range of measurement purposes including selection, succession planning, coaching, and team development. Despite this, human capital and other professionals need to ensure they are choosing the right tests and the right norm groups, whilst administering and feeding-back the results in the right way to the right people otherwise the experience may be ‘nice’, or...

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The idea of leaders adopting a coaching approach is gaining traction across organisations. It is increasingly evident that the leadership capabilities that have worked in the past will not be sufficient for navigating the complexities of the future (Hawkins, 2021). BECKETT MCINROY Consultancy, with the award-winning CoachME Model and process, has been at the forefront of integrating coaching into leadership, demonstrating its power to close critical leadership capability gaps. When leaders coach, they do not merely manage people; they facilitate...

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There is a growing body of empirical evidence to substantiate the impact of Coaching within organisations through a coaching culture and with external coaches. Coaching can enable and facilitate learning and move organisations and teams towards identifying beliefs, motivators and action with sustained results. Coaching is about balance, choices, priorities and values to increase impact.   Source: Organisational Coaching Uncovered Business in Gulf, March 2018

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Have you ever come across a team that seems to generate drama the second they enter the room? Often, individually, each team member seems to be able to separate from the drama and perform effectively, yet – together – there is no cohesion. Sick of the drama in your team? Read on to discover strategies for working through the victim-rescuer-persecutor cycle.   Source: Going Off Script How to Get Out of a Drama Triangle  Business in Gulf, June 2017

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The Ladder of Inference was proposed as a tool for trying to ensure decisions are based on hard reality and facts rather than wrong conclusions or assumptions, its understanding can empower and enable leaders to reduce potentially very damaging business relationships. This was back in the 1970s. The Ladder of Inference describes many moves through a series of mental steps, often very rapidly, to come to a conclusion, based on ‘data’ received. This data can be visual, kinaesthetic, auditory or...

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