Your life happens in conversation. Sometimes that conversation is private (in your head) and sometimes it is public, either with one other person or with many people at the same time. To a greater or lesser degree, your ability to manifest your life’s purpose or create what you want to achieve in the next meeting will depend on the effectiveness of your conversations. Of course, there are many elements that factor into the effectiveness of a conversation, but one of the simplest and yet most overlooked of those factors is the
Category Archives: Blog
Today, February 4 is World Cancer Day, which aims to increase cancer awareness and encourage it’s prevention, detection and treatment. With this in mind, we would like to highlight one of our esteemed graduates who has truly touched the lives of so many. Dr. Kesavan is one of Singapore’s leading urological surgeons and tumor immunologists, with a thirty-year clinical and research interest in cancer of the urinary bladder. He also runs an active gene therapy program for urological malignancies, and was recognized by the National University of Singapore Health System as
One way to think about human beings is that we are a collection and expression of our habits – habits in our thinking and habits in our behaviors and actions. Operating from our habits helps us do many things on auto-pilot and keep up with the demands of our complex and fast-paced lives. However, acting out of our habits and being on autopilot also has a shadow side. Our habitual ways of seeing and doing things can get in the way of new results we are trying to create. We can
When you stepped into our coach training program, if you were like most people, you probably expected to learn about listening, giving feedback and asking questions etc – to develop the skills of a coach, so that you could become a better leader, manager or even a certified coach. Of course, those outcomes are very possible and frequently achieved. However, you also most likely discovered that our Newfield ontological approach also offers a far greater range of opportunities, possibilities and benefits. While we tend to talk about and market the program
Great questions are not the sole preserve of coaches. I was recently sitting in an airport lounge when I heard a wonderful question asked by a daughter to her mother. It was one of those questions that can interrupt the day-to-day, automatic way of living that human beings inevitably fall into and generate profound reflection. Of course, this is the work that a coach will often seek to do. Because the coach listens from a different point of view and sits outside of the life of their client, they have a
A key part of Newfield ontological coaching is the domain of emotions. Typically, this is an area that most coaching schools skirt around or else avoid completely. However, together with the domains of language and body, the emotional domain is a fundamental element of what makes us human and cannot be ignored when working as a coach. The majority of line managers with whom I have worked would much rather ignore emotions and/or pretend that they are not important. This is true about their own emotions and the emotions of the
One of the most frequent questions we receive is: “What is ontological coaching and how is it different from other kinds of coaching?” This article, written by Senior Newfield Program Coach/Trainer and Henley Business School lecturer, Aboodi Shabi is a great introduction to some of the key elements and distinctions of ontological coaching. Here is the original article.
Back in 2008, Google began a fascinating piece of research aimed at understanding the factors that contribute to being an effective manager. Throughout the history of the research, the number one factor has been the same: Being a good coach. In later years, they have also correlated these results with research in the areas of collaboration and teams that produce effective outcomes. Once again, being a good coach is the key factor. These results initially surprised senior management at Google, who had assumed, like many senior leaders in other major companies,
Join DN Prasad, PCC and recent graduate as he, together with his co-author Sneha Arora explore the dynamic worlds of modern-day leadership and team effectiveness (link below). As they skilfully point out, these two concepts operate very much in tandem and our expectations of one, very much impact our assessments of the other. Many of our beliefs about leadership and teams are derived from the world of sports, and while these often do still retain some validity, there are major differences between the two. One of these differences is that while
What I can do depends on who I have decided I am. What we can do depends on who we believe ourselves to be. The challenge for many people working in the field of leadership development and coaching is that we only have tools to address what people do– not who they are. Ultimately, this is a problem of identity. Who am I? Who are we? While some more superficial methodologies tend to skirt around this thorny issue, hiding behind competency frameworks and assessment tools, the ontological approach to development offers