Archive
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Book review – Coach your Team by Liz Hall
In this blog I review Liz Hall’s excellent book Coach your team, which introduces a wide range of approaches and models and grounds it all in conscious and mindful practice.
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Framing return on investment – Setting up a coaching network – Part 2
In the second part of the series of blogposts I discuss how to frame return on investment and how to support the people training to be coaches to make sure they get through the qualification.
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Catching the bluebells and coaching in nature
An overview of the advantages of taking coaching sessions outdoors, plus a few pointers of things to consider if you do
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Coaching top tips – The four, five, six, seven levels of listening
In which I get back to the brass tacks of coaching and explore the levels of listening
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An appreciation of breakfast briefings
In praise of the breakfast briefings run by Cardiff Uni Business School
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Gwen John revisited – a Cardiff Museum exhibition review
This blog discusses an exhibition of Gwen John’s work at Cardiff Museum, highlighting her unique artistic approach and its parallels to coaching. It explores themes of commitment, observation of body language, and the importance of balance in life and work. I praise the exhibition, recommending it highly for viewers.
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Am I a swimmer, or a writer?
As spring arrives, the author reflects on their fitness journey, including gym workouts and a return to swimming, aimed at improving mobility after years of playing badminton. They discuss habit formation, identity-based theories, and their experience with a question-a-day journal, encouraging readers to consider the alignment between habits and personal identity.
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Spring cleaning and the volcano filing method
The author reflects on the contrast between their cluttered home and the newly tidied common room at work, pondering how environments influence comfort and usage. They discuss their “volcano method” of organisation, which they believe suits their lifestyle, while also seeking tidiness as Spring approaches. Coaching others informs their understanding of personal organisation systems.
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How many grains of sand does it take to make a heap?
January seemed to blitz past pretty quickly this year, and I’m hoping that we can shift into the longer hours of daylight and warmer days sooner rather than later, and similarly quickly. The winter has (so far) been a relatively mild one (particularly here in South Wales in which we were the only part of…
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The last book that made me cry – Bread of angels by Patti Smith, something of a review
In Mark Sexton review’s Patti Smith’s latest biography and ponders the art that made him cry and reflect on the momentous things in life.
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Unfreezing and gratitude in the New Year
Happy New Year! As I prepare to return to work tomorrow, tapping away at this blog, the couple of weeks annual leave seems to have breezed by fearfully quickly. Still, I’ve picked up a half price calendar for my office wall. (I seem to go alternate years of being given surplus calendars for Christmas, or…
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What Steeleye Span can teach us about longevity
The author reflects on their lifelong passion for music, particularly their appreciation for Steeleye Span, a band that’s witnessed generational admiration in their family. They draw parallels between the band’s evolution and their experience managing a dynamic team at work, emphasizing the importance of cultural clarity and adaptability in both contexts.
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Podcast Review – Off Menu
Happy advent everyone. This week I’ve been pondering what food I’ll be sorting for Christmas and nipping out to some of Cardiff’s diverse food shops to pick up bits and bobs for the home-made hampers I’m now encouraged to pull together (seeing as my friends and family now generally have anything that they really want,…
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Am I becoming a silverback gorilla?
Mark reflects on how the way he is perceived has changed over time, noting instances where colleagues have highlighted his talkativeness, resemblance to bugs bunny but also his gravitas and wisdom. He emphasizes the importance of confidence built through experience and self-reflection, suggesting that this allows for a more authoritative presence and a deeper understanding…
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Setting boundaries
“I drew a line…” by Toon Tellegen https://www.poetrybooks.co.uk/blogs/news/poem-a-day-i-drew-a-line?srsltid=AfmBOopRblbayLbu8kRiVxMYeRqj4wRXrvbsL7dFppycOXpSXWG_m38y The setting of boundaries in coaching/client relationships (and for coaches within their own coaching competence and practice) is another theme that has regularly cropped up in supervision sessions. It’s also a common topic that comes up from coachees in a variety of ways in the challenges that…
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Bursting the bubbles – Swn music festival – Cardiff (2025 edition)
Talking about Cardiff’s Swn Festival and the way in which you can use conferences and festivals to widen your view
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People who make the time, not just those who have the time
(Structuring an internal coaching network – part one) A topic that I have been called upon for advice time and time again has been on how to structure an internal coaching network. Coaching, as a profession, has ebbed and flowed over the past two decades, and businesses and organisations have similarly ploughed money and time…
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Making peace with your personal wasps
The plum tree outside of my partner’s office window heralds that Spring has properly arrived with a glorious display of blossom which usually coincides with April fools day. It’s a bit hard to tell what variety of plum it might be, as it has grown impressively tall over the years and now towers around three…
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Podcast review – Happiness and how to get it (HAHTGI)
This week I review a podcast that I found both light and breezy, but that was packed with top tips that are great for coaching. I’m not sure if I was a late adopter of them or whether they were late bloomers but podcasts seem to have now popped up everywhere and you can’t swing…
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Walking unafraid
The pleasure/pain principle is a really key theory that can be used in coaching, which I explore here.
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The way some people… get hooked on murder mysteries
I love a good detective novel, here I discuss the works of Ross MacDonald and why, at core, we all love a mystery
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Albert Einstein, involuntary swindler*
This blog discussed imposter syndrome (heck , even Einstein had it)
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“Drew 550 different shoes today, it almost made me faint”
In this blog I talk about how Andy Warhol took the discipline he needed in his commercial drawing and turned it into an asset.
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Surround yourself with good people
In this blog I take stock after wrapping up the 5th Public sector coaching week, thanking Hermionie and everyone involved in growing our homebrewed week of CPD from a cottage industry into the beast it has become (while retaining its quirky charms)
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“Why? The Purpose of the Universe” by Philip Goff – Book Review
A review of Philip Goff’s book Why? The purpose of the universe, because this blog doesn’t shrink away from tackling the big questions
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Fantasies, Faust and mental contrasting
When you’re picturing goals it’s interesting to know the scientific theories as to how this can be made to work for you, so in this blog I explore the ideas behind mental contrasting
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Would a kick in the shins make you angry or indignant?
Looking at how emotions and physiological changes interplay and which comes first (James Lange theory and the weird experiments around it al)
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The Sounds in Silence
A blog on the use of silence in coaching, what types there are and how it’s a challenge (for me) worth persevering with
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Aspiration Experts Ltd
How James and I started a business to spool out coaching consultancy and executive coaching
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Photographing the photoshy
How I trained in photography at the same time as I trained to become a coach, and how I used my project to photograph the photoshy as a way to practice my coaching skills too