On Tuesday this week, I attended an exciting meeting in Melbourne that one day in history may be seen as a significant event in the development of the practice of organisational coaching in Australia.
The event was the 13th meeting of the Standards Australia Coaching Guideline Working Party (which coincidentally was on the 13th July) and I had arrived in Melbourne on a flight with 13 passengers in total on-board. Well, the number 13 must indeed be a lucky number because on this day, meeting attendees held for the first time a full draft of the Coaching in Organisations Handbook, planned for release later this year.
What an momentous occasion! When the IEC first joined this group a year ago, I would not have believed that a group in Australia that consisted of coaching provider organisations, purchasers of coaching services, professional associations and bodies, educational institutions could come together and work on a project that would foster such collaboration and openness and produce a helpful guideline for organizational coaching at the end of it. I feared a year ago that coaching in Australia was still too fragmented, too competitive and not mature enough to be able to produce a valuable product. I am so pleased my fears were not realized and the project has been one of education, stimulation, challenge and togetherness.
Ann Whyte from Whyte & Co has lead this activity from the very beginning and Michael Cavanagh from Sydney University has certainly burned the midnight oil as the principal author. At this meeting, we also received input from two well-known international guests, Professor David A Lane from the Professional Development Foundation and Sunny Stout Rostron, Director of the Manthano Institute of Learning based in Cape Town.
The next steps are to finalise the draft and then undertake an extensive socialization process with the broader coaching community. The IEC will be active in this process too so look out for more information and updates from us.
Cheers
Julie-Anne
Read Julie’s full bio here: Julie-Anne Tooth, Senior Executive Coach
