Services
International Business Group Coaching Seminars
The Centre’s signature group coaching seminars provide a new offering in knowledge sharing and development in international coaching. These small group seminar, coached by Geoffrey Abbott, extend executives and consultants on a professional and personal level using advanced international coaching methodologies. Public programs (entry by application [click through]) are being held in several cities internationally in 2011. The program is also delivered in-house for executive teams and groups who wish to take their self and group awareness and effectiveness to new levels.
One-to-one Coaching for International Executives
The Centre’s Director and other coaches work one-on-one with senior international executives who are faced with complex leadership and professional challenges. The methodology of international business coaching is to help people see their environment clearly so that they can utilise strengths and manage interference - leading to increased productivity, satisfaction and happiness. The relationship between individual and organisational results is given prominence.
Programs typically extend over six to twelve months and commence with an extended two hour session where the major issues and challenges are discussed. In the next session, the coaching objectives are refined. The remaining sessions are structured towards maximising the opportunities for utilising potential towards agreed goals. Other key stakeholders are involved in the coaching in ways that are appropriate to the organisational situation. For example, the coaching program will generally include a three way discussion between the coach, the coachee and the coachee’s supervisor/manager. Where matrix and other management structures are in place, different meetings and interactions are constructed that will facilitate desired outcomes.
The Centre does not support open ended coaching programs. Individual coaching programs are ‘chunked’, meaning that after an agreed number of sessions, the coaching stops and the outcomes reviewed. Later, there may be a new ‘chunk’ which commences when action and learning have been completed based on the previous program.
Assessment tools are used with discretion. The Centre uses the Harrison Paradox Assessment tool because it provides a way of exploring how individuals are dealing with some core paradoxes and tensions that tend to be common across complex international environments. Other standard psychometrics are used such as the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and the Reuven Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i). However, the interpretation of data is done with reference to contextual influences.
Each of the Centre’s coaches has unique skills and talents in the area of international business coaching and consulting. Contact us for more information about how we can meet your individual needs and ensure that you get the expertise you need.
High Level Coaching Support for Global Leadership Development
The Centre provides support for existing corporate leadership development programs in international business environments. We are aware that leadership programs can be of limited value if not supported by action learning coaching interventions. Too often, expensive one, two or even month-long programs are delivered with appropriate follow-up. The Centre can provide teams of coaches who can provide group and individual coaching support that assists participants to embed learning. Importantly, our coaches are able to take advantage of cultural differences that inevitably exist within multinational leadership teams. Our observation is that many companies overlook the possibilities of leveraging differences within leadership groups.
Cultural and Systemic Change
The Centre’s expertise is to assist rather than drive organisational change initiatives. We work with high level organisational project teams to assist them in generating creative and constructive conversations across organisations that can support cultural and system change. Many excellent programs flounder because employees across many locations and levels do not engage with the major elements of the change process. The Centre’s coaches work alongside executives to assist them in facilitating conversations that can engage people with change processes. We adapt Appreciative Inquiry strength-based change models to ensure a fit between change processes and organisations. We avoid linear ‘packaged’ step approaches to change. At the same time, we are committed to highly structured interventions that are contextually mapped onto existing systems, structures and cultures in organisations.
Support Through Mergers and Acquisitions
The Centre has considerable knowledge in the field of international mergers and acquisitions. This has been accumulated through coaching experiences with players in ‘real-time’ as high pressure deals play out. Our experience suggests that coaches can play an invaluable part in assisting participants to stay grounded in what is often an emotionally-charged environment. Geoffrey Abbott has authored a chapter on coaching through mergers and acquisitions with includes suggestions on when and how coaches can be of value. [click through to Chapter 18 Summary in Routledge Companion Chapter summaries]
Values-based Organisational Change
Most organisations have espoused values. Few organisations work on a close fit between their values and the behaviours they encourage among executives and other employees. This kind of misfit can be very damaging. Research by Geoffrey Abbott and others has found that there is a link between the commitment of employees to organisations and the values that are supported by organisations. Further, organisations that tend to favour values of creativity, independence, curiosity, tolerance, social justice, honesty and community, will gender greater commitment from employees than those that give prime attention to bottom line considerations. The Centre will provide a structured and tailored program, in partnership with organisational teams, that can assist in turning empty value statements into powerful mechanisms for motivating employees, improving productivity and building strong organisational communities. The methodology for mobilising values is to facilitate creative conversations that encourage transparency about what is important to individuals and teams on a personal and professional level. We use rigorous qualitative techniques to capture the learnings from conversations and assist in structuring ongoing processes for keeping organisational behaviour consistent with organisational values.
International Business Coach-Mentoring and Supervision
The Centre’s Director is an experienced and skilled coach-mentor and supervisor. He has delivered coach training programs in seven countries and provided coach-mentoring services to coaches from over 15 countries. Geoffrey can provide coach-mentoring by phone or face-to-face and assist coaches to apply knowledge from diverse coach-training programs. Coach-mentoring programs are typically run over twelve months, with monthly sessions.
There is a blurred line between coach supervision and mentoring. Coaches who prefer a supervisory emphasis will typically focus on specific coach-coachee relationships. Those who choose a mentoring role will be seeking a broader engagement around their coaching business.
Leader-as-Coach Training
Global leaders face special challenges. Increasingly, coaching is being utilised as a leadership style. The Centre follows a situational leadership model, meaning that coaching is one of a number of approaches that a great leader will have in his or her repertoire. Daniel Goleman’s seminal article on
The Centre works with organisations to provide training programs for executives in how to incorporate International Business Coaching methodologies into their leadership approaches. Paradoxically, in some organisational contexts, the use by leaders of traditional western coaching methodologies can result in reduced rather than enhanced effectiveness. Our expertise is in assisting leaders to use coaching methodologies that are tailored to their particular situations.
Global Virtual Team Coaching
Virtual Teams are an essential element of any modern business - but when people are working across cultures and timeframes an abundance of issues arise in the form of management challenges. From the often overlooked impact of late night overseas calls to the complex intricacies of cultural practices and international business norms, many companies are not meeting this facet of globalization´s many demands. The Centre provides coaching or workshops to entire teams or individual members to enhance performance. The focus is on five areas:
- Leadership
- Culture
- Communication
- Common Purpose
- Trust.
Geoffrey Abbott is the author of a chapter on Coaching With Global Virtual Teams in the Routledge Companion. Click here for a summary. He is also a contributor to the Virtual Teams section of the Cultural Detective series. www.culturaldetective.com This series provides rich material for individuals and teams who working with cultural differences.
Expatriate Executive and Expatriate Family Coaching
Expatriate executives face unique challenges. The Centre uses an evidence-based model for assisting individuals and families to explore the emotional, cognitive and behavioural dimensions of the sojourn experience. The coaching process is tailored over nine distinctive phases of the expatriate assignment [click through to chapter 12 summary]
Timing is everything in expatriate coaching. The Centre has expertise in assisting executives in determining when coaching can make the maximum impact. Generally, expatriate coaching will expand beyond traditional forms of coaching to appropriate work across the professional and the personal.
Action Research Projects
The Centre views coaching as a form of action research. Geoffrey Abbott is a skilled qualitative researcher and will assist organisations to generate structured coaching-method conversations to investigate key corporate issues in a structured way. The Centre’s coaches will work in-situ with the organisation as ‘friendly outsiders’ to participate in creating solutions that are contextually appropriate.