“Having been in coaching and mentoring for three decades, it takes a unique text to stop me in my tracks and go “wow!” This book does that.” 
Margaret Chapman-Clarke (2017)

A chartered and registered psychologist, EI Coaching and Consulting, mc@eicoaching.co.uk

the good coach (tgc) itself is a Voice, along with the Voices of our practitioner authors telling us their stories directly from their practice.

Our aim of getting practitioners Voices more appreciated for the knowledge they have about their practice, has itself been receiving strong encouragement in recent months. We thought it worthy to share something of how tgc’s Voice is working.

Since the publication of Book Two last year we have received quite an array of formal and informal feedback, on how tgc’s Voice is working. Some of this we have already shared through the medium of the website. Just the same as for us as coaches in our personal practice, feedback on what is working positively – how and why – is so formative in establishing practice.

In particular this has helped tgc to build its practice. Three themes have been coming through clearly. They are experienced professional coaching practitioners:

1. Who do coaching but choose not to call it coaching

2. Who do coaching but had never realised it was coaching

3. Who do coaching at a high level but they are looking for how to explain it. They value the opportunity tgc provides to continuously learn about their practice. The more experienced they are the more they value this

In a noisy marketplace, the growing momentum for fresh and independent perspectives. This is a message coming through loudly and clearly from the coaching academic and increasingly professional circles.  

One thing we would like to share here is some feedback we have recently received, which adds greater encouragement to our progress. The feedback itself comes from another independent and leading Voice in our field that aims to bring the best in coaching together.

Coaching at Work, whilst being UK based, has a following of what must be one of the largest international communities of people interested in coaching. For example their publication Coaching at Work speaks of the 36,000 followers they encourage via social media, as well the need to connect to the wider community.

The most recent book from tgc has been selected by Coaching at Work for a book review in their March / April issue. This has been written by a recognised leading Voice in the field, Margaret Chapman-Clarke, who is featured on the cover and the lead interview article in the same issue, “The one that got away”

This in itself is invaluable feedback. It is an outstanding endorsement for what tgc stands for, what we have achieved, and for the perspectives our authors have brought. See the full book review on page 57 at Coaching at Work (subscription)

The special focus, and emphasis, seen and described in this review will further focus how the tgc community will continue to shape its voice. In particular, how writing adds important energy and focus for coaching practitioners, in their practice. As Margaret Chapman-Clarke remarks,

“It is a true collaborative and multi-vocal work. It is creative, bold and courageous and should be the ‘go to’ title (and blog) for anyone embarking on coach training. It may also inspire practitioners to write about their experiences for the blog.”

We look forwards to your continuing interest in what we are doing and we look forward to hearing from you.

the good coach 2017 Leadership Team: Sue Young, Jeremy Ridge, Yvonne Thackray