Institute of Coaching - Internal/Organizational

101 Quick Tips for High-Talent Companies

Danad t Deek — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 05:56:48 +0000

Author:

Summary:

The IOC is pleased to present books authored by our Fellows

The Top-Notch CEO Guide is an outstanding practical handbook for professionals at all levels who want to build great organizations and fulfilling lives." - Barbara Bry, COO, Blackbird Ventures and Founder, Athena San Diego. *** High-talent companies offer top-notch products, services, and innovations. The question for many high-talent companies is how to convert their talent into the profit they deserve. Discover how to convert your talent into more profit through top-notch leadership. Stephie Althouse, PhD, a respected authority on guiding high-talent companies and their people to higher profits, has a proven record of bringing successful companies to the next level and turning around unprofitable companies. She coaches and consults with business leaders, focusing on CEOs, business owners and employee owners (see a second volume in this series coming out specifically for employee owners).

Content Type:

Book Summary

Coaching Specialty:

Leadership, Internal/Organizational Coaching

Resource Topics:

Internal/Organizational

Resource Content Type:

Book

Webinar: Coaching in Education: A Cornerstone for School Improvement

Danad t Deek — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 05:56:48 +0000

Author:

Summary:

This webinar will feature three international leaders in the field of 'coaching in education' - Dr Jim Knight, President, Instructional Coaching Group, Kansas, US; Dr Christian van Nieuwerburgh, Senior Lecturer, Coaching Psychology, University of East London, England and John Campbell, Managing Director, Growth Coaching International, Sydney, Australia.

The webinar will address:

What is coaching in education
Why coaching resonates with the educational community
How coaching works in school contexts around the world
The difference coaching is making
Future trends in coaching in education

There is probably no more important setting for good evidence-based coaching than in the field of education given the foundation role that education plays in our society. In recent years coaching has been enthusiastically embraced by educators in the US, UK and Australia with school and system leaders achieving impressive results through the application of coaching to a range of conversational contexts in school communities.

Content Type:

Video

Coaching Specialty:

Internal/Organizational Coaching

Resource Topics:

Coaching in Education, Internal/Organizational, Webinar

Resource Content Type:

Webinar

Communication Tool #1- The Funneling Technique

Danad t Deek — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 05:56:48 +0000

Author:

Stern, Lew

Summary:

With the Funneling technique you can help clients draw on effective active listening techniques using a visual model. As you see below, it starts at the top of a funnel to represent the importance of starting a discussion with an open mind and open-ended questions. Gradually, the technique moves down the funnel to focus on more and more specific information and conclusions.

Content Type:

Article

Coaching Specialty:

Leadership, Internal/Organizational Coaching

Resource Topics:

Internal/Organizational, Client Engagement, Coaching Tools

Resource Content Type:

Article

Communication Tool #2- Feedback Planning Worksheet

Danad t Deek — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 05:56:48 +0000

Author:

Stern, Lew

Summary:

When people give feedback is often held back or given in the heat of the moment. Other times negative feelings you have about what someone you work with does are stored up over time until the feedback comes out to a degree that is way out of proportion to the current situation.

Most people are less than mindful to actually decide the purpose of giving feedback. If they decide that it would be helpful to do so, they often would benefit from taking the time to plan the “who, what, how, and when” of giving the feedback.

The following Worksheet serves as a guide for a coach to work with a client to be more mindful when they have feelings about what someone has done or is doing and they would like that person to do something different.

Article Content:

The attached article serves as a guide for a coach to work with a client to be more mindful when they have feelings about what someone has done or is doing and they would like that person to do something different.

Content Type:

Article

Coaching Specialty:

Leadership, Internal/Organizational Coaching

Resource Topics:

Internal/Organizational, Coaching Tools, Executive Coaching

Resource Content Type:

Article

Communication Tool #6 - Management Checklist of Sharing Information

Danad t Deek — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 05:56:48 +0000

Author:

Stern, Lew

Summary:

Both new and experienced managers need to continuously learn and revisit what information they need to share with their key constituents (Board members, the leadership team, boss, peers, employees, customers, investors, the public, etc.).

Senior leaders and leadership teams need to focus on vision and strategy with a focus on the big picture and the future. Managers, management teams, and individual professionals need to focus more on tactics, details, and areas of their own areas of specialization or responsibility.

To many experienced leaders the following list is obvious but may not be at the front of their minds. This is especially true when they are extremely busy and don’t take the time to think about what their constituents want and need to know. It is also especially important to regularly and frequently revisit what information needs to be shared at critical moments and in times of significant change.

Sharing information is not a one-way process. Each time information is shared is an opportunity to ask what constituents care and need to know about most, how they respond to the information, and what additional information or messages are important for them to receive.

We hope this checklist helps in how you want to share your information with key constituents.

Content Type:

Article

Coaching Specialty:

Leadership, Internal/Organizational Coaching

Resource Topics:

Internal/Organizational, Client Engagement, Coaching Tools

Resource Content Type:

Article

MasterClass: Coaching in Education - A Cornerstone for School Improvement

Danad t Deek — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 05:56:48 +0000

Author:

Summary:

We were thrilled when one of our Founding Fellows, John Campbell, an education specialist/coach and consultant from Sydney Australia, suggested we dedicate a MasterClass to the fast-emerging field of “coaching in education”. This is especially meaningful as one of our goals at the Institute of Coaching is to expand and diversify our programs, as positive psychology, health, and leadership coaching blossom in new domains – like education.

In this MasterClass, we will hear from Campbell as well as other experts including Dr. Jim Knight, President, Instructional Coaching Group, Kansas, US and Dr. Christian van Nieuwerburgh, Senior Lecturer, Coaching Psychology, University of East London, England as to why they believe there is no more important setting for evidence-based coaching practice than in the field of education, given the foundational role that education plays in our society.

Through a rich portfolio of offerings including coaching science-to-practice “tips”, articles, book reviews, video, and webinar, this MasterClass will teach you to:

Define the field of coaching in education
Describe how coaching works in school contexts around the world
Explain why coaching resonates with the educational community, and
Explore the difference coaching in education is making and future trends in the field.

We invite you to dive right into the rich resources and research laid out in this MasterClass.

Article Content:

From Science to Practice:

Below is a summary of learning points to focus on as you read, reflect, and watch the presentation material of John Campbell, Dr. Jim Knight, and Dr. Christian van Nieuwerburgh.

Schools are complex organizations with multiple stakeholders and harder to measure indicators of success than many corporate organizations.
The impact on student success is an important factor to consider in any coaching or indeed any improvement initiative in schools.
Within the education sector there is still some confusion around definitions of coaching, mentoring, counselling, and instructing.
Leading a large school is a tough, complex leadership role. The challenges school leaders face are often misunderstood and underestimated. As a result, educators are frequently more open to leadership development support from those who have had experience in school leadership roles.
In the education context, coaching can be positioned as a form of one-to-one learning. While the psychology ‘lens’ is helpful and important in informing coaching practice in many contexts, including education, the coaching as ‘one-to-one learning lens’ is a helpful perspective to bring to coaching in the education context.
Coaching resonates with many educators in the way that it highlights practices that are often how they approach their key task – helping young people grow and learn.
There are range of conversational contexts in school communities where coaching can add value not only at the leadership level. Teachers coach each other around teaching practice; teachers coach students both more formally and informally; students coach other students; teachers use coaching approaches in their interactions with parents.
Schools and school systems are increasingly exploring establishing ‘coaching cultures’ – adopting broader, longer term approaches to how coaching might positively impact school effectiveness

Watch as Christian van Nieuwerburgh talks about a research project he led which involved teaching coaching skills to students so they could coach other students:

Content Type:

Premium Resource Type

Coaching Specialty:

Leadership, Internal/Organizational Coaching, Life Coaching

Resource Topics:

Education, Internal/Organizational

Institute Premium Resources:

MasterClasses

Internal vs External Coaching

Danad t Deek — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 05:56:48 +0000

Author:

Hull, Jeffrey

Summary:

As more and more organizations have discovered the potential positive impact of coaching in a wider variety of professional roles, the challenges and cost involved in expanding the number of coaching engagements with external coaches has led to the rise of internal coaching as a sometimes more cost-effective and scalable alternative. Internal coaches provide the same potential benefits, and depending upon the skills and training of the coaches involved, may be equal or even superior to external coaches in certain circumstances. The nature of the coaching engagement, however, is directly impacted by the position of the coach as either an external consultant or internal employee. Both can be successful, but organizations that choose to build coaching programs around internal coaches need to be aware of the potential pitfalls and challenges involved when the boundaries between coach and coachee are not as clearly defined as in an external consultant relationship. In particular, issues of confidentiality, sensitive feedback and/or team boundaries must be addressed when internal coaching is used. When it is important for the coach to have a particular expertise or background (e.g. executive-level management skills), an external coach may be more advisable, whereas when knowledge of the history or organizational context/culture is important, an internal coach may be more effective.

The following article from the Society of Industrial-Organizational Psychology outlines the key distinctions and issues to be addressed in determining the best route, whether external or internal:

Article Content:

1. Much has been written on the subject of executive coaching; describing what it is, what benefits result from it, when to use it, and how to measure its effectiveness. In most cases, these discussions focus on executive coaching provided by external consultants. Increasingly, however, organizations are turning to internal coaching. This unique form of the coaching practice warrants special attention as a new business practice with unique benefits and potential pitfalls.

2. The intent of this article is not to position either internal or external coaching as superior to the other. In internal and external coaching, the work as well as the background, credentials, and approach of the coaches can be identical. Our objective, therefore, is to highlight some of the situations that might warrant the use of one form over the other. We will also point out some unique challenges faced by internal coaches and offer suggestions for effectively overcoming them.

3. There are a number of situations in which external coaching would be a more effective approach to supporting an executive. These situations include supporting clients at the top of the organization, coaching when there is a culture of low trust, or where there is a poor expectation of success (i.e., when coaching is used as a last ditch effort to improve performance or when the organization looks to provide evidence that it is making a good-faith effort to address legal liabilities). In particular, external coaches are most appropriate when political neutrality, maximum objectivity and the highest levels of confidentiality are critical to the success of the coaching engagement. From a practical standpoint, external coaches are likely to provide a broader and deeper array of experience and other factors that influence fit between the coach and coachee in terms of personality, functional expertise, geography, or even age, gender or ethnic background for the organization to match to individual coaching needs. They also can provide filler to internal coaching capabilities, particularly when the need is short-term.

Content Type:

Article

Coaching Specialty:

Internal/Organizational Coaching

Resource Topics:

Internal/Organizational

Resource Content Type:

Article

Coaching Models for Leadership and Optimal Performance

Danad t Deek — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 05:56:48 +0000

Author:

Hull, Jeffrey

Summary:

There are many different models employed by coaches worldwide to reap positive results with clients. However, with most coaching engagements there are at least five distinct stages that are followed, including:

Article Content:

Contracting-Rapport Building
Need Identification/Assessment
Goal Setting
Development Plan/Action Plan
Support Practices
Follow-up/Evaluation

As an example, one of the most common coaching models, developed in the late 1908's in the United Kingdom, is called the GROW model and consists of the following stages:

The GROW model (or process) is a simple method for goal setting and problem solving. It was developed in the United Kingdom and was used extensively in corporate coaching in the late 1980s and 1990s.

There have been many claims to authorship of GROW as a way of achieving goals and solving problems. While no one person can be clearly identified as the originator, Graham Alexander, Alan Fine, and Sir John Whitmore all made significant contributions.[1] Max Landsberg also describes GROW in his book The Tao of Coaching.[2] Other similar models include collaborative helping maps in family therapy [3] and Gabriele Oettingen's WOOP model.[4]

For more information on the application of the GROW model and other models for coaching in leadership and healthcare, we recommend the following Institute resources.

Content Type:

Article

Coaching Specialty:

Leadership, Internal/Organizational Coaching

Resource Topics:

Internal/Organizational, GROW

Resource Content Type:

Article

When to Use an Internal Coach

Danad t Deek — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 05:56:48 +0000

Author:

Hull, Jeffrey

Summary:

There are a number of situations, however, in which internal coaching might be preferred, including:

Article Content:

1. Need for greater reliability and consistency in approach. The title executive coach is not regulated, and as a result, training, credentials, and approach can vary widely. If an organization has a need for consistency and a need to ensure that the corporate mission, vision, and values are routinely incorporated into executive coaching programs, carefully selected internal coaches may be the preferred and certainly more cost effective option.

2. Financial constraints. The unfortunate realities of the current economy include an inability of organizations to invest in many areas of the business (particularly development) and a need to maintain extremely tight cost controls. When cost is a major consideration, internal coaching can be an appealing option for executive development. It is not uncommon for an external coaching arrangement for a company to cost twice as much as an internal coaching option for the same situation.

3. Quicker, more efficient integration and system-level interventions. Internal coaches have the opportunity to quickly identify and address needs for improved alignment within a specific management chain. Internal coaches are also uniquely equipped to help organizations work across organizational lines and break down silos, as they know many of the executive decision makers as well as their thinking and strategies for succeeding in the marketplace. Finally, internal coaches have a level of access to information about an organizations culture, politics, challenges, strengths, and values that often take months of research for an external coach to learn. Internal coaches, therefore, are able to provide more real-time feedback and to understand the complex contextual factors affecting the behavior of their executive clients, their teams, and internal as well as external customers.

Content Type:

Article

Coaching Specialty:

Internal/Organizational Coaching

Resource Topics:

Internal/Organizational

Resource Content Type:

Article

Mini-MasterClass: Coaching Essentials: Chemistry Meeting - Part II

Danad t Deek — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 05:56:48 +0000

Author:

Stern, Lew

Summary:

We often meet with a client before deciding whether to proceed forward. At times this is to allow the client to choose who, as a coach, is best for them. The chemistry meetings described here are for a executive coaching engagements. However, the concepts are equally useful and applicable for life and health coaches.

We offers you a detailed list of 11 agenda items for a first meeting as well as an extensive Coaching Chemistry Checksheet (under Related Resources at the bottom of the page). Decide for yourself which items are useful. There is also a wide range of approaches to initial sessions. David Peterson, for example, has the one sentence beginning, "How can I be of most service to you right now." Whether your strengths are structured or emergent, these items are useful for thinking about or planning a session.

This MasterClass is the second in our Coaching Essentials series. To learn more, please see Mini-MasterClass: Coaching Essentials: Client Engagement - Part I.

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The Chemistry Meeting

The Chemistry meeting is where you and the potential coachee check to see if you would work well together to accomplish the objectives of the coaching. Contrary to what the term “chemistry” might suggest, although some of the match has to do with the personal chemistry or alignment of your styles, there is a lot more.

The Chemistry Meeting is usually the first time you meet the individual you might be coaching. In some cases it may be the second time you have met, following confirmation that coaching is needed and you are a good candidate. Besides the personal chemistry between the two of you, there is a lot more to be explored in the meeting to establish the likelihood that the working relationship will have a good chance of success.

Agenda and Guidelines for the Chemistry Meeting

Chemistry refers to the positive and negative balance of knowledge, attributes, and abilities of the coach with the learning and communication style and needs of the client and his/her organizational system.

The following is a typical agenda of a Chemistry Check meeting between you and a potential client:

Introduction/purpose of the meeting
Guidelines for confidentiality of this meeting and of the coaching
What the client and the coach have been told by the client’s manager and others about the purpose and objectives of the coaching
The client’s perceived needs and desired outcomes of the coaching
Questions from the client about the coach and how she/he would coach the client
Readiness and motivation of the client for coaching at this time in his life and work
The client’s preferences and what he/she believes he/she needs in coaching and in a coach
How the coach works and can tailor the coaching to the client
Doing live coaching in-the-moment during the meeting to see how it might work
Debriefing the meeting and how each of you feel about the chemistry and the coaching
Agreeing on next steps and follow-up

Content Type:

Premium Resource Type

Coaching Specialty:

Leadership, Health / Well-being, Life Coaching

Resource Topics:

Coaching Basics, Internal/Organizational, Trust, Client Engagement, Coaching Tools

Institute Premium Resources:

MasterClasses

Institute of Coaching - Internal/Organizational

101 Quick Tips for High-Talent Companies

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Resource Topics:

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Webinar: Coaching in Education: A Cornerstone for School Improvement

Coaching Specialty:

Resource Topics:

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Communication Tool #1- The Funneling Technique

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Resource Topics:

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Communication Tool #2- Feedback Planning Worksheet

Coaching Specialty:

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Communication Tool #6 - Management Checklist of Sharing Information

Coaching Specialty:

Resource Topics:

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MasterClass: Coaching in Education - A Cornerstone for School Improvement

From Science to Practice:

Research on Coaching, Chapter 9

How emotionally intelligent are pre-service teachers?

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Internal vs External Coaching

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Coaching Models for Leadership and Optimal Performance

The CHANGE Program: Methodology for comparing interactive Co-Active coaching with a prescriptive lifestyle treatment for obesity

2012 Conference Video: Mapping Science to the Art of Co-Active Coaching

Changing for Good: A Revolutionary Six-Stage Program for Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Your Life Positively Forward

Are there unique leadership models in Asia? Exploring uncharted territory

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Resource Topics:

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When to Use an Internal Coach

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Resource Topics:

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Mini-MasterClass: Coaching Essentials: Chemistry Meeting - Part II

The Chemistry Meeting

Agenda and Guidelines for the Chemistry Meeting

Coaching Specialty:

Resource Topics:

Institute Premium Resources: