Resources

Photo by Pramod Kumar Sharma on Unsplash What's the big idea? Helping clients become more aware of patterns in their lives empowers them to change their relationship to topics that create issues for them in various domains of life, not just the one that is currently keeping them stuck. What’s a core distinction/tension here? A core distinction is between what a clients sees as an immediate problem or surface issue to be tackled and the deeper topic in which it is rooted which

Photo by Veri Ivanona on Unsplash What's the big idea? How we experience time is different during different stages of our lives but also in the same stage but different parts of our lives. Being skilful with how we ‘use’ time means both being aware of our current assumptions and habits with regard to time and making appropriate adjustments. What’s a core distinction/tension here? On a clock, each second is indistinguishable from another. But in our experience of time, not all

Photo by Jonathan Bell on Unsplash What's the big idea? You may have heard the terms ‘horizontal’ or ‘vertical development’ used and wondered what the distinction between them is and also the relationship of integral coaching to them. What’s a core distinction/tension here? Horizontal Development  focuses on adding new skills, knowledge, and competencies—essentially increasing what you know or what you can do. It’s focused on developing external capabilities, usually tied to

Photo by Suryaansh Maithani  on Unsplash What's the big idea? EPQ’s - Essential Positive Qualities - are the highest human traits, behaviours, and values. For some, they represent facets of the divine within us and are the birthright of our essential nature. Uncovering these qualities within supports individuals to be happier, healthier, and more fulfilled. It also helps us build stronger, more supportive relationships and inspires cooperation, innovation, and peace when we w

Photo by Renny Gamarra  on Unsplash What's the big Idea? Integral coaching is a ‘holistic’ approach and for some, this word is too ‘granola’, for others overused and for still others just confusing. So how could we explain the ‘holistic’ nature of integral coaching without saying ‘holistic’? What’s a core distinction/tension here? We could explain integral coaching as ‘coaching the whole person’ rather than ‘coaching the problem’, maybe expanding upon that to say we include e

What's the big idea? Integral Coaching™, created by New Ventures West , includes ideas and frameworks from Integral Philosophy / Integral Thinking Whereas In coaching, we use these integral frameworks to ensure a ‘ whole person,   whole context, whole journey’  approach, rather than focusing on a coachee’s ‘problems’, outside of coaching Integral thinking can be a powerful toolkit to bring to life. What’s a core distinction/tension here? Einstein once observed:

What's the big idea? Many developmental coaches, particularly Integral developmental coaches may feel that 'performance coaching' is...

Lesson #1 : It's not about the methodology What some are calling the coach industrial complex,  is a mixture of untrained 'coaches' and graduates from a forest of different schools who have ‘named, claimed and framed’ specific coaching methodologies. Keen to develop, would-be coaches pick their way through the forest, trying to figure out which schools to choose and then what to discard and what to integrate from what we learn. Yet research has shown that it's not the tools a

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? The ICF core competencies include a whole domain on co-creating the relationship . At Bamboo Being, we believe that how we ‘show up’ either fosters co-creative relationships or gets in the way of them. Integral Coaching places a significant emphasis on a coach's way of being, believing it's central to fostering effective and transformative coaching relationships. The idea of ‘way of being’ goes beyond techniques and what we say or do in coaching session

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Coaching is a quickly evolving field with a bewildering array of approaches. Coach training schools are the ‘driving schools’ of coaching, preparing coaches for credentials but often with little depth in the philosophy of coaching overall. Academic institutions teach theories and survey the field- but often with little practice. It can be difficult to reconcile what we learn from different types of training - not to mention all the books, podcasts and

This blog is intended for coaches and trainee coaches looking to deepen their capability and confidence in coaching. WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT James Flaherty, the founder of Integral Coaching, writes in his book “Coaching, Evoking excellence in Others” that relationship is the first and most important operating principle in coaching. The ICF core competencies include a whole domain on co-creating the relationship . At Bamboo Being, we believe the relationship is the ground from w

WHAT IS THIS ABOUT? Without a strong foundation, a building is weak and unstable and at risk of falling down. In a coaching engagement we can think of the strong foundation as how we create and maintain the engagement itself and the two elements that the ICF core competencies call "Foundation” are demonstrating ethical practice and embodying a coaching mindset. In this post we will explore ethical practice. WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Ethical practice protects both client and co

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Even though we may spend much of our days speaking with others, as coaches we are there for our clients' stories, agendas and challenges. This can be emotionally and cognitively taxing and the duty of confidentiality may have us feel alone in this emotional labour. Increasingly, coaching bodies and institutions are recognising the need for coaches to have safe spaces to discuss their client work. All major coaching associations such as the ICF , EMCC

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? We are living through a time of great uncertainty which is bringing stress to most of us and trauma to many. Whilst clients may come for coaching to clarify and navigate the next steps in their professional and personal development, it is not uncommon for them in the process to uncover areas of acute or chronic psychological pain. Why is it important for us to recognise both the benefits and limits of coaching in supporting those experiencing psychologi

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Our clients bring issues they want to address, area in which they feel stuck or goals they wish to achieve and it can be tempting to offer well-meaning advice - indeed sometimes they outright ask for it. Why is it important to resist? Firstly, from the perspective of the ICF, although advising is not considered unethical per se, it may give rise to 'dual roles' which are tricky to navigate. Imagine your client follows advice and suffers some type of los

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? As Integral Coaches, we learn the huge role language has in shaping human experience. Giving a name to something makes a distinction, bringing the thing we describe into the foreground of our awareness and giving shape to our experience of it. The term 'languishing' went viral during the COVID pandemic, arguably because it captured what many were experiencing but struggling to describe. Having a name for it helped us better relate to the experience, al