We are so pleased to welcome Dr Paul Lawrence to the EMCC community, with congratulations not just for his new EMCC Global Master Practitioner accreditation but also for being awarded Individual Team Coach Accreditation (ITCA), EMCC Global Supervision Individual Accreditation (ESIA) at the same time.
Shortly after his individual triple accreditation, his coaching programme at Leading Systematically in Australia was awarded an EMCC Global Team Coaching Quality Award (TCQA) for its strength and content.
Paul, an author and also an honorary research associate at Oxford Brookes University, was drawn to EMCC during his research for his book The Wise Team Coach, during which he spoke with our VP of Accreditation and Membership Denise Whitworth to better understand EMCC Global’s approach to team coaching and team coaching competency frameworks.
Until then, he had not had much contact with EMCC – although he had been involved in leading the ICF in New South Wales, and helped to establish the Association for Coaching there too.
Comparing and contrasting the three organisations’ approaches, he found a great synergy with Denise’s description of EMCC’s approach for honouring coaches and mentors’ individual learning and development.
He said:
“My own view is that coaching competencies can be a double-edged sword. They can be helpful to new coaches in helping them to quickly understand what is expected of a professional coach and what kinds of foundational skills they may want to focus on developing. But there is lots of research to suggest that to adhere exclusively to a competency/skills framework in seeking to become a better coach is to oversimplify what is demanded of a coach in today’s complex world and indeed can stifle the kind of innovation and creativity we all need to explore in seeking to push the boundaries of coaching.
“In talking to Denise I was delighted to hear how the EMCC Global frames its accreditation processes through at least a similar lens, talking more about performance indicators than competencies, a performance indicator being ‘intended only as guidance i.e. as a set of reference points to encourage ongoing dialogue and learning’. It is this genuine commitment to ongoing learning that draws me to EMCC, versus a philosophy that says I must frame all my learning around other people’s convictions as to how coaches should behave. All the industry competency frameworks are, after all, based on an analysis of how other coaches currently operate. There is scant evidence to connect these behaviours directly to outcomes.
“As a consequence I applied for my ITCA, EIA, ESIA and accreditation in all one go, and shortly after our team coaching program was bestowed TCQA status. I’m still very watchful as to the significance people in our industry assign to competency frameworks, conscious that the impact of these frameworks can be both helpful and deeply unhelpful, but happy that for now EMCC seems to be one of my tribes, and I look forward to getting to know the EMCC community better over the next months and years.”
Denise said:
“We are delighted to welcome Paul to the ‘tribe’ and congratulate him on his individual triple accreditation – including Master Practitioner – and for his programme accredition. Master Practitioner accreditation is reserved for people who have demonstrated they are not only working at the highest degrees of professionalism, but who have also furthered thinking and contributed to the development of the broader fields of mentoring, coaching and leadership. Paul’s thoughtful consideration of theory and practice combine with acknowedgement of lived experience and we look forward to his continued contribution across multiple areas of interest.”
Connect with Dr Paul Lawrence:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paullawrenceaustralia/
https://www.leadingsystemically.com
https://teamleaderim.com
https://systems5ways.com