Articles and Insights
Have I got what it takes to be an ICF coach?
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where colleagues, family, or friends turn to you for advice, support, or guidance? Maybe you hold a natural inclination to motivate others, or you have a knack for helping people unlock their potential. If you resonate with...
Coaching Methodology: T-GROW for Effective Coaching
This blog is part of our coaching methodologies series, where we discuss different frameworks coaches use to help clients grow. Sometimes, clients or employees might ask about the method or framework you use so it's important to be clear about your approach so people...
Exploring Different Types of Executive Coaching | Bailey Balfour
Have you ever encountered a challenging career roadblock and had no one you could consult for good advice? Most of us grapple with the heavy decisions we need to make at work and share them with our peers. However, not everyone is aware of the transformative influence...
Five Steps to Get Your Job Promotion
Imagine this scenario You have dedicated yourself tirelessly day in and day out, ensuring you complete all your tasks promptly. You extend a helping hand to your colleagues, often without your managers even being aware of it. Your loyalty to your company remains...
How to Become an ICF Accredited Coach
In this article, we'll be explaining how to get you on your way to achieving your ICF accreditation. In today's modern world, coaching has risen to prominence as a highly sought-after skill that holds significant value for both organisations and their executives and...
How to Coach for Action and Accountability
"When the student is ready the teacher will appear. When the student is truly ready… The teacher will disappear" - Lao Tzu Part of being an effective leader is helping people identify how to move things toward completion and the actions they could take. In...
The Power of Open Curiosity in Coaching
By embracing curiosity, leaders set the stage for open and honest dialogue, where people feel comfortable sharing their ideas, concerns, and ambitions.
Overcoming Burnout: Leveraging the Power of Glimmers
I love my early morning walks, always feeling grateful for getting up with an early alarm to head out to walk along the river. This morning I saw a bird. And I really mean “saw” - not out of the corner of my eye but with my full awareness. I heard a rustle in the...
10 Root Causes of Feeling Overwhelmed | Bailey Balfour
I believe many of us are feeling overwhelmed. I also think that when we are feeling overwhelmed it is easy to suggest that it is because we have too much to do. In our fast-paced and demanding work environments, it's not uncommon to feel overwhelmed from time to time....
Transitioning from Full-Time Job to Coaching Business: A Guide | Bailey Balfour
This is a great question and I’ve heard a lot of our students asking when it’s a good time to make a switch. More than 20 years ago, I decided to make the switch to start my own executive coaching business. It was definitely the right decision for me. And it has been...
10 ways to more effective listening and presence | Bailey Balfour
I believe that one of the greatest gifts we give others is our presence. Being in the present and in the moment with someone, can be the most profound thing we do in any working day. I also believe that in many ways, being really present and listening intently is...
Leading Leaders – Why Coaching is Important | Bailey Balfour
If you are fortunate, there may be a person who comes to mind when you think of the word “leader.” If you're extremely fortunate, you might even recall a handful of such individuals in your lifetime! One thing we know for sure is that the leaders that people...
My Journey of Becoming a Master Certified Executive Coach
I thought I’d share my story of how I got into executive coaching. I’d never set out to be an executive coach or even pursue coaching as a career. And yet here I am, 15 years later a master certified coach and also the Founder of a coach training academy, training...
A Guide to Your Journey in Bailey Balfour’s Alumni Network
If you’re looking to complete your ICF (International Coaching Federation) credentials for ACC and PCC, here’s why you should join our coach training academy. Joining our esteemed alumni group marks the beginning of an exciting chapter filled with opportunities for...
Ep. #75 Values: The North Star of Your Career
Making sense of work Ep. #75 Values: The North Star of Your Career Have you ever taken a moment to reflect on your career values? It's a practice that often gets overlooked amid the hustle of our daily lives. However, these values serve as the underlying motivation...
Emotional Intelligence and the Future of Work | Bailey Balfour
Emotional intelligence isn't all about being sweet and chipper, says Harvard psychologist and researcher Daniel Goleman. So what is emotional intelligence? Let's find out. Emotional Intelligence is the capacity to recognise our own feelings and those of others, and to...
Ep. #58 The Power of Mindfulness and Presence with Helen Williams
Making sense of work Ep. #58 The Power of Mindfulness and Presence with Helen Williams To truly change the culture at a workplace, we must embark on an inner journey of self-transformation, and mindfulness. As the saying goes, "If you want to change the world, first...
Ep. #73 Marking Life’s Important Milestones
Making sense of work Ep. #73 Marking Life's Important Milestones Frequently, significant events like birthdays can indeed lead us to contemplate what we haven't achieved, our past mistakes, and our regrets. And they occasionally pull us into negative thoughts. Today's...
How to Influence People at Work
How good are you at influencing others? It's essential to recognize that we influence people constantly throughout our daily lives, often without even realizing it. Whether it's convincing a two-year-old to go to bed or persuading a colleague to collaborate on a...
Navigating Difficult Conversations
Prefer to listen to Jean? Listen to this blog as a podcast here:Navigating Difficult Conversations When I'm coaching senior leaders, I often ask them what the hardest part of their job is, and they'll mostly tell me that it's having those difficult...
11 Ways to be Happy and Successful at Work
I have a big birthday coming up. A very big one. And I think because of that, I've been thinking a lot about what I've come to learn about work. Work is so important in my life. It's a central feature of who I am. And I got thinking about what I believe to be true...
An Introduction to ICF Mentor Coaching
What’s mentor coaching and why should any coach need it? In this blog, we'll explore what you can expect in an ICF mentor coaching group and how it can benefit your coaching career. Mentor coaching is an essential component in the journey of becoming a certified coach...
Make Your Presence Known at Work
"Presence is the capacity to have your attention simultaneously on yourself and another (or others). Deep presence requires feeling all of your own sensations whilst also actively tuning into people around you.” - Amanda Blake Presence is perhaps the most intangible...
Your Comprehensive Guide to Coaching Accreditations
Do coaching qualifications hold a critical role in becoming a coach? Amidst the abundance of leadership development training and executive programmes available, we might wonder if the pursuit of a formal coaching qualification is truly essential and if it makes you...
Why is a Coaching Qualification Important?
Wonder if a career in coaching is for you and if you should attain a qualification? Are you unsure if it'll be worth it? Truth is, at the heart of it, anyone can coach without a certification. But what sets good from great coaches is in the coach’s ability. And...
The Key to Building Trust at Work
"Trust is not built in big, sweeping moments. It’s built in tiny moments every day.” - Brené Brown. Have you ever been in a role where you couldn’t trust the people you worked with? Where they said one thing and did another. I certainly have. I can still remember the...
Empathy at the Work can be Simple
"Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life." - Jackie Chan Empathy at work is our ability to stand in the shoes of the people we are working with, to see things from their perspective and to show this through thoughtfulness and...
Journalling for Personal and Professional Growth – 7 Reasons to Journal
The most common recommendation I offer coaching clients to support the coaching process is to start journalling. I first started writing a journal when I was 22 and left New Zealand to travel. I still have that journal in a precious box full of old journals. I took...
Mastering 3-Min Coaching Conversations
In essence, a coaching conversation is one where we invite the person to think for themselves. We come believing they are resourceful, capable, thoughtful.
Ep. #54 Building a Growth Mindset
Making sense of work Ep. #54 Building a Growth Mindset What is your approach to learning something new? Are you able to adopt a growth mindset and approach it with excitement and opportunity? Or do you see it as a challenge which feels too difficult? In the latest...
How do I find time to coach as a manager?
Programme Director, Coach Certification Programme Share So often when I am running a coaching skills workshop, a manager will say to me: “I don’t have time to coach. Using a coaching approach takes longer and we are all so time pressured”. I empathise with them. Our...
Podcast: A Journey of Starting as a Coach with Carole Lewis
Making sense of work Ep. #48 A Journey of Starting as a Coach with Carole Lewis Have you ever found yourself curious about why people do what they do and how they tackle life's obstacles? Do you wonder how you could really help them, see them change for the better,...
Ep. #40 The Gift of Feedback – Even if it Hurts!
Making sense of work Ep. #40 The Gift of Feedback - Even if it Hurts! How much do you welcome feedback? Most of us know that feedback is helpful and yet it can often been difficult to accept. In this episode Jean share her own experience of taking feedback badly -...
Ep. #8 Nine Ways to be Politically Savvy at Work
Making sense of work Ep. #8 Nine Ways to be Politically Savvy at Work All organisations are inherently political. However, many people would rather not engage in politics at work as it often has negative connotations. In this episode Jean Balfour introduces the...
Ep. #4 Self Awareness
Making sense of work Ep. #4 Self Awareness This is the first in a series of episodes about the importance of self awareness in our working lives. One of the things that Jean has learned over 30 years of consulting is how much being self-aware is important in our...
Ep. #1 Finding Your Purpose
Making sense of work Ep. #1 Finding Your Purpose We hear a lot about the importance of having a clear sense of purpose. Yet for many people it can be difficult to know what their purpose is - or even if it really matters. In this episode Jean explores the idea of...
How to Increase your Self Confidence
Are there times when you struggle with a lack of confidence? Does imposter syndrome kick in? Do you experience a loud inner critic? Does this stop you from performing at your best at work? For many of us this is true. Most people experience moments of low self...
6 Ways of Finding your Purpose
A lot if written about living a purposeful life and career. Yet it can be hard sometimes to know how to discover your purpose. What do I mean by purpose? It is knowing ‘why’ we are doing something. It may be that what I am doing aligns with my values or what...
How to Develop a Growth Mindset
Think back to the last time you got a new phone, or there was a software update on something you use daily. I imagine that if you are like me you had some initial resistance to learning how to use it. You didn’t give up! You tried a few things, some worked, others...
Leader as Coach in a Virtual World
Leader as Coach - How do I do this virtually? One area that my coaching clients still struggle with is how to be an effective coach to their employees in this new world. Many have had enough of working remotely and they miss the informal coaching conversations, along...
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Learn more about Bailey Balfour, who we are, our values, and how 22 years of executive coaching experience inspired our acclaimed IFC accredited training programmes. Meet our faculty and discover why you might like to learn with us.
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One of the most effective ways to decide whether our programme is the best for you is to experience a short taster – to see what you could expect and get a feel for the different elements of our courses including mentor coaching, our self-directed resources and our learning system. You can enjoy this taster at your own pace at any time so register now.
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Join us in engaging (and free) webinars – from networking to coaching skills, and purposeful questions – there is bound to be an upcoming topic that speaks to you. Register now – and don’t worry – if you can’t make the live session we will send you a recording so that you can enjoy it in your own time.
Making Sense of Work Podcast
How’s Work at the Moment? We all work – and yet we often struggle with work. Even very ambitious people find parts of work difficult. This podcast is for you if you’d like to build a new and better relationships with your working life. Join Jean Balfour and guests as they explore everything to do with our working lives, starting with how do we find our purpose, how do make sense of our organisations and what major movements are we seeing in the workplace today?
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