Introduction

Summary

This book, The Theory and Practice of Creative Coaching, seeks to discuss and review new and exciting ways of coaching individuals in organizations and communities. Although this book predominantly focuses on the field of executive coaching and executive coaches, it covers the wider field of practical coaching in all its spheres. Coaching is interlinked with many other organizational study topics (e.g. leadership, team working, motivation and modernization of the workplace). Much of the theoretical and practical writing about coaching could be dominated by the use of coaching models and their application to goal-orientated coaching and similar solution-focused approaches. Less work has been undertaken to explore the human basis for this work. Taking its inspiration from a wide range of sources, such as philosophy and the practical joys of nature, this 11-chapter book will seek to address some theoretical and practical gaps in the ways in which practice unfolds. This is not a coaching manual as such but more of a personal description of a journey of learning both from an academic point of view and a deeply personal view of coaching, leadership and learning. It is also a guide and stimulus to thinking about individual approaches to coaching practice. By outlining and stimulating thinking about the ‘nitty-gritty’ of this very human activity, this book aims to influence practice by offering a plethora of new or adapted ideas. These new ideas, approaches and ways of thinking can then be used by the reader to develop flexibility in their approaches in a way that is conducive to unleashing the potential of other human beings. In addition, this publication will challenge some commonly held views in the coaching world and encourage experimentation, debate and alternative approaches to the art of executive coaching, and coaching in general, as practised in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Much of study and thinking that fuelled this approach has been undertaken against the backdrop of exploiting theory in the context of ongoing practice (the author is a UK-qualified executive coach at Level 7 and a senior lecturer in a UK university). A creative approach to coaching has been undertaken while working with individuals in a broad range of organizations, both large and small, in the four nations of the United Kingdom as well as with a wider audience in large multinational companies across Europe.