In the course of gaining the accreditation of Master Practitioner – Coaching and Mentoring – i was tasked to gain feedback for a wide variety of current and past clients. While these quotes are anonymised, I would be more than happy to put you in touch with a number of these clients to establish whether Daniel’s approach might fit your needs.
You manage effortlessly (ie we don’t even notice). I found your use of a mix of methods and combination of structured and unstructured approaches to discussion particularly welcome. At times, we would work with frameworks informed by management theory; at others we adopted a more open dialogue focused on a scenario or problem
Your equilibrium has ensured that we have maintained pace even at the times when I may have been in search of a shoulder to cry on rather than a coach to help me define a way forward — and yet you have done this without sacrificing your responsiveness in the moment!I I commented as to how animated your facial expressions are when you are engaged in dialogue, expressions that seemed congruent with what you were saying and puzzling over.
One thing I notice in his approach is a consideration for the voice of the client in coaching research, and for attention being paid to the experience of the client; in a research world where typically researches are absorbed with the coach experience often to the neglect of the client.time
Daniel brings clear ethical frameworks and does not breach the boundary between coach and therapist. I have never felt ‘team coached’ – to your credit.
I was struck by his warmth, curiosity, thirst for knowledge and a desire always to seek the wider context for any issue that took his interest.You never judged my weaknesses or itemised my capabilities, but our conversations helped me to a greater understanding of ways in which I can maximise my strengths and mitigate my weaknesses.
During our conversation Dan was very supportive and listened patiently to my small confessions about my past and my life. I felt safe immediately in his company and he instilled an aura of trust and integrity during our time together.
Daniel provided a secure support base where I could share and explore my conflicting ambitions and dreams.Without ever being prescriptive, Daniel coached us by always displaying his respect and appreciation for each team member’s personal style, preferences and knowledge.
Daniel works well with the dynamics that arose from specific difficult situations and difficult people. You encouraged me to start out by venting my anxieties in a free-flowing way to relieve the pressure caused by the problem, and then skilfully prompted me to unpick the motivations and dynamics almost scientifically, and then to identify and examine my options.
In coaching sessions with Daniel, I hesitatingly mentioned my vague discontent, as well as the embarrassing fact that I was not even able to fathom or verbalise it. With respect and empathy, Daniel supported me through this confusing time. You were always an exceptionally good listener and knew when to allow me to find my own way through a problem and when to intervene with a question or challenge that would make me revisit the situation in a different way. You have also been willing and open to listen to many ideas, and honest about how you felt about them too. above all of this your approach is fun and playful so that we haven’tgotten lost in an intensity around knowledge, intellect or ideas, but wehave been able to openly critique, and challenge in the discussions.
As a coaching practitioner, I believe in the need for coaches to remain open to new approaches. After all, no one technique is going to suit all clients. At the same time, I think it is important that coaches work from informed theoretical perspectives. Dan’s case study is an exemplar of how this can be achieved and how the learning can be made accessible to other coaches. This paradigm shift has been helped as you have been able to bring to the discussion a wide range of different source material and models that have helped me redefine my opinions and understanding as the transition has progressed
One method that you used which was unique and highly effective was employing a ventriloquising form of creative writing to feed back my own observations to me. You used this sparingly, but it inevitably led to breakthroughs in my understanding of my approach to problems and situations at work. I was particularly impressed by what this revealed about my tone of voice as well as my motivation in approaching difficult work scenarios.
Managing the power balance – and how the writing affects this how it allows the power balance to flow – fascinating. Following that first meeting exploring my free-writing Dan continued to support my writing and encouraged me through out this process, to not only find confidence in my writing, but also to find confidence in expressing my feelings.He was there at the beginning to tell me (I will never forget this) “just write John” in a calm and reassuring way and he was there for me during some difficult patches to hold my hand and take me through a labyrinth of choices and decisions. To this day I thoroughly enjoy our correspondence and I know I can always rely on Dan to receive excellent and welcoming advice.For my part, this has inspired me to work differently in the combination of my writing and my visual work.
Our interaction is based on co-coaching and co-influencing each other remotely in the learning of our respective methods when sharing life stories. Reading Doherty´s stories have been and continue to be a great inspiration for me, at the same time as the intriguing and openhearted sharing of stories have caused me to reflect on and understand my life differently.I was struck by the power of this narrative method and of its ability to move a number of us close to emotions and insights that had remained long buried; the release of which proved not only highly cathartic but stimulated towards developmental action.
In addition to the impact which the coaching provided to me personally at that time, I was also struck by the impact which it had on other members of the cohort. More widely, the session also had a powerful impact on me personal insights into research approaches in academic work. He enhanced the capabilities of the team by skilfully supplementing his coaching with examples from his vast experience in strategic and managerial consulting to blue chip companies on different continents. A major feature of why this is a successful approach is Daniel’s own lived experience of various fields of work. This is at the core something which I value, in that any examples he cites are very real and do not shy away from any of the difficulties which might need to be faced with regard to one’s own choices.
I have no doubt that you have invested a great deal of research,personal reflection, time and professional growth over a long period oftime to achieve these deep insights, yet your coaching and mentoring hasbeen delivered in such a way that it has felt ‘light’, non-judgemental andeasy to assimilate and apply. He does not then suggest a formulaic response to how the issue might be addressed. Rather, he illustrates a not dissimilar scenario, drawn from experience elsewhere – either his own, or those of other people with whom he has worked – reflecting on any challenges which may have arisen and any outcomes.
In adopting this narrative approach one is not left with an immediate answer to any issue but the use of story allows one to reflect on the issues at hand, arriving at one’s own conclusions. A major feature of why this is a successful approach is Daniel’s own lived experience of various fields of work. This is at the core something which I value, in that any examples he cites are very real and do not shy away from any of the difficulties which might need to be faced with regard to one’s own choices.
With regard to supporting my transition, I came to realise the coaching was very diverse and fluid but enjoyed being challenged and was very responsive to hearing unformed (naive even) thoughts and seemed to value them as much as views from the “experienced”. I eventually came to the realisation that I should move on to a more challenging job where I would achieve more by being involved in decision-making and applying my creativity and experience. Resolving to change jobs turned out to be, possibly, the best career move that I could have made at that stage.He encouraged me when I began considering further studies and he advised me on the methodological approach that I eventually followed in the research towards my doctorate.
Your thoughtful investigations into my motivations and professional profile allowed me to recognise that myaspirations were, indeed, achievable. Subtle and directed confidence building within realistic and achievable frameworks have become a theme in our continuing dialogue, impacting not just upon my overall confidence toachieve, but in addressing areas of uncertainty which could have meant myprogress stalling.
By including new and innovative methods to approach current problems and to questions old answers, Doherty contributes to knowledge development that is at the edge of building future knowledgeAt the beginning of each of the two years in which you acted as my coach, we set up objectives and revisited these periodically to examine what progress had been made. Inevitably we found that more had been achieved than we originally envisaged.
You may remember that you introduced the concept of the talent resource pool to Social Care, and will no doubt be pleased to learn that this has been adopted across the whole of the Council.Furthermore, Dan managed to decipher my tangled thoughts into a few main themes of my life that seemed to be key to my past, but also in my future development as a person
A fundamental benefit has been the way that with your support I have been able to slough off one world view (what I call my organisational blinkers) and see another that is more in tune with my present understanding of what constitutes good corporate and business practice.coached each of us consultants in the use of holistic diagnostic approaches such as the Enterprise Development Framework.
The unbroken thread and the work that goes on outside of the sessions – this matters and it is part of what the written work does – to carry it forwards. You gave me the confidence to engage and motivation to explore coaching further and develop a coaching practice which continues to put food on the table, thank-you. Great fun!!I think it is the seamless blending of face to face meetings with swift, responsive telephone conversations and encouraging emails that make your own style so different to those I have encountered before. I have much valued your support and encouragement for my Phd study, and the knowledge you have shared e.g. with management consulting, and auto-ethnography.
I initiated a staff development programme and away days, and I found it both refreshing and inspiring to pore over my thinking with you and plan these sessions. Your coaching style I have always regarded as unique in many respects but I always found it constructive, direct and I know that you were very supportive in helping me to win the ********* Wood secondment which did much to shape my future thinking.
You have always dealt with my concerns and uncertainties swiftly, thoughtfully and conveyed the sensethat I have an intrinsic value as a colleague, an individual and as afellow-traveller on the path to learning and discoveryAs coach, there is little doubt that you demonstrate your own distinctive brand of coaching; nor shy away from shared evaluation.