Our Guiding Principles

We are goal-oriented – Executive coaching is an investment of time, energy and money by the business and the individual with the expectation of a significant return. However personal and deep the coaching relationship becomes, the fundamental business intent must stay front of mind.

This means that the coaching we do is goal-oriented and strategic. At the start of the program, we talk with the stakeholders – HR practitioners, line management and the individual. 

We strive to understand the organisational and strategic context that surrounds the coaching – the strategic imperatives, the leadership paradigms and mechanisms, the talent support and development tools and processes, the organisational culture, the performance management language and approach – to ensure that the coaching is relevant and related. 

We develop a shared understanding of the purpose of the program and the outcomes the various stakeholders are looking for. We structure coaching sessions in a goal-oriented manner, aiming in each session to work towards an action plan designed to reach that goal.

We are solution-focused – One of the keys to our coaching is our concentration on the positive and the possible. For most of us, the hardest challenge is knowing what question to ask. We can get stuck in our current cycles of thinking and acting, not seeing that a new game may need new tactics.

But untangling the way we think and act as business players and leaders, finding the insight to see new possibilities and the discipline to change ingrained habits of thought and action is a hard solo act. The role of our coaches is to create safe and supportive places in which clients can explore these issues, big and small.

We are facilitative, not advisory – The task of the enso coach is rarely to tell. Our coaches, while often brimming with direct and relevant experience and knowledge, are not there to deliver their expert opinion.

They are facilitators and questioners who create the space in which the client can find their own pathway forward. We believe that the coach’s role is to enable rather than direct.

Context, confidentiality and ethics – Understanding the organisational context is an important factor in ensuring coaching excellence. A solid appreciation of both the development needs of the individual and the shifts in actions and the outcomes required by the organisation is critical, and we are careful to establish these before embarking on the coaching program. 

Within the boundaries of confidentiality intrinsic to the coaching process, we ensure that the organisational stakeholders are kept informed about progress and involved in the ongoing direction setting for the program.

Ethical and professional considerations also loom large for us. A core ethical issue is doing only those things in which we have expertise and capability. The boundary between coaching and therapy can blur at times, and good professional coaches know when coaching is inappropriate. 

Our coaches carefully watch for these signs and refer on when the executive needs more therapeutic psychological interventions. The presence of a number of experienced registered psychologists on our panel means that all coaches have experts with whom they can discuss any such issues.

Best practice and continuous learning – In an emerging discipline, we are mindful of the need to integrate and contribute to advances in the shared knowledge base. We are also committed to helping our coaches continually refine and expand their own personal skills base.

This means as coaches that we:

• Regularly share our learning and insights to stimulate discussion and new ideas. We believe our coaches, operating as a learning community, will continually improve and develop from their already strong base and will retain and refresh their sense of passion and commitment.
  
  
• Act as a coaching sounding board to fellow coaches, ensuring that issues and difficulties, be they ethical, technical or psychological, are aired and addressed. Coaches need this coaching and supervision (in the Psychological sense) to operate at peak effectiveness.
  
  
• Contribute to the expansion of the empirically based body of knowledge in the coaching discipline by supporting and participating in appropriate research projects.