This year’s Coaching at Work Awards 2016 winners & highly commended individuals were announced at a glittering awards ceremony and drinks reception on 6 July in the heart of the city of London.
The Winners were: Sally Bonneywell (GSK) – Internal Coaching Champion; Erik de Haan (Ashridge) and Liz Dimmock (Women Ahead) – joint winners- External Coaching Champion; Sam Humphrey and Karen Dean (Møller PSF Group) – Best Article; Robin Shohet – Contributions to Coaching Supervision; David Megginson (Sheffield Hallam) – Lifetime Achievement Award for Contributions to Coaching and Mentoring; and Gill Smith (AC UK) – Lifetime Achievement Award for Contributions to Coaching.
Those Highly Commended were: Samantha King (Standard Chartered) – Internal Coaching Champion; Peninah Thomson OBE (The Mentoring Foundation) – External Coaching Champion; Nicole Berg (Charis) – Best Article/s; and Eve Turner – Contributions to Coaching Supervision.
The ceremony took place at Coaching at Work’s sell-out annual conference with the theme, Maintaining Momentum: Coaching and Mentoring in a VUCA World.
A full report on the awards, with photographs of the winners, will appear in Coaching at Work’s September/October issue, along with the conference report.
(Tweets from the conference can be seen here: Tweetwally: http://coachingatwork.tweetwally.com/
Hashtag: #cawconf16)
The awards judging panel consisted of the Coaching at Work team plus members of the Coaching at Work Editorial Advisory Board, including Tatiana Bachkirova, David Clutterbuck, Aboodi Shabi, Jackee Holder, Margaret Chapman, Samantha Humphrey, Steve Ridgley and others.
The criteria for each category, the shortlist, plus comments from judges below:
BEST ARTICLE/S OF THE YEAR AWARD
Criteria:
- Well-written (e.g. clear, accessible, interesting, inspiring etc.)
- Helps to foster good/best practice in coaching/mentoring
- Inspires new thinking and learning
- Generates debate
Shortlist:
- “CAN YOU SEE WHAT I SEE”
(JAN/FEB 2016)
BY EVE TURNER AND PETER HAWKINS
The authors present their in-depth research, considering the impact, benefits and challenges of using multi-stakeholder contracting in a business setting, and offer some top tips to gain maximum value from it.
- “GENDER PARITY: THE NEXT STAGE”
(JAN/FEB 2016)
BY PENINAH THOMSON OBE AND CLARE LAURENT
FTSE 100 companies have embraced, even exceeded, Lord Davies’ target of 25 per cent female representation at board level. But that’s only half the work done and we now need to focus on better diversity throughout executive committee structures, say the authors.
- ACTS OF BALANCE REGULAR COLUMN
BY NICOLE BERG, CHARIS COACHING
In this column, launched in Jan/Feb 2016, commissioned as part of Coaching at Work’s Campaign for Gender Equality, Nicole puts gender balance under the spotlight, and continues the rich, complex dialogue we tapped into in our Shaping the Future survey.
- IS COACHING AN ALTERNATIVE TYRANNY? PART 1: MINDSETS, CONTEXT AND PURPOSE; PART 2: ESTABLISHING A COACHING CULTURE (JAN/FEB 2016)
BY SAM HUMPHREY AND KAREN DEAN
In this two-parter, the authors share how even though they’re coaching converts, they’re curious about the utopian appeal a coaching culture seems to hold for organisations – challenging organisations to accept that coaching isn’t always the right response but that if a valid business case is there, there is much they can do to help make it work.
- CLOSING THE ARABIAN GULF
(MAY/APRIL 2016)
BY PAUL COCHRANE
A regional focus piece which finds that coaching in the Middle East is growing in both scale and quality and its key base is in the United Arab Emirates.
The winner is: IS COACHING AN ALTERNATIVE TYRANNY?
BY SAM HUMPHREY AND KAREN DEAN
Judges’ comments included:
“Good to have a thought-provoking paper as well as those that confirm the status quo of coaching”
“Provocative, thoughtful questioning of our assumptions about coaching is essential at this stage of development of the discipline”
“Engaging and interesting writing style: demands a little focus from the reader, yet rewarding and entertaining too in places
…..deals with real life issues in a highly informed way, describing things that can be seen to be ‘true’ about our field and current practice and at the same time bringing them into question in an informed way
……challenges some potentially lazy habits as either those who coach and provide coaching and also those who buy in coaching.
…..provides solutions and practical steps: having made insightful observations, challenged some fundamental aspects of current practice and raised questions, it goes on to advise on best practice where the challenge has been met and there is a sound case for going forward”
“Because it speaks to coaching custodians…. it has made more people think about what part they play in coaching in their organization and how they hold that responsibility. In addition to being provocative and challenging, it was written to also help, give guidance and practical things to think about and do.
“I liked the authors’ take on this, their rigour and challenging approach, and their clear and structured approach on how to build a coaching culture. Quite refreshing reading, in fact!”
“A thought-provoking article which was both challenging and stimulating for a range of reasons. It opened up new ground introducing a series of great and well connected questions that were not easily answered but offered up real opportunities for reflection and inquiry for addressing the issues about what a coaching culture is and whether it is the best strategy or way forward for different interventions….asserted challenges and learning opportunities for both the coach and the organization… I found as I read through the article making mental notes and reflecting back on past coaching assignments in consideration of whether coaching was the best intervention or whether other options could have been considered….not always a comfortable read and this in my opinion made the content stretching and refreshing on a number of levels. The connections between personal reflections and best practice made for powerful insights as the article developed. The potential for learning was continuous and had an impact way after I had finished reading.”
“It’s really important we develop a more critical stance as a coaching community. These are the kinds of questions we need to ask to mature as an industry and as a profession and they are not often enough reflected in people’s thinking or writing. Its constructive, pragmatic and highly relevant to coaching’s place in organisations. Well done them for writing and you for publishing”
CATEGORY: COACHING/MENTORING PERSON OF THE YEAR AWARD (INTERNAL)
Shortlist:
- Sally Bonneywell VP Coaching, Talent, Leadership and Organisation Development CoE GSK
Her energy, positivity, and determination have been very evident within the Coaching at Work-led Accreditation Forum and now the Coaching for the Future of Coaching (CFC) forum, which focuses on how to bring about systemic change in the governance and professionalism of the coaching industry. She’s very passionate about these topics, and is prepared to give generously of her time to help move the wider agenda forward. She also sits on other sponsor groups while at GSK, she’s worked very hard to establish coaching in the organisation, setting the strategy for coaching globally as well as coaching very senior executives herself. She works hard within the organisation where she’s responsible for building internal coaching capability, developing the coaching skills of leaders and managing the quality and use of internal and external executive coaches.
- Samantha King, Head of Executive Development, Standard Chartered Bank.
Sam is highly committed to developing an already sophisticated internal coaching capability even further at Standard Chartered, where she’s been involved in many successful initiatives. She’s very generous with her time in the service of others and the profession in general. She’s a long-standing member of the Coaching at Work Editorial Advisory Board, has shared good/best practice in a case study in the Ridler report amongst others. She’s innovative, for example, in the area of technology around video conferencing, and allowing clients access to coaching through remote coaching. She’s not afraid to speak up courageously – be that around her own mental health issues in a bid to address the stigma surrounding mental health problems, or around topics such as accreditation.
- Maria Symeon, Global Coaching Leader, PwC
Maria is currently the global coaching leader in PwC as well as being responsible for partner development globally. In the organisation, she spends a significant amount of time working with senior leaders to ensure that business strategy is supported by people strategy and that the right people are in the right roles at the right time. She has a strong track record of coaching senior executives on a range of leadership, career transition, stakeholder, political and relationship issues. She helps people to develop skills and strategies; to enhance their effectiveness and performance and to maximise their potential. Maria is also generous with her time for the profession generally, taking part in the Accreditation Forum led by Coaching at Work (now the Collaborating for the Future of Coaching), speaking at conferences, co-authoring articles helping to shape thinking around coaching accreditation and professionalism.
- Petra Lockhart, Global Vice President for Learning and Development, Swarovski
Petra initiated a global mentoring programme, working with Emily Cosgrove of the Conversation Space to support the business’ strategic intention to enhance its attractiveness as an employer as well as the quality of conversations more generally. The programme has created a new sense of camaraderie among its mentors, enhancing their listening and enquiry skills, and giving them significant personal learning, as well as the benefits experienced by mentees. She’s been keen to involve HR professionals, who are now are helping to run the programme, train mentors, and become mentors themselves.
The winner is SALLY BONNEYWELL
Judges’ comments included :
“Because she:
- Has held several influential roles in a complex setting (GSK) impacting many people and roles and the overall strategy, showing determination and belief in what she is doing as well as actually setting up the coaching function in 2010.
- acknowledges the others who work with her and also recognises the value of diversity and local expertise.
- has shown a passionate, enduring and impactful commitment to developing the coaching field through various Forum and conference -speaker commitments and activities
“I have had the good fortune to work with Sally on a number of initiatives and her passion for coaching and personal drive to improve the profession is always present.”
“Sally has been a stalwart of the coaching sponsor community from the start, an active member of a number of sponsor fora, including the CFC (previously the accreditation forum) she has consistently encouraged us to raise our game as a profession and advocated that we at least look at chartered status as a long term ambition. She is inclusive and seeks to bring the best of what is happening elsewhere in the globe to our attention in the UK. She has raised the standard for internal coaching through her community of ‘jobs-plus’ coaches, but not simply by focusing on inputs (ie what training do people access) but being clear about outputs (what impact they have on the organisation as coaches and as a coaching community). In fact she has added that phrase ‘jobs plus coaches’ to our lexicon creating a very helpful distinction around types of internal coach. She certainly seems to have cracked the hard nut of internal coaching – that of sustainability. Added to all this she is about to add to our collective knowledge through her DProf research. Where does she find the time?”
“In addition to all the work she does Sally also an active researcher who contributes to the knowledge base of coaching.”
“Sally has delivered some significant shifts in GSK and championed professionalism in coaching. She has a refreshing and effective approach.”
“Sally has a long track record of engaging with business leaders to develop a coaching culture”
“A close call but Sally in my opinion became my choice with Samantha King almost heads on. Her track record of work with GSK and the groundbreaking work she has pioneered both for coach development and strategic development of leadership and internal coaching in the organization is outstanding. Her example in a podcast interview gave an insightful definition of an example of Sally doing great work. One of her comments on doing great work when she presented a report to her chief officer and was really questioned about it was that she, …”Didn’t wait for permission to do it.” Also in the same interview she remarked “ … it takes courage to feed it back.” As well as a full time post and raising her son Sally has founded the Coaching Function and has a strong commitment to supporting and maintaining the standards of the profession through voluntary contributions. I was really impressed by her tireless efforts, the quality of the programmes she both implements and supports in the business and the way in which clients and peers describe Sally in recommendations. She strikes me as being an outstanding leader and model in her role both inside and outside of the business and deserves the title of Coaching/Mentoring Person Of the Year Award (Internal)”
CATEGORY: COACHING/MENTORING PERSON OF THE YEAR AWARD (EXTERNAL)
Shortlist:
- Peninah Thompson OBE
Peninah was appointed OBE for Services to Women and Equality in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2012 but has continued to work tirelessly to support women to progress in the workplace. Previously a partner at Praesta Partners, a consultancy specialising in executive coaching, she is the chief executive of the Mentoring Foundation, the not-for-profit company which owns and manages the FTSE 100® Cross-Company Mentoring Executive Programme, in which 60 + FTSE 100 senior leaders mentor female executives from just below board level at another company, to assist them in becoming credible candidates for board positions, and generally to progress their careers.
- Erik de Haan
Erik is director at the Ashridge Centre for Coaching. He has published around 150 professional and research articles and 10 books, covering his main fields of expertise as a leadership and organisational consultant, facilitator and coach. He focuses on OD consulting, supervision, action learning, politics and power, leadership hubris, and emotional aspects of working in teams and organisations. Erik’s more recent contributions to coaching include his extensive research on coaching outcomes in executive coaching and his work on the leadership shadow.
- Suzy Green
Dr Suzy Green is CEO and founder of psychological consultancy, the Positivity Institute in Sydney, Australia, and a world-renowned expert on Positive Psychology. Dynamic and passionate, she speaks and writes widely on PP, and has many achievements under her belt, helping to get PP more widely understood.
- Liz Dimmock
Liz founded Women Ahead with “the belief that parity between men and women in the worlds of sport and business will benefit individuals, organisations and society as a whole.” The social enterprise creates mentoring partnerships between and within the worlds of business and sport, including business leaders mentoring athletes, a first-of-its-kind programme. The recent launch of the first sport and business mentoring scheme from the 30% Club and Women Ahead was attended by more than 100 leaders from 30 organisations who gathered in HSBC’s London headquarters on 17 March. Liz has held commercial, coaching and leadership roles at IMG, KPMG, HSBC (where she was global head of coaching), and GP Strategies (Managing Partner). In 2012 she cycled the entire route of the Tour de France, one week ahead of the men’s race, matching them stage for stage, riding 3,479kms in 21 days. This journey highlighted the inequalities in the sport she loves; the fact that there is no women’s Tour de France (despite the clear physiological ability of women to complete it) was a driving factor in the creation of Women Ahead.
The winners are:
Two on the shortlist were neck to neck, so in this category we have joint winners:
Erik de Haan
and
Liz Dimmock
Judges’ comments on Erik:
“Because of Erik’s work in taking coaching research forward in different and challenging ways. Outcome research is rare in coaching and Erik has worked hard to raise the profile of coaching as an established subject in academic literature. He produces high quality studies and informative articles and is a charismatic figure within the coaching industry. His commitment to excellence in the coaching industry is well known and he is a highly respected academic and practitioner.
“Generous with his time and expertise, Erik models commitment to striving for excellence. He’s refreshingly outspoken, and highly insightful.”
“Erik’s contribution to research in the field is most admirable…. a great role model to aspiring and existing coaches on the importance of furthering the credibility, knowledge and authority base of coaching.
“Active contributor to the knowledge base of coaching”
Judges’ comments on Liz include:
“Because the outstanding work Liz Dimmock has done in the field of coaching and mentoring women, the range of roles she has had across businesses and her outstanding achievement in riding the Tour De France even though there is not a tour de france for women! Her website is refreshing and the work holistic and organic with heart and soul. Loved the inclusion of story telling.”
“Liz’s work has been consistently powerful and effective. I am in total alignment behind her principles and philosophy – namely parity between the sexes. She puts huge energy into her passions and fights key battles with tenacity and humour.”
“Because:
- Sheer impact!
- Determination and a very practical demonstration of thought-leading ideas
- Business impact – HSBC and other roles; as well as the high profile March launch event
- Novel connections between business and sport and a newsworthy mentoring scheme”
“For innovation in creating Women Ahead to resolve inequalities of women in sport
CATEGORY: AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FIELD OF COACHING SUPERVISION
Shortlist:
- Robin Shohet
Robin has been hugely influential in the important field of coaching supervision. He developed the Seven-Eyed model of supervision with Peter Hawkins, and has inspired and informed coaching supervision profoundly. He’s been supervising since 1977. He has a practice in London and Findhorn, Scotland and specialises in group supervision. He is co-author with Peter Hawkins of Supervision in the Helping Professions, fourth edition published by the Open University Press in 2012, which has sold 100,000 copies and been translated into eight languages.
- Eve Turner
Eve is an experienced and accredited coach and supervisor and 2015 EMCC Coach of the Year. She recently set up a Global Supervisors’ Network to bring together supervisors of coaches, mentors and consultants from across the world for virtual learning. It already has 50+ members from countries such as Canada, the US, Australia, Poland, Spain, France and the UK. In addition, Eve volunteered to pilot the new EMCC supervisor accreditation and was one of the first two people in Europe to successfully gain the award. She has taken a lead role in sharing the value of appropriate peer supervision, challenging some of the professional bodies for not recognising it as valid supervision. She has shared her research in supervision through articles and conference presentations, winning the Coaching at Work 2015 Award for Best Research Article.
- Peter Hawkins:
Professor Peter Hawkins has been hugely influential in this important field. He developed the Seven-Eyed model of supervision with Robin Shohet, and has inspired and informed coaching supervision profoundly. He is co-author with Robin Shohet of Supervision in the Helping Professions, fourth edition published by the Open University Press in 2012, which has sold 100,000 copies and been translated into eight languages. He’s a profilic author, including a book with Nick Smith, Coaching, Mentoring and Organisational Consultancy: Supervision and Development which has become a benchmark for the developing practice of coaching supervision.
- Professor Tatiana Bachkirova
Co-Director of the International Centre for Coaching & Mentoring Studies
Reader in Coaching Psychology at the Department of Business and Management at Oxford Brookes University, Tatiana is Founder and Chair of the annual International Conference in Coaching Supervision in the UK held at Oxford Brookes. She won the Coaching at Work Award for Coaching Champion of the Year (External) 2015. She’s co-author of a number of publications relating to supervision including with Jackson & Clutterbuck, Coaching and Mentoring Supervision: Theory and Practice.
The winner is ROBIN SHOHET
Judges’ comments include:
“I am giving my support for Robin as he is often in the shadow of Peter in the coaching arena. Peter has done a great job at marketing the 7-Eyed Model, yet Robin was equally involved in the development of this widespread framework that underpins and informs not only coaching, but more broadly professional practice”
“ Robin inspires coaching supervisors and coaches more than anyone else”
“Robin’s work is outstanding, and he is extraordinarily capable and has contributed much to our profession. He models so much of his message and seems a deeply reflective and a humble man. I like his style and approach, and his modesty. I do not think he would champion himself so I am delighted to be able to vote for him. I do hope others do too.”
“I’ve been a member of a coaching supervision group with Robin as supervisor for more than 5 years and would like to be like him when I grow up! He has a huge heart and this is very present in the work he does. I think it’s unusual to feel love in a ‘work’ context and Robin brings it in spades.”
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO COACHING AND MENTORING
DAVID MEGGINSON
“Although David terrified me on our first meeting, he soon became my mentor in my transition into a coaching and mentoring career and has remained a formative learning companion in my life subsequently. His ability to cut through the crap so rapidly is astonishing and his calm manner and dry sense of humour, has supported me through many a self-manufactured crisis. David’s incredible enthusiasm for people, love of learning and his joy of life are still to me his most inspiring and infectious qualities, evident through all the 14 years I have worked with and been supported by him. His contribution to the global Coaching and Mentoring community has been astounding and not always in the visible arena, but by some of the ‘corridor conversations’ he has had over the years, encouraging and supporting people with their lives and plans. David absolutely deserves this award and I am so proud to consider him my friend and mentor.”
Lis Merrick, EMCC UK president
“On a personal level David I so appreciated your unhesitating offer to be my mentor when first voted as President of EMCC. Your wisdom in those early days helped me grow into this international role with your easy style and approachability making it easy for me to ask those ‘stupid’ questions without feeling ‘stupid’. I know you as a trusted colleague and friend ready to listen and advise on the sensitive issues I’ve sometimes experienced. In your professional role no-one doubts your amazing accomplishments. So, how difficult to capture in a few words the wealth of knowledge, opinion, sagacity, generosity and friendship that you so willingly and unstintingly contribute to Mentoring and Coaching. David – you’re a champion in leading the way for so many of us to follow and you so deserve this award for your outstanding achievements.”
Dr Lise Lewis, EMCC International President
“David has made a massive contribution to coaching & mentoring theory and practice over a sustained period. At a personal level, I have been honoured to work with David for the past 17 years on coaching & mentoring projects – indeed, he introduced to me to the field in 1999, through our work on mentoring within the Yorkshire region. David has always impressed me with his ability to embody C & M principles into everything that he does, from the personal to the professional. His commitment to lifelong learning is evident in that practice. He has been instrumental in my development as part of the coaching & mentoring world and this is the case for many others. He richly deserves this award for the sheer scale and depth of his contribution to C & M, on an international scale.”
Dr Paul Stokes, OB/HRM Subject Group Leader, Sheffield Business School, Sheffield Hallam University
“When David and I first met at a conference in London, it was an instant meeting of minds. In no time we were researching together and had set up the EMC, the forerunner of the EMCC. When I look at the organization the EMCC has become and at the great pile of co-authored books and papers, I know that we all owe David a great debt. Time and again, when my interest has been piqued by a controversial question, such as whether coaches need SMART goals, David has also approached the same topic from a different angle. I am grateful to this kind, generous (and occasionally critical when needed!) soul for helping me to develop academic rigour, for the fun we have had together on so many projects and presentations, but most of all for the friendship he has offered to me and to many others.”
Prof. David Clutterbuck, co-founder of the EMCC
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO COACHING
GILL SMITH
Comments from people who’ve worked with Gill:
“Working with Gill in my capacity as EMCC UK President has been a delightful experience, what a warm, intelligent, knowledgeable and insightful lady! Her grasp of the world of coaching and support to a ‘raw’ fellow professional association president has been both kind and packed with common sense and practical help when needed. I believe Gill richly deserves this award for her enormous contribution to coaching in the UK and her tireless campaign for professional excellence in all we do.”
Lis Merrick, EMCC UK president
“Gill is so very dedicated to the coaching industry and has worked diligently to raise standards and professionalism to ensure the service given to our clients is of the highest quality. She’s worked tirelessly to promote ethics within the coaching industry. These ethics are the foundation for any coaching relationship and thus guarantee true, honest and measured professional conversations.”
Helen Bullock, Head of Professional Forums, AC UK
“Gill Smith has been instrumental in driving the success of AC, UK forward always mindful of larger coaching market needs. She is the consummate professional and generous in her support of others. She has always gone above and beyond her role and is a great asset to the AC for which we are all thankful and appreciative of.”
Alex Szabo, COO, AC Global
“Over recent years, Gill has been at the forefront of collaboration between the coaching professional bodies in the UK. Her passion, tenacity and ability to roll her sleeves up and get things done, has resulted in real strides forward in the Association for Coaching, European Mentoring and Coaching Council and International Coach Federation working together on common areas, for the benefit of their members in the UK. These include joint professional development events in the UK and joint articles and communications on the development pathways to become a professional coach and on the themes and trends emerging in coaching. Gill has been a pleasure to work with and an inspiration to us all – there’s no doubt she’s a true role model for professional coaching. Throughout she has been tireless in her devotion and contribution to promoting professionalism in coaching.”
Joy Harcup, Immediate Past President, UK ICF
THE AWARDS PROCESS
- Coaching at Work team pulls together a shortlist of nominees in consultation with leaders & experts in the fields of coaching & mentoring
- Shortlist shared with Coaching at Work Editorial Advisory Board members who form the Awards Judging Panel
- Those with the most votes win
ABOUT COACHING AT WORK
Coaching at Work is an independently owned magazine, which publishes bi-monthly in a printed and digital format, in addition to monthly newsletters. It has been going since 2005. It also organizes events such as an annual conference and masterclasses. Its global LinkedIn group has nearly 43,000 members. www.coaching-at-work.com
For more information, or for quotes, contact Liz Hall, the editor, at liz@coaching-at-work.com