A series of poems written by Craig O'Flaherty during the COVID-19 lockdown over March-April-May 2020 from his home in Cape Town, South Africa, starting out as a personal practice and through which many of us have found insight and inspiration. We hope you enjoy this series, and that you too may draw your own insight and inspiration. "Since we went into lockdown here in South Africa on 26 March 2020, I have been using my personal practice of writing poetry as a way to ground and steady myself in these difficult times.  I find the time spent to reflect [...]

UPDATE: In order to safeguard the health and safety of all participants, this session will now be conducted VIRTUALLY The Professional Coaching Course is a year‐long programme we offer for people who are developing themselves as professional and personal coaches. As part of that programme, we have opportunities for guests to participate as clients with students in our course. This allows you to experience one‐on‐one coaching, first hand, at no charge. This particular session is private, one‐on‐one coaching, with no observers present at any time. As a “guest client” in our programme, you will have an opportunity to receive support in [...]

Resilience, in simple terms, is the process or method of adapting positively when faced with adversity, tragedy/trauma, perceived danger or serious causes of stress, particularly when it comes to family and other relationship issues, serious health problems or career and financial complications. Even more simply put, it is the ability to "bounce back" from negative situations and experiences. Contemporary research on the subject of ‘resiliency’ has shown that this is in fact an ordinary response and not extraordinary. People are able to rebuild after surviving tragedy and obstacles that would under normal circumstances seem impossible to recover from. Resilience requires support structures [...]

Global challenges are impacting all life on the planet. We experience political instability, conflicts, inequality on various levels, a lack of social well-being, and serious sustainability challenges related to the natural environment. Humanity ignores this reality at its own peril. But what difference can coaching make in the midst of all of this? At the Centre for Coaching, we believe that the integral approach to coaching  fundamentally helps to develop the capacity in people to live and work in a more harmonious, co-creative and integrated way. Our commitment is to bring different groups of people together to live and [...]

Are you as inspiring as you could be? According to an article published in the Harvard Business Review(1),  data gathered from nearly 50,000 leaders who were assessed by approximately a half-million colleagues showed that out of the 16 leadership competencies, the ability to inspire creates the highest levels of employee engagement and commitment.  In addition, the ability to inspire is what most powerfully separates the most effective leaders from the average and least-effective leaders, and it is the number one factor employees identify when asked what they would most like to have in their leader. Inspirational leaders ignite a spark within their [...]

Photo by Filip Mroz on Unsplash When we think about resilient people, we think about those who are dynamic, flexible and able to deal with the fast-changing and complex world we live in today. However, imagine if you could become more resilient yourself?  What could you accomplish if you were better able to tolerate high levels of stress, endure the inevitable setback while remaining open and engaged? Begin Here Resilience is the ability to take on difficult challenges, cope with adversity and still find meaning in life. It allows us to cope when things look bleak by [...]