The Neuroscience of Coaching: COMENSAnews December 2011

Jan. 10, 2012 - PRLog -- Every morning, as I make my appearance at the back door, I am greeted by my brood of chickens.  They come bucketing from all corners of the garden to get their morning ration of duck food.  No, you did not read wrong – duck food for chickens.  This may account for some of the foul fowl behaviour that we occasionally witness!  I sometimes wonder if feeding my chickens duck food is messing with their neurological development and I'm going to have to contend with a mutant strain of mad fowl disease!  And so as we fatten our foul and foolish fowls to join us around the Christmas table, it's time to reflect on yet another year.

An immense thanks and congratulations to all of the office-bearers who do the hard work that keep the wheels of our national professional body turning.  COMENSA is held in high regard by the international coaching and mentoring community – in particular for the ground-breaking work that has been done in the area of Supervision – in the five short years since inception.  We often forget that all of this work is done on an entirely voluntary basis, and so I asked a few of our office-bearers why they do it.  Here are some of the responses that I received:

"I believe that as members of a relatively new industry, we have the exciting opportunity to not only grow in the work we do, but to contribute to the professionalisation of the industry as a whole. I am passionate about both coaching and research. Being part of the research committee allows these skills to synergise and it is wonderful interacting with others who have similar interests. We play a specific role of encouraging research in an industry, whose practice exceeds its research foundations. I believe we send an important message, which encourages coaches to get involved in scientific practitioner research to not only enhance their practice, but the credibility of the coaching industry." – Karolyne Beets, Chair of the Research & Definitions Portfolio Committee

"I think it is important to create an active learning community of coaches and mentors - people need to learn from each other and find a professional home." – Penny Abbott, Chair of the Mentoring Special Interest Group

"I want to be connected to coaches and the "profession of coaching".    I chose to be involved in the sub-committees and committees because I wanted to make a contribution and my involvement and participation has given me the opportunity to grow, expand my skills and knowledge base and develop new relationships.   Being involved allows me to be updated on what is going on.  In terms of my learning style/s I think that "experience and experimentation" teaches me a lot.  I would encourage all members to do something in some little way because it is in giving that we receive'." – Sheri Seetal, KZN Chapter Deputy Chair

"I do what I do for COMENSA for a number of reasons:
•   my passion for coaching
•   my core belief in collaboration and community
•   my desire to promote coaching within a professional community
•   my belief in the need for a professional framework that supports coaches and clients to get the best out of coaching
•   my fundamental belief in the need for on-going development for coaches
plus I also believe we get out what we put in, so to support COMENSA is to invest in our selves!"
- Joanne Searle, Supervision Committee

What I have enjoyed the most about being on the committee is the opportunity to interact with other coaches.  Being involved is a brilliant way to shape the kind of association I want to be in, and a way to learn from other fantastic coaches, particularly those who are on the committee with me." – Janet Chadwick, Western Cape Chapter Secretary

COMENSAnews December 2011: www.comensa.org.za/NEWSLETTERS/COMENSAnews_2011_(Jan_-_Dec)/COMENSAnews_December_2011.aspx

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Coaches and Mentors of South Africa - COMENSA - is the national professional body for Coaching and Mentoring in South Africa. Members include individual and corporate providers, buyers and trainers of coaching and mentoring services