The Coaching York Podcast (Reloaded)

“As coaches, we naturally work in line with our client's mandate. And I think it's also our task when we are really present to perceive what resonates between the lines and if necessary, to mirror it back.”What happens when what is resonating between the lines is the client’s view of ageing? Before we start exploring ageing with other people, we perhaps need to do some work of our own. What do you think about ageing? Is it just a series of biological faults which slowly takes various faculties away from us? How influenced are you by the social context of ageing - how wider society portrays the ageing process? If you were to personify ageing, what sort of person would it be? Would it be an enemy to be resisted, an annoying neighbour to be tolerated, or a friendship to be embraced and worked at?In this episode Geoff speaks to Harriet Kretschmar, one of our longest standing Coaching York members. Harriet is based in Munich, and has many years of experience as an executive coach. Harriet reflects on what interests her in the subject of ageing in the context of coaching, how the subject shows up with clients, different ways to think about ageing, and how to work with challenging situations such as when a client is living with regrets about having an unfulfilled life. In the second half of the show Geoff and Harriet model two coaching approaches. The first is based Jeanette Leardi’s personification of ageing, and the second on Georg Engelbertz’s Future Leap which he has developed along the traditions of Morenos psychodrama.Join us as Harriet begins the podcast reading the poem “Youth” written by Samuel Ullman in 1918, and reflect with us on how we can help ourselves, our clients, and our friends, think about how we navigate the second half of life.“Youth is not a time of life. It is a state of mind. It is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees. It is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigour of the emotions. It is the freshness of the deep springs of life…..ResourcesHow to Age Positively: A Handbook for Personal Change in Later Life : Guy Robertson 2014Jeanette Leardi Our relationship to ageingWerner Vogelauer, Methoden ABC im Coaching, 2011, page 365ff , available only in GermanMichael Chechov, On the techniques of acting, 1991 - EmbodimentRichard C. Schwartz, Introduction to Internal Family Systems, 2023Morenos psychodrama

Do you ever go into a job or situation feeling there is a mis-match between what you’re being asked to do, and what you feel able to do? Do you ever look at other people and think they are like the swan, serenely gliding over the challenges of life whilst you're struggling to stay afloat? You’re not alone. In fact, you might be surprised to discover how common this is. Underneath that feeling there are likely to be other issues, a major one being confidence.In this podcast, originally recorded in May 2023, coach, consultant and coach supervisor Jeremy J Lewis explores how we can approach challenges by drawing on resources from our past, present and future. Jez shares a model from Peter Hawkins’ book Coaching Mentoring and Organisational Consultancy which looks at the three dimensions of authority, presence, and impact. Through this you can expose what your Imposter is telling you, how to identify your own personal sources of authority instead of being blinded by what you see as those of people around you, and where to find the courage to shape a different future for yourself.Jez, Fiona and Geoff give a number of examples of how these ideas can be applied, drawn from their current and past working lives and share some great tips and insights which you can apply in your own work context.Use this link to find out more about Jez or to connect, message or meet.

What drew Bryony Rowntree to coaching? In particular, what led her to coaching women making the transition from maternity leave back into the workplace? In this episode, originally recorded in September, 2024, I speak to coach, trainer and facilitator Bryony Rowntree. We explore Bryony’s story of parenting, living in Tanzania, working as a live-in carer, to developing expertise in safeguarding, coaching, and mental health first aid. Bryony talks about how she was drawn to coaching, the difference she wants to make in the world, and her particular desire to support women juggling the multiple priorities of parenting, work - sometimes additionally looking after older relatives - and the need to look after themselves.  We explore the family and cultural influences on her view of the world and how these impact on her coaching practice, commitment to the safety and care of her clients, and the different perspectives she is able to draw on.Hear stories of what it’s like to work with Bryony and the impact she has made in the life of her clients.The podcast also explores Bryony’s strap-line - Root Deep, Stand Strong, Branch out, and join her and Geoff in with one of her guided visualisation exercises.For more details about Bryony’s wider work in:CoachingBack to Work ProgrammeMental Health First Aid Training; andExtensive range of resourcesGo to Bryony’s website bryonyrowntree.com and sign up for her newsletter.

What do 95% of people fear more than death? The stress that goes with public speaking! Guest expert Tom Wright draws on his experience as a theatre director and coach to bust some stress-inducing myths and to manage the challenge of stress in daily life.It’s quite a thought that surveys indicate people rate public speaking as more scary than dying. So  think about the levels of stress that actors put themselves through both in terms of speaking before hundreds of people and then being analysed in intimate detail by theatre critics! Will they be cheered to the rafters or pilloried with rotten tomatoes?In this episode, originally aired in June 2023, Tom Wright  shares how a coaching approach enriched his work as a theatre director, and how theatre direction has provided transferable wisdom to his work as a coach. He explores the issue of stress - common to both professions - how to ride the stress curve, challenge stress-inducing myths that assail us on a daily basis, and provides us with some techniques we can use to manage our own stressful situations and liberate creativity.Tom also mentions one of the most well-known and well-used coaching models - GROW - which was developed by Sir John Whitmore. The episode provides some fascinating insights into the world of theatre, as well as showing the value of cross-fertilisation of wisdom and good practice between coaching and other professions.

"You know, there's a saying that I love, which is when you heal your inner world, your outer world starts to change....For me, HR isn't just about policies and procedures. It is about people and meeting people where they are at. And when you've done that inner work, you can show up with more empathy, more clarity, more presence. And that's where the real transformation happens."You don't have to be a freelancer to bring coaching into your workplace. Debbie Connors is a Senior HR professional and qualified coach. Debbie shares her experience of doing HR work with the benefit of her in-depth coach training and experience. Debbie explains the work of an HR professional and how adopting a coaching approach changed the way she works and its impact and results. Through three top coaching skills Debbie explores the practice of "presence," how to get into a place of being able to listen deeply, and developing the attitude of curiosity over judgement. For other coaching professionals, Debbie shares some key learnings from her own journey as a coach and how she has come to see coaching as an action of co-creation."Coaching is co-creation. It's a kind of one plus one equals three. There's me, there's the client, and then there's the magic that happens in the space between us.”

What will you be doing at 10 o'clock tomorrow?Will you be caring for someone studying, fulfilling your vocation in a voluntary capacity, relaxing or working?And if you are in a job, how do you feel about it?How do you feel about where you are now, and the direction of travel your career is taking you?There are various reasons why we might want to stop and take stock of where we are in our job or career reasons. There’s the threat of a burning platform. The road you are standing on is about to be engulfed by redundancy or business reorganisation. Or perhaps you are at a crossroads. A new work opportunity has opened up which is, in itself, attractive. But if you pursue that opportunity you create challenges in other areas such as with your family or location.Or maybe you feel more like you are at a roadblock. You can’t see where your career is going, you feel like you’re outgrowing your job, or you don’t have the opportunity to use the many skills and talents you have developed.What do you do in these taking stock moments?Geoff's guest today is leadership and career coach Meg Burton. With Meg we explore these questions, and how Meg works with clients to address them. We draw on her combined expertise of career mentoring approaches developed in various corporate environments, and her broad and deep expertise in coaching underpinned by extensive training. Join me as, with Meg, I work through a practical exercise illustrating a way of engaging with, and moving on from, your own taking stock career moment.To find out more about Meg’s work as a career coach, you can contact her at her Meg Burton Coach. For organisations looking for Organisational Development, Leadership Development Facilitation, Training Workshops and coaching - for teams and individuals - contact Meg or the wider team at Cube Learning and Development.

Join Heather Simpson in conversation with Geoff Ashton as they review a four year coaching programme developed to support primary care workers in the face of the Covid crisis. Discover how Heather and her team rapidly developed a coaching offer tailored to the diverse needs of primary care workers in England, and further developed this as the pandemic unfolded. Learn about the new and demanding challenges that the coaches on the programme faced, how they responded, and the impact of the support structures that Heather put in place. Through tens of thousands of coaching intervention, the programme provided high impact and sustainable results for the workers who engaged with it and has influenced the development of further coaching interventions for the NHS in England.Heather shares details of the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the programme. See details below for newly published evaluation in the June 2025 edition of the International Journal of Human Resource Development: Practice, Policy and ResearchGo to LinkedIn for more information about Heather’s work as a coach, supervisor, therapist and organisational development practitioner with over 30 years of experience across Health and Care and broader sectors. You can contact Heather via [email protected] podcast is brought to you by Coaching York, a community of coaches serving the communities of York, the counties of Yorkshire and beyond. For more details of our offers and services go to coachingyork.co.ukEvaluationCarter, A., Mason, B. & Bajorek, Z. (2025). Effectiveness of an Employee Wellbeing Coaching Programme Delivered Across Primary Healthcare in England. International Journal of Human Resource Development: Practice, Policy and Research, 9(1), 2025. 5-18. https://doi.org/10.2478/ijhrd-2025-0002

Origin stories. You will be familiar with the genre - it’s the story or account of how a character or a group, came into being. What happened that brought them about? How did they get their superpowers? What are their unique or enduring characteristics? What was it about their origin, that contributes to their legacy?So what about Coaching York? What’s our origin story? Peter Lumley is the founder member of Coaching York, in whose company we will will discover:Peter’s background and the frustrations that motivated him to embrace and promote coaching, some of the key players in the formation of Coaching York, its foundational vision, the challenges of working with dynamic volunteers, and the importance of International Coaching Week in the life and development of Coaching York. We end with reflections on Coaching York’s enduring legacy and Peter’s call to us all to embrace the art of better conversations.The podcast is brought to you by Coaching York, a community of coaches serving the communities of York, the counties of Yorkshire and beyond. For more details of our offers and services go to coachingyork.co.uk