Chill out! A place to write; a place to dream.

In the Madelaine mountains, with crystal clear air, fabulous scenery, peace and quiet, great food and wine is a simple and secret hideaway. Whether you need a break to re energise, or time to spend with family or friends, this is the place to get back to nature in 2009. Book now at www.francehousetorent.com Under 2 hrs drive from Lyon airport or 7 hrs from Calais.

Performance Assessments

As coaches we need to be qualified in psychometric tools, both to meet the professional standards of the coaching associations and to meet our clients's needs for some measureable assessment of employee potential and motivation with regard to performance. This is increasingly vital in these highly competitive times.

Extended DISC business assessment tools give you the means to motivate, stimulate and encourage people in your organisation by raising people's self-awareness, self-esteem and self-confidence. Assessment, testing and development play a vital part in not only recruiting but also retaining key people in your business.

Their consultants are assessment and testing specialists so are able to provide you with the right business assessment tools for your company. Theaccurate, valid and objective performance assessments enable employers to understand and develop the full potential of their people. They supply Executive Coaches, HR professionals, managers, and leaders with the tools and training to motivate, engage and coach individuals as part of their performance and development assessment.

Doctors need coaches!

With the news that Doctors are now going to learn leadership skills as part of their training, I wonder if that means that those who have missed out will avail themselves of a coach to help them improve in the areas of interpersonal skills, working with peers and developing teams, managing resources, improving services and developing and agreeing strategic direction. The medical profession and especially those within in the NHS are undergoing enormous change, Like other professional service providers Doctors need to have broad management skills in order to survive and yet so not see management and leadership as part of their toolkit. Those who maintain this stand will be the ones left behind and the quickest way to meet individual development needs is to get a coach - I lay down the gauntlet!

Enlightenment

Spending all week observing a basic coaching course has enabled a deep reflection about who and what is a coach. It's worth taking time out to think about whether we are truly present in our clients' world, following their agenda without judgement, presupposition or bias. Do we truly park 'our stuff' and work in a fair, ethical and professional way, with full contracting and boundary definition, full review and evaluation, soliciting feedback and gaining supervision on our practice? Those coaches who take their ego and guru status to their clients are surely consultants or mentors and provide a place of interuption with a very different methodology and state from which a client may move forward.