We all have goals we want to reach, challenges we’re striving to overcome and times when we feel stuck. Partnering with an International Coaching Federation (ICF) coach can change your life, setting you on a path to greater personal and professional fulfillment. For more than two decades coaching has been embraced by many leaders and individuals in the world. A growing number of organisations also recognise the value in building a coaching culture that offers employees at all levels the opportunity to grow their skills, enhance their value and reach their professional goals.
But what is coaching?
ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential. The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity and leadership.
Is coaching practiced the same way all over the world and how does this translate for Mid-Eastern leaders knowing that they are many commonalities but yet generalisation is a misconception?
Osama Al-Mosa, an ICF Master Certified Coach (MCC) from Jordan, specialised in Leadership and Leadership Teams Development, shares his view on this question, based on a solid experience of coaching Mid-Eastern Leaders, in a synopsis available on our ICF article section at: https://www.icf-events.org/article/7045/. This online platform offers free thought-led articles on coaching and leadership written by ICF certified coaches from all over the world.
Osama says: “Cross-cultural coaching is the norm for many leadership development professionals and for many of us coaches, therefore understanding the culture of the clients is of crucial benefit to us and to the human resources community in optimising the coach-client relationship, in designing individualised coaching interventions, and in maximising the return on coaching.”
Osama also highlights the need to wisely select the coaching and conversational tools, to ask for permissions, to be sensitive to the cultural hot buttons, to neutralise the unconscious- biases towards Mid-Eastern, and to enhance the psychological safety through avoiding; stereotyping, judging, misperceptions, and always remain alert to the story-making machine in coaches’ heads.
Mid-Eastern request for validation and for a directive coaching needs a thorough orientation beforehand, a meticulous review of coachability, and a clear coaching agreement.
Osama adds that developing the coaching competencies of Mid-Eastern leaders will pay a wonderful impact on empowering employees of high potential who might be under suppressive circumstances. And, developing a coaching culture in the organisations operating from the Middle East developing a coaching culture will minimise disruption, create more cohesive and inclusive teams. Team coaching can be a very powerful tool too to enhance the alignment of the leadership teams and to enhance their collective intelligence.
Because of coaching, people from around the world have been able to surpass their limitations and achieve their personal and professional goals. Get ready to be inspired by true stories of profound change at experiencecoaching.org
The ICF is the world’s largest organisation leading the global advancement of the coaching profession and fostering coaching’s role as an integral part of a thriving society. Founded in 1995, its 40,000-plus members located in more than 145 countries and territories work toward common goals of enhancing awareness of coaching and upholding the integrity of the profession through lifelong learning and upholding the highest ethical standards. Through the work of its six unique family organisations, ICF empowers professional coaches, coaching clients, organisations, communities and the world through coaching. Visit coachingfederation.org for more information.
