Our recommendations for Christmas reading. See our thoughts on the following reads:

The Boys in the Boat

Ditching Imposter Syndromw

Nonviolent Communication

Working Out Loud

What does the future look like for coaching?

Having shared our clients’ and our colleagues’ views on how they have experienced remote coaching this year, we now want to think about some of the practical skills being brought to the fore, and look forward to a more varied coaching experience in the future.

Coaching has changed dramatically during 2020.

The coaches at Motion share their experiences with executive coach and partner Rachel Morris about the reality of coaching in a virtual space, along with their coachees’ reactions and thoughts about the remote coaching experience.

We all know there are times where having someone objective to talk to helps tremendously. Those moments when, through skilled conversation, complications and confusions begin to become crystal clear.

How do you know when you’re at one of those moments?

How do you choose an executive coach? How do you know the fit is right?

Rachel Morris, executive coach and partner at Motion Learning, shares her views on the signs of potential for a good coaching relationship and reveals some of the key qualities of any great coach.

We’ve been listening to a lot of people this year, which is good, as it’s our job to listen. There are a lot of things people want to talk through, work through and share – but in a quiet, safe space; away from all the noise.

We’ve asked a few of our coaches to tell us about what they’ve been listening to, and how they’ve been helping people this year.

Faced with the continuing pandemic, civil disquiet and an overdue focus on issues of equality, diversity and inclusion, it can be difficult to feel a sense of happiness.

The answer is not to ignore the wider world, but respond in an authentic way, tapping into the wisdom of others to learn some key lessons.

We use our personal experience to support our clients as they progress on their own journeys.

Here’s one of our coaches, Lucy James, sharing her own experiences of balancing motherhood and career

Our recent research on paternity coaching shows that it’s rarely an option, is little understood but could be welcomed by working fathers

To understand more about the paternal view of coaching we conducted some research with almost 50 fathers contributing their thoughts and feelings.

Rachel Morris, our motherhood and career expert, shares her insights from coaching businesswomen for over a decade through this transformative experience.

Rachel explains the 3 phases of the transition from expectant parent to mother to professional once more.

Over the course of 15 years, we’ve never stopped learning at Motion Learning. Here are a few thoughts from our journey so far.

We weren’t completely unaware that to make a success of a business would take lots of energy, time and some good ideas, but to paraphrase, we certainly “didn’t know what we didn’t know”.

Communities of practice have been much on our minds over the last 12 months, particularly in light of the value we gain from two of our own.

In the course of our own investigations and experiences, we’ve come across information we think might be useful to others.

Just over 3 years ago we went to see Martin Seligman share his views on Happiness and Positive Psychology in London. We think it’s worth sharing again our notes and reactions to his talk.

Martin Seligman, the “father of positive psychology”, was in London, sharing his views on happiness with over 900 people in a packed venue, where at least 60% of the audience, according to Martin, were engaged in the topic! The other 40% were too busy indulging in sexual fantasies, apparently…

Are you clear about the factors which motivate you; is it the pleasures in life or a need to achieve before the inevitable occurs?

It’s neither cake, nor death, which drives us on, but instead a combination of pleasure, engagement and most importantly the opportunities we have to make a contribution, according to Martin Seligman, one of our favourite gurus.

Who do you turn to when you need advice, support or inspiration? Is it one person, or different people depending upon your need?

A personal development board, AKA The bench, is a group of people standing behind you, supporting you, keeping you on track, guiding, challenging and stretching you.

Although the concept of the Mentor has been around since the time of Homer, it seems very much of the moment. But why should anyone become a mentor? And what does it involve?

The idea of mentoring seems to be having its moment in the sun, with both commercial and public sector organisations investing much time, energy and resources into mentoring programmes.

Rachel Morris, Executive Coach, Business Partner and mother of two shares her experiences of maternity coaching.

The period around becoming a parent is hugely challenging. Everything is ‘changing’ – home, work, and even the parent’s identity that’s associated with these places. It affects confidence and typically challenges the individual’s perception of what matters, what’s important, what goals now look like to name just a few things.

We’re often asked about the nature of mentoring. We always recommend considering it, whether formally or informally, as a way to support leaders and managers.

Our view at Motion Learning is that mentoring is a relationship in which experiences are shared and questions asked and answered for mutual benefit and growth. Here’s our factsheet on mentoring.

Demonstrating resilience, overcoming barriers and hurdles, and bouncing back are more and more frequent topics of conversation in our work with clients.

We’ve spent a lot of time over the last couple of years talking to our clients and our network about resilience and it's not hard to understand why. A recent study on reactions to the current global economic crisis highlighted the range of reactions and depth of emotions that are stirred up by the uncertainty we all currently face.

What should leaders be doing to get businesses through 'tough times'? What really works?

Using a balance of your head, your heart and your gut instincts can take you a long way in a crisis, if you can get the balance right. Authenticity is also critical