Our Managing Partner, Graham Wood, was the first person in Africa to earn the Academy of Executive Coaching’s (AoEC) brand new Professional Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching. With extensive global experience across the United Nations, government, private industry, and non-governmental organizations, Graham has cultivated a unique coaching style. In this interview with AoEC, he reflects on his journey into coaching, how his approach has evolved, and the valuable lessons he’s learned from working with executives and professionals across diverse sectors.
Who or what introduced you to coaching and led to you signing up for coach training with the AoEC?
I have for a long time been interested in a coaching approach to leadership. I was recruited to a CEO role through Career Connections in Kenya and saw they were AoEC partners, offering coaching training. After a couple of discussions, I signed up for the AoEC Practitioner’s Diploma with them. It was a very positive experience.
What were some of the positives and challenges you experienced while doing the Professional Practitioner diploma?
I really benefited from having a cohort of experienced coaches, I learned so much from watching them. The videos prior to each session were a very positive innovation to warm up for the sessions. Each session was conducted by someone with real expertise in their area and this was very impactful. The mentor coaching sessions were very helpful too. I also enjoyed learning several new creative techniques.
The structure helps a lot. A day of prep, a very long learning and engaging day and then four weeks of reflection, with some peer coaching during this time. For me it is usually the spaces in between which are most insightful.
I can’t speak highly enough of the faculty. From the start we were in a very supportive, learning environment with the space to be our best selves. I am very grateful for this.
On the challenge side, some of the sessions were complex and there was a great deal of information to absorb. On a minor level, given the time difference between Kenya and the UK, we finished late into my evening.
What is your advice to others considering ongoing development in coach training?
If you want to work seriously as a coach, then continuous professional development is essential. This is both because it makes us more impactful coaches and also gives us an edge in a competitive marketplace. Investing in your own development is right and smart.
There are so many areas where I still want to develop, I am looking at team coaching and developing my Gestalt skills with the AoEC next. I am also about to do a basic introduction to transactional analysis with a member of my initial faculty at Career Connections.
Reflecting on your experience of the Professional Practitioner diploma, how did it deepen your understanding of who you are and how you coach?
Since 2021 I have undergone some profound personal challenges and opportunities. My mum died, I lost a brother to Covid, our young dog died, I was mugged at gunpoint, diagnosed with cancer and had surgery (happily now cancer free). We also moved to a new town in Kenya and had to manage a complex probate process with my Mum’s Will. On the plus side, I ran a couple of marathons and even with my fear of heights managed to climb Mount Kenya. I have also had some very productive fiction writing times, established and grew my company, Hattrick Advisory Services and had some wonderful travel experiences.
So, this was a perfect time to reflect on the ‘who am I and how do I coach’ question. I think my perspective has changed, my empathy is more pronounced and I had genuinely learned to ‘trust the process’ while coaching. I no longer worry if something might go ‘wrong’ and don’t feel the need to think ahead anymore. I seem to be able to hold space naturally, enjoying the moments of silence rather than worry about them.
Can you tell us more about your personal coaching model and how this has evolved since doing the Professional Practitioner diploma?
Yes, I reflect on this question a lot. I have moved into what I call a ‘Gestalt-lite’ style. Previously it was more in the Co-Active space, although that had been somewhat fluid.
Looking at the overall work, I think coaching the whole client has become something I do more consciously, and this was the slow burning brake through for me. I find with much of my development as a coach that insights occur gradually, rather than through single ‘light bulb’ moments.
I also sometimes introduce techniques I learned or developed during the PPD. For example, working with the client on a stakeholder analysis or, through some Ubuntu learnings looking at the ‘’we’ rather than the ‘I’. I also loved the ‘constellations’ work we did and have tried it out three times now, each time different and rewarding.
What elements of the Professional Practitioner Diploma’s modules particularly resonated with you and why?
During the PPD I found the sessions on Identity, Gestalt and Ubuntu particularly led me to make some conscious changes in how I coach. The former because I have read a lot of academic work around multiple identities, finding the PPD an invitation to merge that with my coaching and the latter because I live in Africa and perhaps two thirds of my clients are on this continent. And Gestalt has always felt like an approach, a style I wanted to grow into but lack some confidence to do so.
Who do you typically coach and what are the issues or opportunities you normally support them with?
My coaching began with executives in east Africa and is gradually becoming more global, which I welcome. In the last year it has been about 60% regional and the rest global, mostly in the UK and the US. I also do some pro bono coaching for CoachActivism, where I am a board member, which is usually young volunteers working in humanitarian contexts.
When I started my coaching journey, I assumed many of my clients would be from the not for profit/NGO sector, as that is where I have spent most of my career. But actually, I have had mostly corporate clients, giving validity to the phrase I learned in my initial training ‘coach the person not the problem.’
I haven’t consciously targeted a niche as some colleagues do. I would say that about 50% of my clients are CEOs or senior executives who want to become CEOs. The former may be new, excited and afraid at what is ahead or coming towards the end of that phase of life and asking, ‘what next; what is my legacy?’ The latter are ambitious for the next step, looking at the kinds of mindsets needed for the step up.
I also coach a good number of mid-career professionals thinking of what next, to remain in a technical role or to move into more management and leadership is a typical issue here.
Looking over the last year or so I find about 50% of clients are women, most are working in multi-cultural environments with all that entails. I also seem to have an even split between the corporate and not for profit world.
I am in the middle of a long blog series on the issues people tend to bring to coaching. It can be found on the Hattrick Advisory Services website.
Can you share a success story or testimonial from one of your clients that highlights the impact of your coaching?
Allow me to share two testimonials I especially enjoyed. The first from a senior corporate executive: ‘For the first two sessions with Graham I was doubtful that we were going anywhere. The emphasis on me ‘doing the work’ was not what I had anticipated. He has been a CEO and I wanted him to tell not ask. But then it seemed to click, he asked me to trust the process, I did and from then the journey was deeply impactful.’
The second from an NGO client: ‘Thank you, Graham, I am deeply grateful for the work we did together. The work we did on ER, imposter syndrome and navigating the gender aspects of career development in my context has provided the blueprint for the next stage of my career. I hope we can do this again sometime.’
What do you find most rewarding about your work as a coach?
It’s a great privilege to have such insights into people’s lives, desires, fears and all the ‘stuff’ they engage with. I feel very honoured to share that. Most of the time it is very rewarding to see them experience the kind of development around mindsets, behaviours and strategies that they want from coaching.
There is also the personal development that executive and career coaching brings. Formal learning such as through the PPD and the readings we do to stay current and learn. But also, the less tangible growth around ego, listening, being empathetic. I am sure that the coaching experience has altered the way I see the world and my place in it.
This interview was first published by AoEC.
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