Interview with Catalyst 14 Founder Damion Wonfor

In this month’s interview with a Catalyst 14 team member, Vanessa Rogers interviews founder Damion Wonfor about his views and experiences of coaching.

Damion first came across coaching in the late 1990s while he was working in a financial services organisation; he connected deeply with it and it ultimately became his calling. Coaching has become his path ever since, enabling him to live his purpose of making a difference.

Initially Damion worked as an internal coach, and then he joined a coaching consultancy in 2008; setting up Catalyst 14 in 2017 enabled him to pull all his experiences in training coaches and the strands of his work in coaching, supervision and mindfulness together.

Damion lives in Kent with his wife and three daughters. He has interests in Eastern Psychology and Yoga, and enjoys playing tennis and running.

Tell me a bit more about your first experience of coaching.

So, this was probably about 30 years ago. I was working in a financial services organisation and I had a very inspiring boss, who had a coaching style as a leader. My first experience of coaching was with him, and the way that he led me; this wasn’t always easy, because he would really challenge and bring out the best in me. At the time, he was introducing leader-as-coach training more broadly into the organisation, and there were a number of people there training as internal coaches too.

So that was my first coach training experience, and shortly after that I had a coach myself during an organisational change. That’s really when I fully realised the impact of coaching. Working with a coach had a profound impact on me, and showed me its potential. I’d always been interested in developing people in my leadership roles, so when I had this experience, I think the final jigsaw piece fell into place. It led me to train formally: I embarked on an MSc in Coaching which was led by some of the core pioneers of executive coaching in the UK, including Sir John Whitmore.

What made you want to become an executive coach?

After my formal training, I was coaching internally alongside my role for about eight or nine years. Then, I got to a point in my career where I loved coaching but my main role was becoming more and more strategic (as I reached more senior positions). It was coaching that I was most passionate about, but quite often I had to fight hard to be able to continue coaching within my role.

Things got to a point where I had to take the decision to leave my corporate career and become a coach — I knew this was the path that I really wanted to follow, and who I wanted to be. Coaching was definitely the part of my role that fulfilled a deep sense of meaning. All this was happening against the backdrop of the big financial crash of 2008; I can remember everyone saying to me that I was crazy to be leaving a secure corporate career, but I just knew it was the right thing for me to do.

Thank you, Damion. Really interesting. What would you say it is about coaching that you love?

I think it’s always a real privilege to partner someone who is being challenged within their work or career — and help them uncover areas of development that are critical for them in a senior leadership role. Even after three decades of coaching, I still feel it’s a privilege to be a coach that partners someone, supporting them to make a significant personal or professional change. This is encapsulated by one of my favourite quotes from Ram Dass: “We are all just walking each other home.”

A deep sense of making a difference is something that’s very meaningful for me, and being a coach really gives that to me. I always feel very engaged by an experience of coaching someone, and seeing the impact that the coaching relationship is having on them.

What would you say have been some of the key influences on you as a coach?

I was very fortunate to be trained by some well-known figures in coaching. I think the person I’ll probably talk about today is Diana Whitmore — she was the founder of the Psychosynthesis Trust in the UK, and you can see from Sir John Whitmore’s writing that she had a profound impact on his approach to coaching. She was a member of the faculty that trained me, and then later I had the privilege of working with her, co-delivering coach training for several years.

She really enabled me to work at depth as a coach, and to understand how to trust the coachee and their process of self realisation through a transpersonal perspective. She helped me really reframe the struggles that my clients were experiencing as important places for them to learn in terms of their growth and development. That means I approach conversation where the coachee is ‘blocked’ very differently. I feel very fortunate to have been trained by and to have worked with Diana.

The other key influences have been my spiritual and mindfulness practice and systemic training, especially systemic constellations.

If you could go back in time to when you were first coaching, what would you say to yourself?

There are three things I would say to myself.

The first: to stop comparing yourself to others. After I trained as a coach, I was working alongside some of the coaches I trained with and held in the highest regard — and it was very easy for me to compare myself against people that had been coaching for 20 to 30 years. So based on this experience, and where I am now, I would say don’t compare yourself to those elite experts, really focus on you, and where you are in your practice. Be you.

I would also say don’t put too much pressure on yourself to identify the coach that you are. This comes from practice; just get as much experience as you can, and in time you’ll really understand the work that you love, and the type of people that you really want to work with.

Finally, I would emphasise the importance of looking after yourself and making the warm up and warm down time part of the coaching session — rather than just viewing the coaching session as purely the client contact time. Coaching can take its toll if you are not consciously looking after yourself and managing your energy. Pursue practices that deepen resourcefulness and presence as a coach – self-care means your clients get the best of you rather than what is left of you.

How would you describe your coaching now?

I’m going to use the word transformational, as this is the name of the coach training programme that we run, and a lot of the underpinnings of that programme have come from my own development, experiences and coaching practice. But what does that really mean? It means that the coaching is happening within a relational depth, and the dialogue and interventions create an energetic and embodied shift, where the coachee breaks through or reframes a limiting mindset or approach. My coaching often focuses on the unconscious aspects of leadership — such as beliefs, values and purpose in life.

My coaching practice is heavily underpinned by mindfulness, transpersonal psychology and systemic work. So, I would also say that my coaching takes a systemic view of a person; of them within their organisational system and wider life. One that enables a coachee to let go of unconscious dynamics and connect to a deeper sense of purpose in their life.

Damion, thinking about all the CPD experiences that you’ve had over the years, if you could pick one or two favourites, what would they be?

I’ve been meditating for 20 years, and I think all the training that I completed through my mindfulness teacher training was very impactful on me as a coach — it really enabled me to be really present and resourceful. Mindfulness practice helps me to become present very quickly, and has deepened my self awareness in a fundamental way — I am less impacted by the content and the coachee.

I think the most impactful CPD a coach can do is work on themselves — as in reality, every time you sit down to practice meditation, you are holding a mirror up to yourself and working with your own patterns and inner landscape. My mindfulness practice has helped me bring a deep calm presence when supporting a client to do the same.

The other most impactful CPD I’ve experienced is the systemic training that led me into training in family constellations. This is probably the most transformational development I’ve ever done, and is a thread that informs the work I deliver on a 1-to-1 or group basis.

I’m sure you get asked this a lot on the different programmes, but what advice would you give to new coaches in training?

I would say make the most of practising as you are training. Get as broad an experience as possible in terms of the type of people that you’re coaching — try to work with coachees from different sectors if possible. I’d just say practice, practice, practice and really be there from a learning perspective. Because again, it’s easy for less helpful parts of a personality to show up: perfectionism and imposter syndrome, for example. Edges all coaches need to work through.

When you’re on a programme, in a safe learning environment, really make the most of the coaching practice sessions —  and take a risk, experiment, try something new. Really allow yourself to be uncomfortable and absolutely go for it. Because then, you’ll get the biggest stretch — and the most out of your training.

What advice would you give to coaches setting up their own business?

I’ve had many conversations with new coaches over the years where they’ve got their accreditation and launched a website — but are surprised when they don’t find coaching client enquiries immediately flooding in. So, I ask, what’s your business plan? How are you going to develop your business? This is going to come down to the conversations you’re having with people around you as a coach, and the coaching that you offer. So my first piece of advice is to really treat things as a business. If you’re not sure what that means, get a business mentor that can really support you to develop a strong proposition. (I am not talking about an online marketing coach, I am referring to a business mentor.)

The second thing I would say is that coaching can be lonely at times — so it’s important to focus on the network around you and remember that people are there to support you through this. For me, having peers and other coaches that I know that I can meet and catch up with is hugely important. Without that connection, you can end up so much in service of others that you are spending weeks on your own. Consciously plan and make time for these social engagements — so that you can be with people that really inspire and get you.

The third piece of advice would be to reframe selling yourself as building relationships: don’t be afraid to ask people to refer you to others, or to make introductions. People are very generous, and if someone asks for help with connections, they’ll usually oblige. I really learned that from my own initial experience as a sole trader — I didn’t really want to have those conversations, but when I got round to it, “I’m surprised you haven’t contacted me sooner” was a common response.

Finally, how do you see your coaching practice evolving in the future?

I’m noticing that from a coaching perspective, a lot of my clients now want to meet in person; this is really interesting for me given that the whole world seems to be going online. Despite this shift — or perhaps because of it — I find that a lot of the senior leaders are tired of virtual meetings, and want to work face-to-face. It tells me that in a world where people are constantly talking up AI, the human-to-human connection in executive coaching is becoming ever more vital.

I am also noticing that most of my coaching now is supporting senior leaders in ways relating to spiritual intelligence — leaders with successful careers who have reached a bit of a crossroads, and want to involve something more meaningful and purpose driven in their lives.

Finally, in terms of a personal interest, those that know me well know how important the environment is to me. Coaching outdoors has always been part of my offer as a coach, but I will be focusing even more on that going forward. I also intend to deepen my understanding of eco-psychology.