Ontological Coaching – an Introduction with Aboodi Shabi
The core premise of ontological coaching is that, in order to make real change, we need to focus our attention on our ways of being rather than on the actions we take. In his book, Coaching – Evoking Excellence in Others, James Flaherty writes: “Each person’s actions were fully consistent with the interpretations he brought, an interpretation that will persist across time, across events, across circumstances. Our job as coaches will be to understand the client’s structure of interpretation, then in partnership alter this structure so that the actions that follow bring about the intended outcome.”
It is this “structure of interpretations” with which is our focus in ontological coaching. In this interactive session, we’ll explore how to work effectively with our clients to help them uncover their ways of being and to generate new practices to go beyond their current self and build new paths towards sustainable change.
About Aboodi Shabi
Aboodi Shabi has been working in executive coaching and coach training since the mid 1990s and has several years of international coaching, training and leadership development experience. He has delivered ontological coach-training programmes all over the world.
Aboodi is currently on the faculty of Henley Business School’s coaching programme, and also plays an active role on Henley’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
He is a regular speaker on the international coaching circuit and an invited guest tutor on mastery in coaching at several European coaching schools. He has been on the ICF global coaching board and was founding co-president of the UK ICF Chapter. He is currently on the Association for Coaching’s UK leadership team and on the editorial board of Coaching at Work magazine.