COACH SPOTLIGHT

David Monro Jones Challenging Leaders to Transform Their Mindset

Malcolm Nicholson – iCN Journalist (United Kingdom)

This is the first of our series of coach profile interviews.

I spoke with David Monroe Jones, founder of Perceptual Reality Coaching.

David, before we talk about perceptual reality and the uniqueness that you bring, would you give us a feel for your journey before you became a coach. In other words, what did life consist of before coaching.

David replied “Before coaching I wanted to be a zoologist, But I was never any good at chemistry, so ended up in management. I started off filling shelves in a supermarket and moved around a variety of different industry sectors eventually ended up in distribution.

I spend a lot of time on the management ladder and then became very interested in training and development, until eventually I was heading uplearning development for a number of international organisations. I really enjoyed it and (so) have gone from crawling underneath a trailer trying to unlock bits, to delivering training to boards of directors.  It was fun.”

There’s a big leap then into coaching. So what inspired you to make a career change and become a leadership and team coach?

“I was presenting at a conference and somebody said, ‘Oh, based on your experience, you’d make a great coach’. I had (coaching) experience because I’d worked informally as a leadership coach/management coach/mentor throughout all the work that I done within learning and development. Several conversations later and it was yeah, actually, that could be a lot of fun. So that was the introduction to it.”

And after you made that move, you’ve been wearing 2 hats, haven’t you? Would you just describe to us the 2 coaching related hats that you wear, both as a coach with Perceptual Reality and as operations director for IAPC&M?

“So when I started the journey to be a leadership coach, I started to attend a number of training programs because I wanted to gain the qualifications. In fact now I am an Accredited Fellow Coach, Accredited Master Mentor, Certified Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centred Coach® (SCC), Certified Team Performance Coach, Certified PCM® trainer/facilitator and a Cultural Transformation Tools consultant. I have a Master’s in Management Learning and am qualified in the use of several world-class assessments for leadership, teams, organisational and personal development. I am also a qualified coaching supervisor.

Whilst I was going through my training, I was introduced to the IACP&M, (It is the International Authority for Professional Coaching and Mentoring.) which at that time was IIC&M they were asking for volunteers (to help run the business).

My 1st role was international head of operations.

I then took some time out to concentrate on developing my own business and went back in, as head of CPD for coaches and mentors, then Operations Director, looking at strategic direction and the accreditation principles, for all of the coaches, mentors, and training providers.”

Are there any words of advice that you’ve given to coaches accrediting through IAPC&M to prepare them for their new careers?

“The main one is, don’t neglect all of your life’s experiences that have got you to this point. New coaches can sometimes put themselves in a bubble and think ‘I’m a coach now, so nothing else that’s happened in my life matters.’ I encourage people to remember all of your life’s experiences and all of the skills and knowledge that you’ve brought as they’re all relevant. So to be your authentic self as a coach you have to bring all of that with you. You might not use it all in a coaching session but that’s who you are.

The other main one, (is that) the model, and the methodology in your approach doesn’t matter half as much as the relationship you’ve got with your client. Everything will just fall into place.”

Source: iCN Issue 47  (Business Coaching); page 32

About Malcolm Nicholson

Malcolm Nicholson is an experienced businessperson, entrepreneur and much in demand international executive coach, with in depth experience of challenging and supporting executives, enabling them to develop new approaches – both behavioural and procedural – that have a significant impact on their business.

To find out how he can help your organisation contact him at malcolmnicholson@aspecture.com  or +44 1932 267597