Can coaching help transform the leadership crisis?

Executive leadership coach and trainer Sally-Ann Burgess, who works with leaders throughout Africa, says: “Today, globally and particularly in Africa, we have a deep leadership crisis. Individuals often find themselves in leadership positions without any formal training, no succession plans and very little opportunity for up-skilling. Real change requires courage to step out of our comfort zones, to be different and to ask the uncomfortable questions. In order to do this leaders and managers need to make radical changes in the way they operate that can challenge their core beliefs and behaviour.”

The frenetic pace of life and work; the pervasiveness of disruption and the toll that this all takes on our physical and mental well-being, all highlight the need for supporting leaders in becoming more self-aware and more capable of making sustainable personal changes. Traditional models of leadership are increasingly ineffective, and today’s leaders are being challenged to improve their capacities for teamwork, honest communication, authentic relationships and fostering empowering, flexible and innovative workplaces. Worldwide, and in South Africa, executive coaching, like other areas of the industry, is experiencing significant growth. Across all sectors of society there is increasing awareness that we need more effective leadership and that coaching is a viable strategy to develop this.

“In my executive coaching experience, it is a genuine privilege to work with leaders and have an impact,” says Burgess – who will be presenting a talk on ‘Leadership coaching in Africa’ at the Sacap Durban Campus on the 12 March 2020. “I am always humbled in coaching sessions by the opportunities to be trusted in supporting leaders such as managers, entrepreneurs and public sector officials on what is a very personal and courageous journey to develop themselves holistically.” For aspiring coaches, the executive arena offers them unique and exciting challenges in developing their own self-awareness and levels of consciousness. As Burgess points out: “As a coach of leaders, you have to step up. You are only going to be trusted and effective if you walk the talk yourself.”

The increased awareness that coaching for high performance, whether that be for athletes or leaders, is contributing to a worldwide growth of the coaching industry. Already well-established on their Cape Town and Johannesburg campus, Sacap now brings high-quality coaching education to Durban for the first time. Lee-Ann Drummond, head of coaching at Sacap, says: “We are launching the Coach Practitioner Programme, a part-time, five-month short learning programme designed to support Durban working professionals enter the growing coaching industry, whether that’s as life coaches, niche coaches or coaches at executive level.”

In her presentation at the Sacap Durban campus, Sally-Ann Burgess will be sharing her experiences, thoughts and her perspectives on the Consciousness Leadership Model, which is a methodology that she loves and uses as a leadership coach. The talk is free and open to all working professionals, managers and leaders who may be interested in accredited coach practitioner education programmes.

In its coaching education, Sacap brings a unique psychological lens to coaching as in applied psychology and believes that in order to work effectively with others, one needs to understand and apply psychological principles within the scope of practice as a coach.

About Sacap Coaching

If you are interested in becoming a coach, please visit: www.sacap.edu.za/coaching/overview/

All three of the coaching programmes offered by Sacap (the South African College of Applied Psychology) are accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and approved by Comensa. The ICF, which was founded in the USA in 1995, is the world’s largest coaching organisation connecting practitioners and educators in a professional community that today, spans more than 100 countries.

With 15 years of coach training experience, Sacap empowers South Africans to harness their potential and effect change through its rigorous coach education. The part-time courses are designed for working professionals who aim to either develop as professional coaches or practice coaching in their own workplace.

Sacap’s two-year Postgraduate Diploma in Coaching (PGDC) is a comprehensive NQF eight-level qualification, equivalent to an Honours degree, while their Coach Practitioner Programme is five months and the Advanced Coach Practitioner Programme is six months long. These learning programmes respectively provide foundational and in-depth theory as well as extensive practical skills.

Sacap’s Postgraduate Diploma in Coaching, Coach Practitioner Programme and Advanced Coach Practitioner Programme are available on both the Johannesburg and Cape Town campuses. The Coach Practitioner Programme is now available on the Durban campus. Courses begin in May 2020, and admissions close at the end of March 2020.