Coincidental Coaching is the blog of Mark Sexton.
Mark is co-founder of Aspiration Experts Ltd and Head of the coaching profession at the Intellectual Property Office.
Having spent many years as a coach and running the IPO’s internal coaching network, alongside my day job heading up a patent examining group, I thought it would be useful to begin to gather together some of the advice and pitfalls that have proved informative over the years and hopefully pepper these with some tools and techniques that have enriched my practice.
The coaching community is an enthusiastic and eclectic bunch and I hope that in sharing the things I’ve found handy, other people working in and around the field will be able to point me towards other nifty things that I’ve missed (there’s so much out there).
To work with me or James come visit our site at https://www.aspirationexperts.com/about
My Latest Posts
- A visual blog (and an appreciation nested within of the Visual Science Lab blog by Kirk Tuck)
A visual blog (lots of photos), with a review of Kirk Tuck’s now sadly defunct blog, and an appreciation of going to galleries. - Book review – Coach your Team by Liz Hall
In this blog I review Liz Hall’s excellent book Coach your team, which introduces a wide range of approaches and models and grounds it all in conscious and mindful practice. - Framing return on investment – Setting up a coaching network – Part 2
In the second part of the series of blogposts I discuss how to frame return on investment and how to support the people training to be coaches to make sure they get through the qualification. - Catching the bluebells and coaching in nature
An overview of the advantages of taking coaching sessions outdoors, plus a few pointers of things to consider if you do - Coaching top tips – The four, five, six, seven levels of listening
In which I get back to the brass tacks of coaching and explore the levels of listening - Seven lessons in Physics by Carlo Rovelli – book review
A review of Seven lessons in Physics by Carlo Rovelli and some ponderings on how this can be used in coaching (and life) - An appreciation of breakfast briefings
In praise of the breakfast briefings run by Cardiff Uni Business School - Gwen John revisited – a Cardiff Museum exhibition review
This blog discusses an exhibition of Gwen John’s work at Cardiff Museum, highlighting her unique artistic approach and its parallels to coaching. It explores themes of commitment, observation of body language, and the importance of balance in life and work. I praise the exhibition, recommending it highly for viewers. - Am I a swimmer, or a writer?
As spring arrives, the author reflects on their fitness journey, including gym workouts and a return to swimming, aimed at improving mobility after years of playing badminton. They discuss habit formation, identity-based theories, and their experience with a question-a-day journal, encouraging readers to consider the alignment between habits and personal identity. - Spring cleaning and the volcano filing method
The author reflects on the contrast between their cluttered home and the newly tidied common room at work, pondering how environments influence comfort and usage. They discuss their “volcano method” of organisation, which they believe suits their lifestyle, while also seeking tidiness as Spring approaches. Coaching others informs their understanding of personal organisation systems.