The Sandton Coaching Centre

Coaching Company

We are blessed to be living in these interesting times.

From one perspective, the nature and intensity of change that we are experiencing in the world today is quite overwhelming and perhaps at times terrifying. We are witnessing a breaking down of old structures and systems, a stripping away and exposure of the fragility and dysfunction of established institutions. From another perspective, these times are a call for us to grasp what is a unique opportunity to guide and manifest the emergence of a new order, one that is designed to support the flourishing of humanity and the ecosystems we live in.

It is apparent that we need to use an approach that is different to the approaches that created the existing global systems. The surprising thing is that the approaches that we advocate are timeless and not branded. These are approaches that have been neglected and unconsciously supressed for perhaps 200 years.  We believe that if we each work to rediscover these approaches and learn to practice them as individual practitioners and in groups with likeminded peers, then our actions now have a far greater potential to influence the more positive transformation of our global system. 

We believe that this potential can be amplified through general practitioner supervision, both for individuals and in peer groups, rediscovering a Spirit of Inquiry.

There is nothing new under the sun.

At the Sandton Coaching Centre, we focus on the mastery and lived practice of the practitioner, the practitioner in any context. We believe that we are best placed to have an impact when we each regard ourselves as a practitioner in our own role. This includes everything that we do in our careers and in our lives. In what each of us does to influence the world, immediately around us and the ripples we send out through our interactions. 

We invite you to consider yourself as a practitioner in whatever you do. You may be an executive, a community leader, a professional, a parent, a mentor, a coach, a team member, a facilitator, a therapist, a social worker, a teacher……

How is this approach different from life and executive coaching, therapy or other personal development. Coaching as a phenomenon focuses on the skills and competencies of coaching. The promise of the coaching movement is to change the world through changing awareness and behaviour of the individual. ‘If only everyone had a coach or therapist, the world would be a better place,’ is a common refrain. These skills can support you in your role, but coaching does not necessarily place an emphasis on your holistic practice in your specific context and your innate capacity to affect change in a dysfunctional system. There are other flaws in the traditional approach to coaching skills related to the dysfunction of the current system.

Our offering is to support you in the exploration of your individual and unique development journey as a practitioner and the potential you have to play a role in the upcoming reordering of the world. This approach is not new. It is a reminder to return to the traditional approach to developing mastery in any context – learning with peers, in dialogue and collaborative learning with collective practice.

Whatever the question, the answer is ‘Supervision’

Over past 15 years there has been a considerable growth in the practice of supervision in coaching. Supervision is a practice borrowed from other helping professions such as psychotherapy, social work and teaching. It is distinct from academic supervision or other technical line supervisor roles where there is a strong emphasis on hierarchical oversight and compliance. Supervision in this context is more of an equal relationship between professional peers. The supervisor may generally be more experienced, but the relationship is rather one of an emergent learning process in a supportive process with guidance and a spirit of exploration. The potential for a broader application of practice supervision represents an opportunity for us to return to timeless methods of inquiry and practice in all we do.

Group supervision adds a different dimension to your development as a practitioner. In groups the different perspectives and contemporaneous experience of your peers in their own system broadens the scope of your learning. You also learn when others share their practice, and you, in turn, provide your own perspective. If you are able to work with a group of other practitioners who have roles related to your role and/or who work in a similar context to you, then you can amplify the quality and diversity of learning available to you and others in the group. A peer group of practitioners then also has an expanded opportunity to test new approaches and to influence the system that they operate in.

This approach emphasises our unique and diverse gifts. We do not offer a branded method or product; we work with you to develop your unique individual holistic practice-in-the-world. We guide you to create the shift you want to see in your world such that the ripples of your actions, and the changes in your context, influence and enrich the wider world. We believe that this approach can lead to the creation of parallel systems that can heal and guide the transformation of the global system. This is your first step on that collective journey.

As founders of the Sandton Coaching Centre, Joanne Searle and Matt Shelley adhere to this philosophy in their own development and their practice in many contexts. We believe in growth through experiential development – both for ourselves and our clients and partner practitioners.

We do this through our practice in the following areas

• Individual coaching, counselling, therapy and coach supervision
• Practice Supervision
• Executive and Team coaching 
• Couples therapy and counselling
• Coach and Coach Supervisor training
• Manager as coach training
• Small- and large-scale mentoring & leadership programmes developed in an emergent and experiential way with our client organisational system

Sample client

Follow this link for details of the SAICA Mentoring Programme, which we have run since 2017 and has grown to 400 participants, with 30 former participants continuing to develop their own personal mentoring and leadership practice as learning pod ‘Ambassadors’

19 Belgrave Street, Bryanston, Sandton, South Africa