My English coachee tells me he sees no reason why I should not go on coaching in english but honestly it has been an ordeal. whatever your level your second language is poorer and what is more cultural differences do interfere in the process.
Still i have found this experience a wonderful way to take a new step towards a complete integration of this job, making it compulsory for the coach to brain gym while focusing on his coachee's mind.
I did not want to translate any protocols from french to english, so i bought two books which i recommend: Coaching at work tool kit and the coaching manual.
It has helped me helping my client and keeping up with a reasonable level of english.

So that's that, I happen to have coached an english person in his mother tongue and it worked quite well but this is not the point I know some companies which hire English coaches for their French executives. Does it make sense to go down that road?
Would Hr managers be tempted to kill two birds with one stone.Would it be a good idea to present such an offer. I am pretty sure it would work altough you would have to check the level of trainees beforehand. One could always switch from one language to another in case of emergency.
What do you think?
mardi 6 février 2007

>I have just signed a contract to coach a director of a
>company based in Limousin with a site in Toulouse. The
>brief outline is to help the person become more
>effective and productive. I won the contract over two
>other established French cabinets as they wanted an
>"Anglo-Saxon" approach to the coaching contract. I am
>English and i will be coaching in French.
>When I met the DRH and the coachee for the first time I
>asked if it was a problem for them and they both
>independantly answered that they saw it more of an
>advantage than a hindrance.

>I have had a meeting with them both today to start the
>planning as I will also be doing a cross-benchmarking
>with a director of another of their sites in the
>Herault.

>I will be meeting the coachee and his director together
>in the next 10 days to establish the objectives of the
>coaching contract - so here we go.

>During the meeting today I introduced the tools we will
>be using and everyone appears to be on board.

>I'll keep you posted as to how it goes.

>Thanks for the book references Catherine, I have "The
>Coaching Manual" which I find useful and others which I
>feel are worth a metion are "Coaching Across Cultures"
>by Philippe Rosinski and "Coaching for Performance" by
>John Whitmore.

>It would be interesting to hear what others think....

>What do you think?
mercredi 7 février 2007

>I know some companies which
>hire English coaches for their French executives.
>Does
>it make sense to go down that road?
>Would Hr managers be tempted to kill two birds with
>one
>stone.Would it be a good idea to present such an
>offer.
>I am pretty sure it would work altough you would have
>to check the level of trainees beforehand. One could
>always switch from one language to another in case of
>emergency.
>What do you think?


Learning through another language has always been a
wonderful experience, because it allows you to enlarge
your knowledge in several different aeras.

First, the language itself. You need a high level of
understanding to be able to gather ideas, to memorize,
and to use this knowledge you just learned, be it in
your mother tongue, or the idiom you were taught in.

Second, each language has its own structure. Which
means, you do not articulate your thinking the same way
in French, or in English as the case may be. So,
learning through another language is a unique
opportunity to approach issues in e very different and
productive manner.

As far as coaching is concerned, I consider it a great
idea, because it is exactly on line with what the coach
is trying to do. if you can get somenone out of his old
schemes by using a foreign language, there is no
valuable reason why you should deprive yourself of this
simple tool.


Does that answer your question?
Sincerely, Louis de Cornulier, HR intern
jeudi 22 février 2007