THE FIVE MATURITIES
What is coaching? This was once a simple question. However, there are more coaches, more ways in which coaching is being used, more technologies in coaching, and more demands on coaches. Unfortunately, neither our methods for conceptualizing and researching coaching nor our methods for assessing and developing coaches have sufficiently kept up.
In response, David has updated his earlier research and writing on what it takes to develop masterful coaches. He has written a groundbreaking paper, “The Five Maturities: A New Paradigm for Coach Development” in partnership with Institute of Coaching at Harvard. They will publish the final report in Spring 2024.
The paper identifies why we need to (1) move beyond competency models in assessing and developing coaches, (2) focus on what has the greatest impact on outcomes (client readiness), and (3) expand our frames around 'coaches' and ‘coaching’ to develop more advanced practices and more mature practitioners.
Members of The Moment Institute Community can download the second draft of the paper and leave comments here: If you are not yet a member, you can join for free here.
The Five Maturities Project
Coaching is at an inflection point as it experiences continued growth and a sense of dilution, increased globalization and a call for decolonization, and expanded distribution through technology and a need for greater humanization.
David sees the paper as a catalyst for the fundamental shifts that are needed for coaches and coaching. To get a diverse set of perspectives and a wider range of expertise in taking this work forward, he is seeking aligned scholars, master practitioners, seasoned educators, and forward-thinking buyers of coaching to join the Project Team.
We will be holding monthly virtual meet-ups to further our thinking, share resources, collaborate on research and writing, and advocate for recommendations on how coaches are assessed and developed as well as how ‘coaching’ and ‘coach’ are defined.
Our vision is for this work to contribute to the forming of new professional identities that include elements of yet transcend current role definitions. The ID practitioners that David has trained in Integrative Development are a great example of where we are headed.
David is also seeking organizations, institutions, and other entities who want to use this work to advance their programs in the coaching and development space. If you are interested, please reach out to us using the form below.
Coming in 2024
David is currently developing a new immersive Experience based in The Five Maturities. It will make explicit for the first time the spiritual philosophy that underpins his life and work. The Experience will feature retreats and a series of profound inquiries and dialogues as guiding lights for your journey and your calling as a human in these times. Participants will be empowered and resourced to take these ‘seeds’ and plant ‘trees’ in their community. Stay tuned…
As James Hollis wrote, “Nothing will take one further from the truth of [our] heroes than slavish imitation. Their individuation task has already been accomplished. Our duty is to risk living our lives as fully as they have risked living their truths.”
Elements of The Five Maturities were presented to:
- Association for Coaching (AC)
- Association of National Organisations for Supervision & Coaching in Europe (ANSE)
- Australian Psychological Society (APS)
- British Psychological Society (BPS)
- Coaches Rising (CR)
- European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC)
- Institute of Coaching (IoC)
- International Coach Federation (ICF)
- International Congress of Coaching Psychology (ICSP)
- Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP)
- World Business & Executive Coach Summit (WBECS)
- graduate coaching programs in Australia, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, UK, US
The Five Maturities Inquiries
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