It’s now 12 months since John and I published “Challenging Coaching” and we are often asked what’s next and how we are going to take the book to the next level. After spending 2 years writing “Challenging Coaching” I wondered what I had left and was really challenged to think of how to take this further.

The germ of an idea came from a book review in the HR Director kindly written by Sue Mortlock, Head of Board Development for the NHS Leadership Academy, in which Sue said, “I would have liked the authors to have included more detailed self-assessment tools…” This sparked our imagination and over the last few months we have been developing a self-assessment questionnaire based on the Challenging Coachingprinciples.

Initially this was a paper-based questionnaire that we used at conferences and seminars and John mentioned this in his blog last week. This certainly helped the coaches present at the sessions to understand their challenging coaching approach and how they could stretch further.

However, given the ‘F’ of FACTS is feedback, there is more than self-assessment. I know from experience that my perception of my ability, or the impact of something I have done or said is very different to that of others. Feedback from other players in the system is crucial to develop a deep and more valid picture of reality.

With this in mind John and I have developed an on-line 180-degree feedback tool for coaches to complete with the input from their coachees. The intention is to help raise the awareness for coaches regarding how they use challenging coaching in their work. The feedback tool looks at all of the dimensions of the FACTS Coaching model along with the core principles of ‘build the contract honour the contract’ and ‘speak your truth face the facts’.

A detailed feedback report can help develop awareness through an understanding of the perception of the coach compared to the perception of coachees. This feedback is of great value when developing challenging coaching skills.

John and I are proud to launch this feedback tool today and for more details please visit our new coach development webpage. This includes information on the feedbacktool with an example report  as well as information on feedback de-brief and on-goingcoach development. The first person to complete the questionnaire will have their report feedback provided by John or myself. We promise to be at our most challenging selves!