As an experienced Executive Coach, Brenda specialises in helping CEO’s, professionals and others in senior positions to shift their ‘way of being’ so that they are able to turn their ‘stumbling blocks’ into ‘stepping stones’ in all areas of their lives. We also are connected with a wide network of highly qualified coaches covering different areas of expertise.
In 2017 Brenda graduated with an M Phil (Management Coaching) from the University of Stellenbosch Business School. She is also a Certified Integral Coach® with Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credentials through the International Coach Federation (ICF) and certification at PCC level through the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business, Centre for Coaching and New Ventures West (USA).
The topic she chose for her M Phil research was ‘the role of coaching in developing character strengths in leaders’. Her subjects in this study were lawyers and accountants in leadership positions. Her research report may be read by clicking here.
In addition to the 6-month individual coaching programmes held either ‘in person’ or by virtual means, Brenda also presents Enhance Your Executive Skills (EYES) courses which combine Executive Coaching, training and mentoring. These courses are held either ‘in house’ for companies or for the public.
Professional Certified Coach Certificate
International Coach Federation (ICF) Code of Ethics.
Brenda with the 2013 'pod' she mentored for the UCT Centre for Coaching.
What is executive coaching? You may be curious as to what we mean by ‘executive coaching’? Limiting beliefs and other people’s expectations may be holding you back. Coaching is a partnership between the coach and client where the conscious and creative process inspires the client to achieve full potential and then sustain their well-being.
The coach helps the client to understand how s/he interprets the world and how this interpretation influences his/her choices and relationships. This process of reflection provides the basis for exploring new possibilities. Usually the programme combines self-observation, reflections, practices and exercises over a period of time until the client is ‘self-correcting’ and ‘self-generating’.
Executive coaching, using integral methodologies, approaches and embraces the mystery of human beings by approaching the client holistically and looks at all domains. This facilitates meaningful and sustainable change for the client.
Many successful people attribute significant life changes to working with a coach. One current example is that of Adele Paulsen, Executive Director of PRISA (Public Relations Institute of South Africa).
Being coached by Brenda from December 2010 to May 2011 took me from being scared and indecisive in my business position to being confident of what I wanted to say and able to make decisions. This impacted both in my organisational role and in my personal life as well. Coaching allowed me to explore life, to see possibilities and then to ‘take action’. It was a journey where I first needed to understand who I was and what opportunities existed for me. Business colleagues and friends have told me that they notice a positive difference in me and that I’m ‘on a roll’. I’m coping much better on all levels. Through being coached, I have increased self-confidence and this has enabled me to ‘spread my wings and fly’.
Another client, Mike Ward when asked to comment on the coaching process said:
Professional coaching, like sports coaching, helps us to become aware of our habits, both good and bad, as well as the areas of potential professional development. By engaging in a process that makes us conscious of our weaknesses, strengths and aspirations we can, with gentle support, profoundly alter our potential in our professional and personal lives. It is this consciousness of our professional behaviour and the support to “raise our game” to become leaders in our field that makes a coaching programme both challenging and rewarding.
Brenda Eckstein and Mike Ward.
Enhance Your Executive Skills (EYES)
This programme answers the question: ‘How do we combine integral coaching and mentoring or training in a way that doesn’t blur the boundaries’? Or it could be ‘How do we use integral coaching and training together in one programme to multiply our results? Thus, we developed a new course that did exactly that. Each participant attends six three-hour group sessions held at weekly intervals and although these are essentially training, coaching principles are woven through the course. Between sessions, individuals engage with self-observations, practices, exercise, reflections and journaling, just as they would if being privately coached. And each individual engages in two private coaching sessions.
Qualified integral coaches are able to help individuals turn their ‘stumbling blocks’ into ‘stepping stones’. And most of the one-on-one coaching programmes we run are six-months in duration. A few clients had completed a six-month programme and had shifted their ‘way of being’ significantly. In some cases, there were new issues to be addressed and they had a short break and then engaged in another six-month programme.
In the last year since the inception of this course, it has been held four times. And those who have participated often enrol for another course – because they have gained so much from the course!
The content covers a wide range of topics – building positive relationships, quality conversation and aligning corporate and personal branding are a few examples. Using cognitive and creative skills together is also part of the programme.
Although the first four programmes have been held for the ‘public’ it would be ideal as an ‘in house’ programme, too. Individuals would still each have their two coaching sessions and also attend the six three-hour group sessions.