OBCAMS

Oxford Brookes University Coaching and Mentoring Society

Join OBCAMS

The aim of the Oxford Brookes University Coaching and Mentoring Society (OBCAMS) is to bring together researchers and practitioners of coaching and mentoring in order to explore evidence based practice and areas of interest to the field.

OBCAMS provides collaboration and networking opportunities for academics and professionals from a wide spectrum of coaching and mentoring interest. 

We introduce a range of coaching and mentoring topics in an informal setting and stimulate lively discussions and debates online. 

The society has approximately 150 members, comprising academics, students and practitioners from across the region.

Society Meetings

Now that OBCAMS is online we have decided to operate the membership through our online teaching platform Moodle. 

The society meets monthly on Friday evenings, between 5.00 pm and 6.30 pm unless otherwise stated on the programme. 

When you join or renew your OBCAMS membership you will receive an invitation to access the OBCAMS Moodle and this will grant you access to the links to sessions, relevant slides and recordings.

How to become a member?

Membership of the Society is available to anyone interested in their own professional development as a coach or mentor (practitioners, students, academics etc). 

Annual membership costs just £30. 

The membership runs from September to August. 

The Society sends out mailings to its members to advise them of forthcoming events, usually by email. 

New members are always welcome.

people sitting at a meeting

Upcoming OBCAMS sessions

12 May 2023 'What next for our profession?' with Rachael Hanley-Browne MA

Rachael Hanley-Browne MA

Rachael Hanley-Browne MA, Executive, Board, and Systemic Team Coach; Supervisor; Executive Development Consultant and EMCC UK President. Rachael graduated from Oxford Brookes in 2020. Her specialism is working with leadership teams and boards in technology, engineering, scientific and manufacturing businesses. Often PE backed. Also, in creating internal team coaching capability within organisations. She is currently contributing a chapter on Endings in Team Coaching for a book which is due for publication in 2023. She is also a daughter, a big sister, a wife, an exiled Geordie, and an adopted Londoner. A lover of jazz, art, architecture, and islands.

12 May 2023, 17:00 to 18:30

woman smiling

Previous OBCAMS sessions

'Finding out how coaching works at the level of Board Directors (Non Executive Directors)' with Dr Franklin Vrede

28 April 2023, 17:00 to 18:30

Should we coach Board Directors? What is actually their role and what issues do they face?

Although there are many reasons to assume that coaching could be an obvious instrument to help non-executive directors increase their performance, the coaching discipline has not dedicated a great deal of research to this field or offered any frames of reference to practitioners aspiring to work with this group.

Dr Franklin Vrede

Franklin has used a grounded theory approach to shed more light on the coaching of Board directors and has come up with some interesting findings around why the approaches used for top executives are not fully applicable to board directors You will have the chance to work on two mini cases and dive deeper into the realities of board work.

Franklin is a passionate development guide and educator in Executive leadership. He works with senior leaders in a wide range of companies around the world. His clients typically seek him out for questions related to: Strategy Acceleration, Leading Change, Making the Executive Transition and Boosting Executive Teams. In his role as Adjunct Professor of Leadership and Corporate Governance at INSEAD business school, Franklin has taught in many programmes, among others the Advanced Management Programme, Transition to General Management and the Global Executive MBA. In addition Dr. Vrede partners with major INSEAD clients to create customised development solutions for their leadership cadre. Recent engagements include KBC Bank, Cargill, Vaillant and Dassault Systèmes. Franklin holds a Doctorate degree from Oxford Brookes University and a Masters in Organizational Development from Tilburg University in The Netherlands, In addition he completed The Coaching & Consulting for Change programme at INSEAD.

Franklin has been a board member himself and prior to his academic career, has gained business experience in a variety of industry sectors. He has held senior positions in companies like Royal Dutch Shell, ABN-AMRO Bank and Cisco Systems.

Franklin is a Dutch citizen based in Amsterdam and is the proud father of two daughters. Next to his lifelong fascination for leadership, he is passionate about philosophy, opera and contemporary art.

Dialogic Mentoring, embracing the grey

Dr Sue Round

Dr Sue Round has more than 25 years’ experience of the full spectrum of people development across multiple sectors, including Aviation, Telecoms, Retail, Financial Services and Energy. She has led large, complex global teams with responsibility for Learning in all its aspects, Leadership Development, Talent Management and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Sue has a master’s degree from the University of Surrey and holds a Doctorate from Oxford Brookes University. She is an accredited coach and a Fellow of the CIPD. She has served on the UK Government’s Employee Engagement Task Force and on the Boards of the Learning Skills Improvement Service and Working Chance. In 2021 Sue was named as one of “HRs Most Influential” and appointed to the Board of the CIPD.

Her pro bono work includes: the Silverline service for older people and the Samaritans. She is now a partner in Lodestar Talent. She lives in London, is a keen runner, has 3 children and 2 grandchildren.

12 May 2023, 17:00 to 18:30

Traditional Mentoring has arguably served to maintain the status quo rather than facilitate a shift in perspectives. It has been used widely in organisations particularly in service of the Diversity agenda and in its purest form with limited impact, potentially getting in its own way. Reciprocal (dialogic) mentoring is having success in creating deeper understanding of difference, as demonstrated through this research. Taking a Social Constructionist approach Sue will share some of her findings and her reflections on the possibilities it holds for shifting our growing binary approach to opinion. Her session will include breakouts to experiment with a dialogic mindset.

Coaching Distressed Physicians

17 February 2023, 17:00 to 18:30

How coaches ‘show up’?

Rob Kemp

18 November 2022, 17:00 to 18:30

An ethical exit strategy for dealing with unexpected incapacity and death

Eve Turner and David Lane

28 October 2022, 17:00 to 18:30