Following a career as an educator in an Australian education system, becoming a leader as principal and then in a role at system level, Di has worked with Growth Coaching International (GCI) since 2006 as an executive coach, coach trainer and coach supervisor. Di has facilitated all GCI’s signature coaching courses including Introduction to Leadership Coaching and Coaching Accreditation Program, and has been engaged in course design and review.

Di is committed to enabling leaders to experience the value of being coached so they become passionate about building coaching cultures within their school or college. She brings her extensive knowledge and experience of coaching to conversations with school leaders about creating coaching cultures to better support the work of teachers.

She has pivoted from facilitating course workshops working with groups, to an individual level focusing on developing the reflective competence of coaches a feature integral to coaching effectiveness. With professional coaching and supervision credentials from the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC), Di’s shift in focus is towards supporting leaders trained in coaching to both build their confidence and competence as coaches and to ensure they can maintain fidelity with coaching principles and practice. Di is the lead facilitator of Reflective Practice a GCI process of group supervision for both in-school and open entry groups. She also provides individual supervision enabling a coach to explore and learn from their own practice.

As Lead Consultant Coach Development, Di supports the learning and development of GCI Consultants as supervisor, mentor and coach, in particular leading the in-house Reflective Practice process required for all GCI Consultants as well as Induction. She received the GCI Mandy O’Bree Award in 2021 in recognition for her contribution to people development.

Di has presented at ACEL and GCI conferences including the 2022 and 2023 Conferences where she has presented on Coach as Reflective Practitioner and Coach Supervision.

Special Interest Areas

  • Reflective competence of coaches
  • Coaching cultures for teacher agency
  • Leadership coaching & mentoring
  • Fidelity to coaching principles and practice
  • Coaching as a leadership stance

Qualifications and Memberships

  • EMCC Accredited Coach at Senior Practitioner Level
  • EMCC Accredited Coach Supervisor
  • Fellow of Australian Council for Educational Leaders (FACEL)
  • Solution Focused Business Professional Certificate, University Wisconsin, Milwaukee
  • Accredited GCI Coach
  • Certified Cognitive Coach (Centre for Cognitive Coaching, USA)
  • Bachelor of Arts; Graduate Diploma of Education; Graduate Diploma of Librarianship (UTAS)
  • Accredited Practitioner: Human Synergistics Lifestyle Inventory; GENOS International Emotionally Intelligent Leadership Survey; DiSC® Management Profile; Global Leadership Wellbeing Survey

References:

Gray, A., Henning, D. and McIver, Carey. (2021). Solution-Focused Coaching Supervision: What is it all about? Coaching Perspectives, The Association for Coaching Global Magazine. October 21, Issue 31, pp. 23-25.