Christian van Nieuwerburgh

Christian van Nieuwerburgh (1971) is a British-based executive coach, academic, consultant and author.

He is a Professor of Coaching and Positive Psychology at the University of East London (UEL) and Executive Director of Growth Coaching International, a Sydney-based global coach training provider for the education sector.

van Nieuwerburgh is an author, best known for An Introduction to Coaching Skills: A Practical Guide, now in its third edition (2021).

Christian van Nieuwerburgh was born to a Japanese mother and a Belgian father in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1971, thereafter spending his formative years there.

While living in Beirut, van Nieuwerburgh attended the American Community School and later completed a BA and MA in English literature at the American University of Beirut.

At the time of his studies, he worked as an English Literature teacher at both secondary school and university level, took up jobs in journalism and translating and supported the family's Japanese restaurant business.

Later on, he moved on to work in the sales and marketing industry.

In 1997, van Nieuwerburgh moved to the United Kingdom with his wife and son to obtain a PhD in English from the University of Birmingham, where his thesis was titled "Representations of Politically Empowered Women on the Elizabethan Stage".

While working on his PhD, he worked various jobs, including at Waterstones and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

In 2002, van Nieuwerburgh started working at the Warwickshire County Council as Deputy Head of Service, a position he held for 9 years until 2011.

In his role, he provided training and professional development services to West Midlands schools and colleges.

He completed his PhD in 2007.

He took up the role of executive coach for the West Midlands Councils in September 2008, holding the role until for 6 years until 2014.

Since 2009, van Nieuwerburgh has spent half of his time working as an academic in coaching psychology.

From September 2009 to August 2015, van Nieuwerburgh held the position of Senior Lecturer in Coaching Psychology at the University of East London.

He later took up the role of Associate Professor of Coaching at the Centre for Coaching and Behavioural Change within the Henley Business School.

He has written or edited a number of key texts in his field: Coaching in Education: Getting Better Results for Students, Educators and Parents (2012), Coaching in Professional Contexts (2014), Coaching Educativo (with Andrea Giraldez Hayes, 2016), Coaching in Islamic Culture: The Principles and Practice of Ershad (with Raja’a Allaho, 2017), The Leader’s Guide to Coaching in Schools (with John Campbell, 2018) and Advanced Coaching Practice (with David Love, 2019).

In 2012, he completed an MSc in psychology at the University of East London.

He has been holding the roles of Director of Research at Growth Coaching International and managing director of Growth Coaching UK since June 2014.

In the past, he worked as a Consultant for AQR International.

In his writings, van Nieuwerburgh acknowledges the wide range of definitions of coaching.

As a result of his experience and research, he proposes that coaching:

• is a structured conversation that takes place between two people;

• aims to support a sustainable change in behaviours or ways of thinking;

• focuses on learning and development.

van Nieuwerburgh suggests that successful coaches are able to use a conversational framework, have a set of coaching-related skills (listening to encourage thinking, asking powerful questions, paraphrasing, summarising and noticing) and possess a “coaching way of being”.

According to van Nieuwerburgh, “coaching is a humanising activity for both coach and coachee.

He returned to the University of East London Stratford Campus as a Professor of Coaching and Positive Psychology in April 2017.

The other half of van Nieuwerburgh's time has been spent developing his own business – he is the Chief Executive of ICCE Ltd. (International Centre for Coaching in Education), which he established to support "the development of coaching initiatives in educational settings globally."

He has argued that the two fields “have a shared focus on unlocking potential, building on people’s strengths, enhancing subjective wellbeing and supporting sustainable optimal functioning’ (van Nieuwerburgh & Oades, 2017).

According to van Nieuwerburgh and his colleagues, “both coaching and positive psychology are fundamentally committed to growth and development.

Both argue strongly against deficit-based models of improvement, proposing instead that it is more helpful to identify strengths and build on existing resources" and they hope for the emergence of "integrative, research-informed concepts, techniques and interventions that will support individuals, groups, organisations and societies to grow and develop in subjectively meaningful ways ”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, van Nieuwerburgh argued that the theories and research of positive psychology could be deployed to support people through the challenges that they faced.

He wrote about hope, optimism and the importance of protecting people's psychological wellbeing during lockdowns.

Van Nieuwerburgh has explored the purpose of coaching in education, its transformational effects on educational experiences and how it can be applied in schools and in higher education.

Van Nieuwerburgh has suggested that coaching supports the notion that learning should be personalised and encourage both the student and the teacher to develop throughout the learning experience.

For students, opportunities for coaching include collaborating with fellow students to improve grades and skills, both academic and social.

For teachers and administrators, coaching can help with transitions into new roles.

To become a coach is to be respectful of others and embrace the most positive aspects of being human” (p. 184. 3rd edition Introduction to Coaching Skills).

van Nieuwerburgh has been one of the leading figures arguing for closer integration between the fields of coaching and positive psychology, driven by a concern that executive coaching was becoming so focused on supporting people to achieve goals that it could sometimes be detrimental to the wellbeing of coachees.