University of East London Christian van Nieuwerburgh (1971) is a British-based executive coach, academic, consultant and author.
[1][2] van Nieuwerburgh is an author, best known for An Introduction to Coaching Skills: A Practical Guide,[3] now in its third edition (2021).
[4] Christian van Nieuwerburgh was born to a Japanese mother and a Belgian father in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1971, thereafter spending his formative years there.
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.
[5] 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".
[6] 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.
[7] Since 2009, van Nieuwerburgh has spent half of his time working as an academic in coaching psychology.
[5] From September 2009 to August 2015, van Nieuwerburgh held the position of Senior Lecturer in Coaching Psychology at the University of East London.
[8] He returned to the University of East London Stratford Campus as a Professor of Coaching and Positive Psychology in April 2017.
[5] The other half of van Nieuwerburgh's time has been spent developing his own business[5] – 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.
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.
[citation needed] 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”.
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.
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[11]” 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,[12] optimism[13] and the importance of protecting people's psychological wellbeing during lockdowns.
Coaching is also used to support improvement in teaching skills and enhance performance in education institutions.
He has also expressed an interest in writing fiction and a goal to travel long distances on his motorcycle.
Experiences of aspiring school principals receiving coaching as part of a leadership development programme.
Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, Advance Online Publication.
International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 18(1), 43-56. https://doi.org/10.24384/e0jp-9m61 • Tee, D., Barr, M. & van Nieuwerburgh, C. (2019).
Um, Err, Ahh Careers Practitioners Perceptions of Weight: A Thematic Analysis.
The perceptual changes in life experience of at-risk adolescent girls following an integrated coaching and positive psychology intervention group programme: An interpretative phenomenological analysis.
Teachers’ experiences of an introductory coaching training workshop in Scotland: An interpretative phenomenological analysis.
‘Hope’ isn’t mere wishful thinking – it’s a valuable tool we can put to work in a crisis.
In D. Strycharczyk & P. Clough (eds), Developing mental toughness in young people for the twenty first century.
In P. Clough & D. Strycharczyk (eds), Developing mental toughness: Improving performance, wellbeing and positive behaviour in others.
In I. Kocabas & R. Yirci (eds), Ogretmen ve Yonetici Yetistirmede Mentorluk [Mentoring practices around the world].