Working in the Moment: With the Coachee, Here and Now

Erik de Haan is the Director of Ashridge's Center for Coaching with over twenty-five years of experience in organisational and personal development.

He aims to support individuals in their search for what is right and just—for themselves and for others in their organizations. His expertise covers process consulting for organisational change, facilitating management teams, working conferences, executive and team coaching.

Erik has an MSc in Theoretical Physics and gained his PhD with his research into learning and decision-making processes in perception. He is a British Psychoanalytic Council registered psychodynamic psychotherapist with an MA in psychotherapy from the Tavistock Clinic; has (co-)authored more than 180 articles and 12 books; and sits on the editorial board of three journals including the Consulting Psychology Journal.

Erik has worked with universities, hospitals and multinational companies. He is currently Professor of Organization Development at the VU University Amsterdam. Erik is an Ashridge-accredited coach and supervisor and is qualified to deliver a range of psychometric instruments. He is fluent in Dutch, English, Italian, German and Spanish.

Simon Cavicchia, MA, MSc is an internationally experienced OD Consultant, Executive Coach, Coach Supervisor, Team Coach, Process Consultant, Facilitator and Lecturer. 

Simon draws on his experience in consulting, deep human systems understanding and psychology to enable individuals and organisations to successfully navigate the complexities of transformational change processes, develop leadership cultures and individual leaders. 

Simon is a member of faculty on the Ashridge Master’s in Executive Coaching and for eight years he led the Master’s Programme in Coaching Psychology at the Metanoia Institute in London.  He was also a faculty member on the Master’s in Organisational Development, also at the Metanoia Institute. He works in the NHS, University Sector, Oil and Gas, Media, Retail, Financial Services and a number of Charities and Public Sector organisations such as the Probation Service. 

As a specialist in human systems dynamics, individual and organisation psychology, Simon works to enable individuals, groups and organisations to understand and adopt the processes that facilitate effective functioning and goal attainment. He is particularly interested in exploring relational perspectives on organisational life and consulting and is committed to continually researching how these perspectives can be used to inform behaviour and learning in organisations. Relational approaches place the quality of interactions between organisation members, leaders and their teams at the centre of how meaning is made and desirable behaviour generated.  This is particularly relevant in today’s organisations where different individuals and teams with different levels of authority, designation and agendas have to work out how to join together in service of the organisation’s success.  He is experienced in coaching senior leaders transitioning into new and demanding roles in order to support them to navigate the networking, relationship and systemic complexities this often entails. He is deeply committed to creating respectful, supportive and challenging learning environments, where clients can increase their awareness, confidence and skills for intervening in new and effective ways.