Interview With Michael Cavanagh

BEN’S INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL CAVANAGH, Ph.D.

On May 31, 2017, we had a Q&A interview with Dr. Michael Cavanagh, a clinical psychologist and academic who serves as Deputy Director of the Coaching Psychology Unit at the University of Sydney. As an Australia-based executive coach, he works with senior leaders in a range of multinational and national organizations. He is author of the Handbook: Coaching in Organizations and co-editor of Evidence-Based Coaching: Theory, Research and Practice from the Behavioral Sciences.

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About Michael Cavanagh, PhD

Michael Cavanagh is both a Coaching and Clinical Psychologist. He holds a BA (Hons – 1st class) in Psychology from the University of Sydney, and a PhD and Masters of Clinical Psychology from Macquarie University. His doctoral research explored the impact of cognitive and behavioral patterns on health-related anxiety.

Michael is currently the Deputy Director of the Coaching Psychology Unit at the University of Sydney, where he and his colleague, Anthony Grant, have developed the world’s first degree program in coaching. The Coaching Psychology Unit is considered to be a world leader in coaching psychology, and students regularly travel from Europe, the US, Asia and the Middle East to attend their degree courses and shorter professional development workshops.

A registered psychologist, Michael has 20 years experience in facilitating personal, group and organizational change. He has designing and facilitated training and personal development workshops in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. His has worked in a variety of public and private enterprises, both in Australia and internationally. He has coached a wide range of individuals, drawn from every level of management, and from a diverse range of organizations.

His research and practice have been reported in the national media, and he has a number of publications in the academic press and has presented at numerous international conferences. He is co-editor of Evidence-Based Coaching: Theory, Research and Practice from the Behavioral Sciences.

Michael is well respected in the coaching community. He was twice elected National Convenor of the Australian Psychological Society Interest Group in Coaching Psychology – a body of the APS with over 650 members. He also holds the position of Coordinating Editor of the International Coaching Psychology Review – an international journal jointly published by the Australian and British Psychological Societies.

Michael was invited by Standards Australia to be the principle author of the Handbook of organizational coaching. This is in its final editing stage. Standards Australia is an International Standards Organization member, and the Handbook of Organizational coaching is the world’s most comprehensive standard of coaching service provision, knowledge, competencies and training to date. It is also the first coaching standard to be created under an ISO aligned national standards body.

Michael was also a key instigator of the Global Convention on Coaching – a forum created for bringing together a range of coaching bodies internationally to discuss the future of coaching and coach education. And was one also of 4 inaugural members of the international advisory panel for the Harnish Foundation Coaching research fund, a not for profit, New York based organization founded to promote excellence in coaching worldwide.