Biographical Details

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 behavioural 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 programme 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

As an executive coach his areas of special interest include:

• Communication skills
• Leadership and Emotional competency
• Solution focussed approaches to goal achievement and problem solving.
• Coaching in complex systems

Michael’s teaching emphasises the use of empirically-validated techniques and draws on the cognitive-behavioural, motivational interviewing and solution-focused approaches.

As a presenter, Michael is consistently rated as excellent by students, audiences, and workshop participants. 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.

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 Co-ordinating 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 organisational coaching. This is in its final editing stage.  Standards Australia is an International Standards Organisation member, and the Handbook of Organisational 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 stardards 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 organisation founded to promote excellence in coaching worldwide.

Research Grants and Funded Research

• Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (2007 - 2010) Developing leadership for high stress workplaces: Improving well-being, engagement, productivity and staff retention. Total funding A$3,500,000. Investigators: Cavanagh, M.J., Atkins, P., Grant A.M and Spence, G.B.

Professional Roles and Memberships

• Co-ordinating Editor, International Coaching Psychology Review
• Founding member, APS Interest Group in Coaching Psychology (Past national convenor)
• Past International Research Advisory Board, Harnish Foundation for Coaching
• Lifetime Member, University of Sydney Coaching and Mentoring Association
• Member,  Australian Psychological Society
• Member, International Association of Applied Psychology

Publications

Monographs

• Standards Australia (in press), Handbook of Organisational Coaching, Sydney, Standards Australia  
  NB This work was sent out for review to university and industry stakeholders.

Edited Books:

• Cavanagh, M., Grant, A. & Kemp, T. (Eds.) (2005). Evidence-based coaching: Contributions from the Behavioral Sciences (Vol. 1). Bowen Hills QLD: Australian Academic Press.
• Grant, A. M., Cavanagh, M. , & Kemp, T. (2007). Evidence-based coaching: Cross-disciplinary Perspectives [CDROM](Vol. 2). Bowen Hills QLD: Australian Academic Press.

Chapters in Books:

• Grant , A. M., & Cavanagh, M. (2011). Coaching and Positive Psychology. In K. M. Sheldon, T. B.Kashdan & M. F. Steger (Eds.), Designing the Future of Positive Psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Cavanagh, M., & Grant , A. M. (2010). The Solution-focused Coaching Approach to Coaching. In E. Cox, T. Bachkirova & D. Clutterbuck (Eds.), Sage Handbook of Coaching (pp. 34-47). London: Sage.
• Grant , A. M., & Cavanagh, M. (2010). Life Coaching. In E. E. Cox , T. Bachkirova & D. Clutterbuck(Eds.), Sage Handbook of Coaching (pp. 277-290). London: Sage
• Cavanagh, M. & Grant. A., (2006). Coaching psychology and the scientist-practitioner model. In The Modern Scientist Practitioner. S.Corrie, and D Lane (eds) (5600)
• Cavanagh, M (2006). Coaching from a systemic perspective: A Complex Adaptive Conversation. In D. Stober & A.M. Grant (eds) Evidence Based Coaching Handbook, New Yourk Wiley, pp 313-354
• Cavanagh, M (2005). Mental health issues and challenging clients in executive coaching. In, M. Cavanagh, A.M. Grant, & T. Kemp, (Eds.).  Evidence-based coaching: Contributions from the Behavioral Sciences (Vol. 1). Bowen Hills QLD: Australian Academic Press. Pp.21-35

Articles/notes/communications in refereed journals

• Grant, A. M., Passmore, J., Cavanagh, M. J., & Parker, H. (2010). The State of Play in Coaching Today: A Comprehensive Review of the Field. International Review of Industrial and Organisational Psychology 2010.
• Spence, G. B., Cavanagh, M. J., & Grant, A. M. (2008). The integration of mindfulness training and health coaching: an exploratory study. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 1(2), 145-163.
• Grant, A. M., & Cavanagh, M. (2007). Evidence-based coaching: Flourishing or languishing? Australian Psychologist, 42(4), 239-254.
• Grant, A. M., & Cavanagh, M. (2007). The goal-focused coaching skill questionnaire: Preliminarilyfindings. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 35(6), 751-760.
• Grant, A. M., & Cavanagh, M. J. (2007). Coaching psychology: How did we get here and where are we going? InPsych, June, 6-9.
• Spence, G., Cavanagh, M,. Grant, A. M. (2006). Duty of care in an unregulated industry: Initial findingson the diversity and practice of Australian coaches. International Coaching Psychology Review. 1(1), 71-85
• Grant, A. M., & Cavanagh, M. (2004). Executive Coaching: Educational and Practice Issues for Psychologists. The Organisational Psychologist, 1, (1), 5-10
• Cavanagh, M. & Grant AM (2004). Executive Coaching in Organisations: The personal is the professional. International Journal of coaching in Organizations 2: 6-15.
• Grant, AM & Cavanagh, M. (2004), Toward a Profession of Coaching: Sixty five years of progress and challenges for the future. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring 2: 8-21
• Greco, M.; Cavanagh, M.; Brownlea, A. and McGovern, J. (1998). The Doctors' Interpersonal Skills Questionnaire (DISQ): a validated instrument for use in GP training" Education for General Practice 10: 256-264
• Greco, Michael; Brownlea, Arthur; McGovern, Julie; Cavanagh, Michael. (2000) Consumers as educators: Implementation of patient feedback in general practice training. Health Communication 12: 173-193.
• Spence, G, Cavanagh, M, & Grant A.M. (2006) Duty of care in an unregulated industry: Initial findings on the diversity and practices of Australian coaches. International Coaching Psychology Review 1: 71-85.

• Cavanagh, M. Challenging clients in executive coaching: Theory, practice and empirical research. Second Annual ICF Coaching Research Symposium, Quebec, November 2004 (6000 words)

Michael has presented numerous invited keynote addresses and papers at coaching conferences both locally and internationally, including the US, UK, Denmark, Czech Republic, South Africa, and Spain,