How Coaching Changed my Life
How did I get here?
My introduction to coaching
My first introduction to coaching was about 15 years ago during my time at EY. The realisation that I had, in fact, been coached came much, much later. I can't quite remember how the coaching came about, but I do remember that I was at a crossroads in my career and that someone had arranged for me to have a conversation with a colleague from the HR team. It was a fantastic conversation. In the space of no more than an hour, I had clarity, I had a way forward and I had some fantastic insights into what motivated me and the circumstances under which I tended to perform my best (as it happens, I have quite the track record of great successes after some epic failures. We might come back to that at a later date.....) I went away from a relatively short conversation with a renewed energy about my future; not having all of the answers but feeling much more in control of my destiny. I just didn't know that I'd been coached.
My second experience of coaching was slightly different. I was struggling with some aspects of my role at the time. I had a great team around me and strong relationships with my colleagues but somehow felt disconnected. I couldn't get on the same page as them and it troubled me. I was doubting my ability and struggling to know which direction to take the business. This time, I sought out coaching on the recommendation of a trusted friend. It was transformational. I came away from the coaching programme having a great sense of my values and beliefs, and an understanding of the ways in which they could benefit me professionally and where they might be getting in my way. I had a framework to underpin my decision-making and a greater perspective on the ways in which others think. It had such an impact on me that it kickstarted a change in my career and was the first step in my journey to becoming a qualified coach and to starting my own business focussed on supporting business leaders and their teams.
Benefits of coaching
Coaching is powerful stuff and it comes in all shapes and sizes. My clients come to me with various challenges but there are some clear, common themes in the benefits that they find:
Clarity - they make better decisions about their lives and their businesses and they're more confident in the decisions that they're making
Insight - they understand more about themselves and about others. They are able to see things through a different lens and use this to build stronger relationships with colleagues. customers and others
Self-belief - they have a greater awareness of their own strengths and focus as much on these as they do on the things that they perceive to be weaknesses
Space - coaching sessions give busy leaders precious time to think, with someone alongside them to help get the most out of this time
One client puts it so well: "Coaching has made me realise the piece which had been missing in the jigsaw puzzle". If this sounds familiar then why not get in touch for a chat? You never know, it might just change your life.