Coaching as a Life Experience

Throughout my professional life I have been lucky enough to work with some brilliant coaches.

My experiences of working with a Coach has either been arranged with the support of a line manager or have come to me through opportunity.

My very first coach was Lizzie Beeby , someone I met when I worked at BAA and it was a powerful introduction. And during the Covid years, I was reluctantly unemployed for 12 months, and was kindly introduced to Clare Withycombe who offered me career coaching. Over the last few years, I have been fortunate enough to be offered coaching by Jacqueline Dyer . And in more recent times, I was introduced to a Coach via Suzi Read PCC (my previous line manager) to - Rachel Morris MNCIP, PCC - , of Motion Learning. Each connection setting me up for a new adventure.

Over the last 20 + years, these skilled Coaches have offered me priceless support, helping me navigate parts of my professional and personal life, taking me from one chapter to the next. They made space for the times where I felt challenged by life, asked me constructive questions, allowed me to express my thoughts and created a space of psychological safety whilst always holding me accountable for creating change.??

When I was first introduced to the concept of Coaching some 25 years ago, there were some dogmatic views of what coaching should be, and I guess for some schools of Coaching this continues to be the case. I believe it is necessary to have standards and ‘rules’ to ensure that the quality of coaching is not compromised. We know there are some shady Coaching set-ups out there (not everyone can be a coach and not everyone should be a coach) and I strongly believe in the importance of regulating this craft. Putting dogma aside,?creating an environment of having real and true conversations means that sometimes it is important to take inspiration from outside of the textbook and adopt a style that is real to you as a Coach.

The art of successful coaching involves a partnership between the individual and their coach. The conversations where I have been most motivated are those which involved dialogue and where the Coach has encouraged me to take accountability. The human is the heartbeat of the exchange?and not the corporate agenda and if the individual is in a state of flow, everything, and everyone around them (including the corporate agenda) starts to benefit from the energy (happy chickens lay more eggs).

Over the last 18 months, I have been working towards developing a Coaching style which feels authentic to me and with the aim to serve the whole of the client. My technique has been inspired by the NLP School , a teaching qualification in Yin Yoga (Hot Yoga House, Ruislip) and of course learning from the Coaches who have supported me throughout this experience we call life. I have integrated all these skills into my practice and so far, it feels brilliantly right. And for those who do not connect with my Coaching style, there are many excellent Coaches out there who will offer what the client needs (you can find a few of them in this article!).

I never imagined that when my career first started over 25 years ago this would be my path. And I hope to hold on to this sense of fulfilment and personal growth for a long ole time. This current space I am in is attributed to these fabulous Coaches, a journey which i started started over 25 years ago.

Over the coming months, I will be publishing articles on how the combination of Yoga, Coaching and NLP can create a powerful Coaching experience for the client. I hope to read your insights on what I share.

And this quote catches it all:

“You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot - it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.”

―?Maya Angelou