Is coaching for me?

In this newsletter, my first for a while and not my last for a long time ?? I wanted to share a little about what coaching is and what to expect. It may feel a little long but its one to keep, to refer back to when you want to ask for investment in yourself, to pull what you need to put together your case for investment.

I might normally focus on challenges you may be facing and how coaching can support you to face these with confidence, and there is a little of that.

However while I know, have experienced for myself and with my clients the power of coaching if you have never given it a go, or even thought if something you could invest in then knowing the benefits maybe not the best place to start.

I am going to start with some questions to get you thinking:

• Are you going through change at work, implementing a new strategy to grow income, promoted to a new role or maybe it’s implementing change that may involve redundancies.
• Are you feeling like you are being held back because of the confidence you have in yourself and your abilities. Maybe not all the time but sometimes just feels overwhelming what being asked to achieve.
• Are you just so busy that you don’t feel have the space to even think about what you or your team need most.

If you have answered yes to one, or all of these how would it feel to have someone to guide you, to be a sounding board where you have space to think?

Would you like someone to be by your side, to explore those knotty questions with who can guide you and help you prioritise what is needed most.

At the heart of my work is supporting individuals, teams and organisations to confidently lead themselves and others, to create impact and change sustainably.

I wanted to help de-mystify coaching.

What is coaching?

• Coaching provides a confidential, open, non-judgmental space to talk, think, reflect and explore what is on your mind, sharing techniques to help deepen your thinking or think differently.
• Coaching is a structured conversation with a focus on a current situation and future goal rather than on the past.
• Coaching assumes that you have the potential to resolve what is on your mind, so ?largely consists of the coach asking open questions, sharing techniques and exercises, actively listening and reflecting back what they have heard as opposed to offering advice or solutions

How is that different from mentoring and counselling?

Mentors share their professional experience and offer advice, often over long periods of time. Whilst they may use some coaching techniques the conversation tends to be largely unstructured and will involve the mentor sharing solutions.

Counselling tends to be more about resolving the impact of past experiences and may seek to understand the root of longer-term problems. Whilst counsellors will often follow more structured models and ask open questions they will, by the nature of the subject area, work with more sensitive topics which fall out of the boundaries of coaching.

How can I trust you are right coach for me?

I have worked in the charity sector for over 30 years starting as a volunteer at Oxfam, moving to London to work as Fundraising Assistant at Coram, from there I have worked at WaterAid, Marie Curie Cancer Care, The Aspinall Foundation, then as Head of Public Fundraising, promoted to Director of Fundraising and Communications at Mental Health Foundation, and most recently I took on a 12 month interim role as Head of Public Fundraising at the Refugee Council.

I have been leading and supporting teams for over 20 of these years, so likely to have encountered some of the challenges you may be facing with your team including exhaustion, overwhelm and procrastination. I am a One of Many? certified leadership coach and trainer, as well as a Four Seasons Model? Practioner, I have my own coach and have experienced burnout that led to being signed off work.?

I don’t know everything, that would be impossible! What I do know is I am good at listening, asking the right questions and helping others to find the answers. It also what I LOVE doing ??

And.. I always offer a FREE Discovery Call before we get started!

Why would I pay for coaching when I could just google for help?

I my experience what is most likely to happen is this – you do a search for exhaustion so up pops a meaning. So, you’re clear on what it means, great! Now you click on an article with symptoms which leads to ‘4 signs you are exhausted’ – in this article is a link to depression and you watch a video (once you have waited for ad to pass), then up pops the next video, and the next.. and so on until you actually feel more overwhelmed and exhausted than when you started, and no further forward in finding the support you need.

Can I ask work to invest in my confidence through coaching?

?Yes, absolutely what a great idea to ask your work to invest in your confident leadership through coaching with me.?

Before you start asking can I remind you that, you deserve to have what you need to be a confident leader who is energised not exhausted because you are a driving force behind the organisation you work for, helping to set the vision, champion the strategy, inspire teams and manage the organisation through its challenges. You do not have to do this alone, you can starting asking for what you need using these six steps;

1. Make an appointment with whoever can agree in the investment, be clear what you are wanting to talk about;

2. At the appointed time start with saying how you feel, and what you need;

3. Share what investing in you through coaching would provide you with;

4. Share what is in it for them;

5. Ask ‘is there anything you need to be able to give me what I need to be my most confident self’;

6. Agree on a way forward.

Good luck ?

If you would like the space to pause, talk, think and explore what you need to thrive, so that you have a greater sense of ease and control, greater wellbeing to increase your impact and feel confident in making decisions and taking risks my Confident Leadership Programme could be for you!

A tailored programme for leaders, and those aspiring to step into leadership who want to have the confidence and courage to lead the change they want to see and step up to the next level sustainably not stressfully.

Just in case you are thinking ‘I am not a leader, so this is not for me’…. think again ??

I believe we can see leadership as a mind-set, a way of thinking, behaving, and acting, so in reality it’s not always about the job-title; you don’t always need a team or a project to lead, you can lead with your ideas, insights, and inspiration to create change and open minds to new ways of thinking.

Let us discover what we can achieve together,?to find the right support for you, your team and organisation. Book a Discovery Call (it pops in 45 minutes to give us time, and you time to reflect if needed).