A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ALISON PAYNE: COACH DEVELOPER
Association for Coaching (AC)
Advancing coaching in business and society, world-wide.
Welcome to the latest edition of the Association for Coaching’s (AC) Newsletter. This week:
Alison Payne transitioned from scientist to coach and now describes herself as a catalyst, facilitator, challenger, listener, and occasionally a guide or mentor.
Please tell our readers what type of coach you are.
I'm a coach developer which is a relatively recent move for me. I used to describe my coaching as eclectic, so I've been an executive coach, but as probably a lot of the readers will know, no conversations are ever the same and we end up needing to use different tools. So, I don't feel that I'm simply a leadership or a development or a career coach because all of these things impact one another.
Coach development has been great for me because I'm working with coaches and helping them with their work in different arenas, primarily at the moment in sport. But I bring stuff back from coaching in sport to coaching in organizations and businesses because there's so much that comes across and works well in both spheres.
Could you explain more about coach development? What’s the difference between that and coach training?
I can, and it's an interesting one because it's something that comes up quite a lot. In different organizations, you'll hear things terms such as coach trainer, coach supervisor, and coach educator. Coach developer is a term that has come through in sports particularly, but I feel is moving into organizational coaching. As a coach developer I’m ?very much about the coaches creating their own syllabus. So, like coaching for all of us, it's very much about, challenging the status quo, looking at change, helping personal development, but also coaching development. But there's no set agenda. It's very much taking the coach as the expert, and for me as a coach developer, working around that to help them develop what they're already good at and to look at new ways of doing things. So, there's an added, an added perspective to being a coach developer rather than just a coach educator.
People will see coaching in sport as coaching athletes. Can you explain more about what you do?
One of my passions is horses and it was unfinished, business for me. When I was 18, I wanted to be an equestrian coach but realised very early on that I would never be able to afford to have my own horses and because all those years ago there was no money to be made in it. It was an awful lot of hard work for very little reward. Instead, I went off and got some qualifications and built a career in hospital laboratories and science. It was only later in my life that I came back to equestrian coaching, and that linked with the coaching that I'd been doing in businesses to support other people around me and got me interested in coaching in its purest sense.
So, these days I will do the athlete coaching which is working with people and their horses to get the results that they want. Also, I'm fortunate to be working with coaches who coach athletes in sports such as swimming, basketball, hockey, fencing, and that kind of thing. I help these coaches to develop their coaching businesses and skills.
For me, the interesting context is they are coaching for skill in movement, player performance, team performance and things like that. And when we think about it, those things are also very relevant for coaching in organizations and for people running businesses. Many years ago, coaching came from sports into organizations, and we all know about ‘The Inner Game’ and the idea of tennis and Tim Galway, but we're now bringing it back from organizations into sports coaching and developing the art of coaching for coaches who are helping athletes.
I am interested to know about your journey from science to coaching. Many of our readers have transitioned or are transitioning from other careers into coaching so it might be helpful.
I've had a long and winding career and not unlike a lot of people, early failures at school and college which set me back but then I made a few leaps of faith.
When I was young, I was working in the NHS, in hospital laboratories and I remember walking in one Monday morning into a biochemistry laboratory with all the machines humming and people at these machines. And I just thought I can't do this. I was 23 and couldn’t bear the thought I might be doing this until I was 60. So I took my first leap of faith and walked out of a career that I'd already built, the qualifications I'd finally got after leaving school.
I left my flat, horse, my boyfriend, my job – all the things my parents felt were good and secure and went to volunteer in Kathmandu with VSO. It sounds dramatic, but at the time it just felt like something that I needed to do. I was in a different culture, speaking a completely different language, and was dropped in at the deep end. But what I had to do there, people told me would change my life, and it absolutely did, because I realised that we cannot provide aid without development. So, whilst I was in that little hospital lab in Kathmandu, I was helping people to find out how to do things for themselves.
I was guiding them, but although I didn't realise it at the time, I was coaching them to find the answers for themselves, to be curious, to develop networks, and to find their way forward. My role was to work myself out of a job within two years, which I duly did and then went on to other things.
I did a few things; I became an MD in a business and the way I coped with challenges people would come and see me to ask me what they should do about something. I would say, okay, let's sit and talk about it. What do you think would work? From there I started my coaching from a more organizational perspective. So, when I left the big PLC, I decided that I wanted to learn how to do it properly, and that sent me on my course and into the Association for Coaching. And for the last 15 years I have been coaching and I’ve absolutely loved it!
So, coaching is something that gets you excited to get out of bed in the morning?
I've never once regretted doing it. I've always loved it. I feel it's a privilege to be able to earn money doing something that I love so much. I'm fascinated by people and being able to see them change and grow. Some I've known for quite a long time, which kind of goes against the idea that coaching is short term, but the feeling that I can make a difference to individuals is powerful and never changes. So, it's a little bit of a cliche to say that no two days are ever the same, but every client is an individual.
What are some of the challenges?
Some clients have been challenging but are quite interesting. With the wonderful benefit of hindsight, I can look back and remember, oh I was told about that. ?For example, when my supervisor back at the University of South Wales said, to be careful when people are sent for coaching. I can remember somebody who came, was sent and it was remedial. Their bosses wanted certain things done and achieved. There was initially a real suspicion about what I was there for. I was new to the game, and it was very worrying. It was a bad experience, and I think that's probably one of the most difficult times when I just thought, what am I doing here? And subsequently, there have been times when I've wondered if I'm doing the right thing. But I have regular supervision and when I doubt myself, he reminds me that if people are coming back to me, there must be something they need that I am helping with.
I suppose in a sense that's a tip for other people. If you ever have self-doubt, there is a kind of external measure. But certainly, there are times when it's difficult.
I think financially it's not easy. ?It's never going to make me rich and that makes me wonder if I should be doing something different, but even that never changes the fact that I enjoy coaching and love meeting the people I do.
What’s the favourite part of your day-to-day work?
Meeting new people, new clients. Taking on new contracts is probably the most exciting thing. Obviously, it's not every day, but I love it when I start a new project. And I love it when I get to talk to new people and start to learn about new organizations. This is why the coach development has been so exciting because it's a totally different dimension, and it's exciting to find out. I'm going to be working with a new coach in South Wales very soon, and I can't wait to meet them and find out what makes them tick. What are the challenges that we're going to face together, over the next 6 to 8 months? I love it and that doesn’t alter.
How do you manage your day?
When I get out of bed in the morning, it's pretty much the same every day. I wonder what's going to be happening, what's today going to bring? And like everybody, sometimes there are days when you don't feel quite so upbeat.
Every morning, I have to get up and go out to see my horses and my chickens. And every evening I have to go and see to the horses and the chickens. So that automatically gives me a bit of downtime, a bit of fresh air, a bit of exercise. So, there's always space in my day to reflect on the things that have been happening or are about to happen.
I love learning. I enjoy doing webinars and finding out new things, touching base with other people and finding common themes, and then developing them from there. We are never on our own with coaching, even though sometimes it feels like quite a lonely career.
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There is a real coaching community out there. Have you got any tips for newer coaches about how to find that?
I do. I've recently reconnected well with the Association for coaching. and I must say that in the ten years or so that I've been a member it is now providing far more. There's lots more on offer. Practical help like the marketing webinars and things like that. And just meeting people online, you suddenly think, oh, I'm not alone in this.
I think the other thing is just going out and meeting people. Local business networking events often really good, even if it's just to get out and meet other people because it reminds you that everybody else needs some support and you're not on your own setting up a new business.
Always reach out. The Association for Coaching, local business organizations, local councils often have support as well. You can meet other coaches via courses, coaching groups, or organizations. It’s good to hear different perspectives, it helps keep us grounded.
?Are there any tasks you don’t like doing? Do you have any help with any of them?
The thing I hate most is the finance, which is ironic because I used to deal with serious finance, running a fairly big business. But it worries me and it's a stress so I have an accountant who does all of that.
I don't enjoy paperwork, but I will do it and I have found ways of getting better at it. I keep logs of my coaching calls; I transcribe my reflections now because I found I wasn't good at writing things down. So now I use, transcription software for that and I can save it alongside my notes for any coaching conversations. I could get someone to do the administration, but I don’t have the volume of work to warrant that, currently.
Do you feel you have a good work-life balance?
Yes. My challenge now is that my husband retired. I'm not 40 anymore and we're not far off in age, but my husband retired a little bit young. So that's affected how much time I spend in the office because it's also important we have time together. So, focus for me is quite difficult these days but I do put aside full days as an office day.
I like growing vegetables. We've got a plot for growing vegetables so I can go and do that if it's not raining and if it's raining, I'll come in and do my paperwork and things in the office. I enjoy the flexibility I have. I would find it very difficult to go back and work full-time for someone else.
I would be lost without my electronic calendars. because every week varies. But it does mean that at the beginning of the week, I look at it and go, okay, which days are empty? Which days have appointments on, and which days can I do other things? I can organize that with the things that I have to get done, things that are deadlined.
One of the things I’ve got a little better at is saying no, especially with availability. ?I try to group my work or set appointments much closer so that I will have set appointments on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. That leaves maybe Monday and Friday where I can be flexible with other things I need to do.
What would you like to say to coaches, particularly those who have been coaching for a longer period like yourself?
Stay curious, learn new things, don't be afraid of taking on new things. I found that I had lots of support when I was looking at becoming a coach developer, and that came from support networks, getting out and meeting people and not being afraid to go and ask questions.
I think if you've been coaching for a long time, it's it could be quite easy to fall into the trap of doing the same thing time and again or labelling yourself as a specific type of coach. Don't be afraid to make changes. Use the tools that you need and run conversations as you feel they should go. And it's a difficult move, but I think just keeping fresh keeps us going and if you need a break from it, have a break and come back to it. Because sometimes that's all we need to do.
It seems the way you have lived your life speaks about living according to your values. What are the values you live by?
It's quite a difficult question, I think, but I would like to say kindness is going to be the top one. I would like to think that my kindness and care show through. I have a real investment in the people that I work with, so the commitment is very, very important. I find it very difficult walking away at the end of a program. So kindness and commitment are very, very important.
I think the other thing is not to be afraid to challenge people. And that might include challenging myself to say, perhaps I'm not the best person to be here today. Perhaps you should be talking to somebody different so the matching at the beginning is critical.
I think being able to challenge and not being afraid to hold people to account is really, really important. And when I start my coaching programs, we set out ground rules. And I always say, you know, I will challenge you, but you can come back to me and challenge me too because that makes it an even conversation. And that's what makes it interesting for me.
Thanks, Alison, it’s lovely to end talking about kindness, transparency, honesty and courage.
I'd like to say thank you, particularly because having the chance to talk to you and think about the questions you've asked has helped me focus on what to do next.
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