Tag: Coaching

It’s been a busy few months to say the least – both at work and personally. Here’s a big thing I haven’t shouted about enough, though. A couple of months ago I passed my final coaching performance evaluation.

It’s been fantastic to see the impact that offering coaching alongside culture and comms consulting can have. But witnessing the personal growth that my clients have displayed as a result of being given time to think is the biggest privilege.

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They’ve also said some lovely things about what it’s like to be coached by me:

“Coaching with Helen has been transformative. By the first session I knew what I needed to work on and by the second session I was already seeing change in the way I lead and manage a global team. It brought awareness to things I knew were important and allowed me to make a conscious choice, with a key set of skills, to activate these things. It was powerful to look more closely at the inner beliefs I hold about myself and how these play out in the workplace, and then find tangible ways to change behaviours for the better. It has made my working life much more self-aware, empowering and easier! And I feel accountable to continue to do the work.”

Global Charity Head

“Helen had a big influence on my leadership style and capability. By providing a perfect balance of listening, guiding, resources and questions that challenged me to think about and review aspects of my approach, I have been able to identify areas of my leadership to work on and refine.” 

Director of Consultancy, Impact and Influence

“Helen demonstrates wonderful coaching techniques, she truly listens, and puts you at the centre of her practice; I found she really believed in me (even when I didn’t believe in myself).” 

Chief People Officer

“I found valuable clarity on the steps I need to take, and it wasn’t at all stuffy or scary!” 

Engineer

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If you’re interested in what it’s like to be coached by me, do get in touch for a free discovery call.

I’m becoming a coach. On the Very Hungry Caterpillar scale of transformation, I’d say I am currently at Wednesday; ‘three plums’ and still hungry. Strong foundations, but lots more to consume. Sometime in February, I should emerge from my training as an enabling, unlocking and qualified butterfly.

When I tell people, they are often curious to understand what coaching really is.

“So are you going to be a business coach or a life coach?”

“It’s a bit like therapy for work, right?”

and

“Maybe you can coach me!”

(Maybe I can 😊 )

It’s more than “you go, girl” and definitely a lot less of “if I were you, I’d climb that skyscraper / confront that jerk / astound that boss”. It’s not mentoring; giving your opinion and advice. Which is interesting, given that that’s literally the way that I earn money. That was a struggle to reconcile at first, until (in a coaching conversation) the penny dropped and I realised it’s really two sides of the same coin: helping people/teams/workplaces to thrive. 

Coaching is like having a supportive ‘sounding board’, but one with insight, experience and some killer questions that help you realise what’s really going on here. Because most of the time, it’s something that we haven’t quite put our finger on yet. And I don’t draw a hard distinction between business coaching and life coaching. We all bring what’s going on in our life into work, and our work always affects our life. Putting life and work in separate buckets with lids on won’t create much momentum.

I invested in coaching last year as a client. It helped me figure out what I really wanted from this moment of my life, and what to do next in order to get it (work in progress). It has helped me to make braver decisions and stick my neck out with more confidence, and for that I’ll be forever grateful to Anna! 

I’m learning to coach alongside some special people – since we coach each other twice a week we are getting to know each other pretty well. They come from all over, but there are some interesting strands that that pull us together:

• Burnt out / disillusioned by a toxic workplace 
• Genuine desire to help people
• A strong strand of HR professionals in there (no surprise)
• Looking for meaningful work that works for them

My plan is to use my coaching skills to help leaders shape more healthy, productive workplaces and nudge company cultures to be more human. I’m about to start pro bono coaching with three clients as part of my training. In the very short term, it will just be a privilege to help a few people make more progress in the direction they want.