develop Your career or leadership with Coaching

There is a great deal of literature about what coaching is and is not and it's fair to acknowledge that the term is not used consistently.    The sort of coaching I offer is not training or teaching:  I will only occasionally offer advice.  I will use questioning and exploration to work with you to help you understand your own issues and your own answers to those issues.  I will suggest reading or "homework" for clients between coaching sessions and in my experience people see growth, learning and confidence much more because of this work than what we do in sessions. I will also, when they're helpful, introduce ideas, models or leadership theories for clients to explore.  Sometimes, if an issue proves difficult, we might use art, toys or other techniques that can help exploration.  Our work is always driven by the coaching goals, that's your aims.

All professional, trained coaches will agree a special form of contract with each client as the coaching relationship begins.  This covers confidentiality, professionalism, a code of ethics, as well as logistics, practical issues and stuff like prices.  The heart of the contract is made up of each client's agreed goals  -  what they wish to achieve through the work together.

At the start of the coaching relationship we agree your goals, whether about skills, challenges, personal leadership strengths or other aspects of your practice.  As a coach I don't aim to teach or train but to help you to explore, better understand and grow confidence in your skills.  We may agree work you'll do between sessions and I may challenge you to try things that seem difficult.  I will often introduce you to leadership or leaning models or ideas if they will be helpful.

I don't specialise in beautiful CVs, but I do work with clients to own their strengths, achievements and values so that they speak with confidence, integrity and power.  That way my clients own their unique profiles.  Your achievements demonstrate your strengths, your strengths create 80% of your profile.  I have done this work with great success with senior people, inexperienced young people and everyone in between.  

A coaching relationship is "fixed term":  it endures until we agree that the goals have been achieved, reached.  The relationship may last 8 months or 24 months but will then end.  Mentoring relationships, on the other hand, are indefinite.  I work with mentees for as long as we both agree it's helpful.  As a mentor, I will offer coaching but also advice, an ear, personal support and challenge.  Our mentoring contracts are usually broader and the goals often less specific.