Coaching

Although I am not working with new clients I believe whole-heartedly in Coaching and that the power of pausing and retreating is an integral element of the work that you can do within coaching. So I’ve included a few comments here on coaching generally for anyone thinking about it.

who is coaching for?

I would say that coaching is for anyone who senses they are ready to think about where they are in life personally and at work, and willing to discover more about themselves, and able to put their insights into action. No person or situation is the same, (for example I coached a wonderfully varied pool of people, from CEOs and Directors, to entrepreneurs, church leaders and to individuals at all ages and stages of life and career). and my coaching was always personalised to accommodate the individual so that they were able to gain the full benefit of coaching.

The most important thing is that the relationship between you as the client, and your coach, is a trusted one.

My job was to provide the architecture, the space, and yours to provide the furniture, the content.

why

Simon Sinek* encourages people to ‘Start With Why’ and I agree that discovering what our why is all about unlocks energy, potential, goals, and a real sense of purpose and fulfilment. Each of us has a different ‘why’ that is ours to discover, and coaching can really help to understand and articulate that uniqueness which, once realised, becomes the guiding principle in our life wherever we work. This is so important as no-one is going to be doing the same job for very long any more.

what to expect

If you are new to coaching, it is helpful to form an idea of what to expect before your first session. My sessions were either on the phone, by Zoom, or face to face in Winchester or during a stay at The Retreat Space. I also enjouyed coach while outside, walking. This too can be on the phone or in person. Usually a virtual conversation is for 1 -1.5 hours and a face to face for 1.5-2 hours. Typically we’d have agreed to meet for a series of meetings from 4-6 sessions, but that’s not fixed; sometimes one meeting is enough, sometimes meeting over an extended time period is best too.

I am still happy to have a preliminary conversation when you’re thinking about coaching to talk through questions. I’m often in Open House Deli in Winchester which is a good place to drop in for a chat about what coaching involves. Just let me know if you’d like to meet there.

how to prepare

When you go to your coaching sessions, it is important to arrive prepared in order to gain the most from your time. Once you have taken the step to invest in yourself and give your time to coaching, which is precious, try to dedicate yourself wholly to these sessions and give yourself some space either side of the conversations to gather and reflect on your thoughts. I expect you will always start by contracting with your coach, by that I mean agreeing what it is that you want to think about, what you want to focus on, what you would like to be different by the end of your meeting(s) and how you would like to work together.