Do you need a coach?
It’s important to know what a professional coach can provide for you when you start out on a new client/coach relationship. Getting this understanding right at the beginning will mean that you can get the most from the relationship, and more importantly you’ll be able to reach your fullest potential much earlier on your journey.
It’s even more important to know what coaching won’t be! It’s all too easy to expect something different, and then feel let down, out of your depth, unable to challenge, and worst of all, not feeling like you’re getting good value for money – and if that happens it’s just as unfulfilling for the coach as for you, which means you’re not getting the best out of them.
With clients, my coaching provides a space where we can explore with you your personal strengths (that you might be underutilising), and opportunities that you might not have seen before. We will look at the gaps in your experience and explore what strategies you can implement to manage those gaps.
What is coaching?
My coaching style is focused on being client-centred – this means that I will be using well practised listening & questioning skills to help you find the answers within yourself. You can be sure that the listening will be intent and the questioning intense! It’s meant to be, and it’s meant to leave you with a sense of self-awareness and determination to improve that will drive you to act. It might not happen on the first session (as we’re getting to know each other and building the all-important trust), but the structure of our sessions will mean that very soon you will start to see what actions you need to take.
By taking this approach, I expect that you will grow, develop, learn and make advances in your career that you might not have thought possible without it.
I will work with you through 6-8 structured sessions, connecting with you in between by phone or email. I will be expecting you to act and report back how effective your tactics and strategy are being. You will identify goals, create actions, complete them and maybe even course correct from time to time. Your goals might move as you learn more about yourself, and what really matters is that you grow. Grow as a person and a colleague, grow as a leader and as a business owner.
What coaching isn’t!
You won’t get from me endless career tips and advice of how I think you should do things! We might in conversation get to a point where we work on solutions together, through healthy and two-way conversation. But you’re not engaging me to give you advice, and if that’s what you need, then search for a mentor within your network. There are plenty of mentors out there, and plenty willing to be heard and to share their ample experience with you. It’s just not what I do. I coach. And I converse with you, not talk at you.
Coaching isn’t babysitting, it isn’t teaching, it isn’t mentoring and it most definitely isn’t responsible for your career advancement. You don’t need a babysitter or need teaching, if you need a mentor you’re not really on the right website. And of course your career development is your responsibility.
Want to know more?
Please get in touch, I’d love to meet you for a conversation about what you feel you might need. Let’s arrange a chat about you and your requirements.
Steph Durbin-Wood
07985 379631
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