Coaching is a form of learning, where a person (a coach) supports someone else (often called a coachee) to make progress in some way. Progress might include; to reach a goal, solve problems, or create learning and change.

Coaching is normally a conversation, or series of conversations, one person has with another. The coach works to create a conversation that will benefit the other person, in a way that relates to their objectives. Coaching conversations might happen in different ways, and different environments. For example, in person, by telephone, over zoom etc.

An effective coach blends skills of questioning, listening, observation and feedback to create conversation rich in insight and learning. The coachee experiences a focus and attention on their own circumstances that helps them develop greater awareness and understanding. In addition, they’ll also gain fresh ways to resolve issues, produce better results and achieve their goals more effectively.

Typical benefits experienced from coaching include:

• Improved sense of direction & focus

• Accelerated learning around a distinct topic, e.g. managing people, relationship, influence

• Improved performance in an area, e.g. professionally, health, finances etc.

• Increased knowledge of self/self-awareness

• Improved personal effectiveness, e.g. focused effort on priorities

• Increased motivation or sense of personal engagement

• Increased resourcefulness/resilience, e.g. ability to handle change

A career coach will guide you towards clarity on who you are, what you want in your career and help you to get there. They help clients take an honest look at their skills, achievements and experience.

Typically they start work with a client by getting to the core of who they are, what they value, what lights them up, and what they are skilled at. Only once they have this clarity can a line be drawn to a job or career. And once the line is drawn, going out to find the right job gets a whole lot easier and much more exciting.

As well as helping you get career clarity a Career Coach will also provide services such as CV writing, LinkedIn profile reviews and interview preparation.

Coaching follows a more flexible format than training, according to someone’s objectives. Both the individual and the coach influence the direction and content of sessions. Coaching also places responsibility for learning on the individual and encourages learning to continue after the session, e.g. through an agreed set of actions.

The biggest difference between coaching and counselling is the approach. Generally speaking, coaching is more focused on helping you achieve your future goals and creating a new life path. The focus in counselling is looking for solutions to emotional concerns and healing from the past. While we may touch on your past experience during our coaching sessions, our main focus will be on what is going on for you now and where you want to go. If we ever stray away from this as part of our discussions, I am bound by my professional ethics to highlight this and may offer advice on where you can go to seek the right support.

Mentoring is advice given typically by someone who has been in that position before. For instance, someone in a Leadership position offering career advice to a junior colleague.

My free 30-minute chemistry call is an opportunity for us to get to know each other a little and see if we may have that ‘chemistry’ to work well together.

I will ask you to outline where you are and what you are hoping to achieve through coaching with me. In turn, I will introduce myself, my background and how I work. Through this 30 minute conversation I will be able to guide you to identify which of my packages would work for you or indeed whether a bespoke package may be the way to go. I will also give you clarity on the price for our engagements and length of time I would expect us to work together.

If you have already got to know me from my website you may be in a position to make your decision there and then or you may want a few more days to make your mind up. In that instance, I would ask that you come back to me within a week and confirm if you want to go ahead and work with me.

This really depends on you and want you want to get from coaching. All my coaching is tailored to my clients goals and needs. I will be led by you.

Together we work out how many sessions are needed from our first chemistry session. Typically I find between 4 – 6 sessions work best for meaningful change to happen with sufficient time in between each session for you to reflect on our discussion and work on your actions.

However, I also find that some clients are nearly there with whatever challenge they are facing and just need some gentle support to unlock their potential. In those situations just one hour long session is often enough.

We will also agree together what format works best for our engagements. Whether that is face to face, video conference or plain old fashioned telephone call.

My role as a coach is to enable you to bring clarity to the thoughts swirling around in your head and support you in developing your plan of action.

Please see the ‘Shop’ section of my website to get an indication on my range of services and prices.

From leading my own team for over 25 years and with working directly with clients for the past 2 years, I have developed an in-depth understanding of the pain-points, challenges and obstacles you need to overcome to get you to the career you've always wanted. For that reason, I have divided my packages into themes that are focused on my clients goals.

The two themes I have focused on are Getting Career Clarity and Presenting your Career Story.

Of course, it may be that you may not see your specific needs covered in these packages. That’s no problem and is something we’ll discuss during our chemistry call. In that situation I’m more than happy to tailor a package for you.

Once we’ve settled on the right package for you I will invoice you after our first coaching session. Alternatively, if the package you pick is on my website you can click on the payment link there and make your payment.