As I read through this site, something was missing. For me it was to share with you a little about my own journey of becoming a coach. . . .
My journey of becoming a coach has evolved over a number of years. My passion for facilitating the development of others came through in my career at Linklaters where I was responsible for the legal secretaries. Having pioneered the first legal secretarial training programme in the City, it was a privilege to be part of such a programme and see how these secretaries developed from trainees into successful partner secretaries. Seeing the development and growth of those that worked for me too was inspiring and when I left the organisation to see them continue to grow and move on was a testament to their commitment and huge contribution.
A few years later whilst working at DLJ, a US Investment Bank, I had the opportunity of working for a new business. During my time there I was instrumental in setting a mentoring programme for our business and providing mentoring skills and a process for senior managers and more junior staff. Working closely with the senior heads of the International Equities business, I was certainly no expert, however looking back, my contribution to this successful team was supporting them and their thinking about their people strategy. One of our Learning and Development partners introduced me then to NLP, Neuro Linguistic Programming. I was so curious about this, I attended the practioners programme. This was the beginning of my journey in becoming a coach. I found myself engaging with others and having extraordinary outputs. Others began to see things for themselves, they began to consider what was possible. My curiosity continued and I followed up with my Master NLP qualification. I realise now that I was coaching in many different areas of my role; the management team in support of their business, my colleagues, those who worked for me, and others in the business who were at a cross roads in their career or wanted to shift their level of performance.
During my time at DLJ I had the opporutnity to be considered for the Head of HR. I was faced with a real dilema; I was about to get married and I loved working within International Equities. I chose not to pursue this role for several reasons; was I good enough? Would I have the time to be there for my husband and not spend long days in the office? What would it be like to let go of the business I enjoyed working with so much? All of these questions I had to work out for myself. I had a very supportive boss who believed in me, the trouble was, I did not believe in myself at that time. Guess what? I did not have a coach either. A few months later, unfortunately all came to an end as DLJ was bought out by CSFB.
An opportunity arose for me to work for ABN Amro as Director of HR for global technology. Here I was able to support the management team using the coach approach which had really worked for me. I certainly was no expert in technology, however I was able to learn the business fast and support the global heads in their management style and approach through a major restructuring. I was also very fortunate to work with a learning and development specialist who inspired me to follow my passion.
Shortly after this, another chapter in my life unfolded when we had our first child. I never knew how much love and joy such a little bundle could offer. Rachel amazed me then and she continues to amaze me everyday with her curiosity, growth and yearning for learning. I loved being with Rachel and watching her develop. I also loved working with others and seeing their development in the business environment. Wanting to balance being at home for a day or two and returning to work, I decided to set up on my own. My aim was to support both individuals and corporates with career management and performance coaching. It was a scary time; I remember feeling nervous, having been out of the market for some 8 months which doesn't seem a long time now, but at the time it felt like ages. I was also anxious about leaving Rachel although I knew she enjoyed the nursery. I began working with Penna as an Associate and they were very supportive in providing me with information and help in working with my first few clients.
During this time I worked with some great colleagues and one of my colleagues introduced me to Myles Downey and Sir John Whitmore, both very eminent coaches. I continued my coaching qualifications and became an NLP qualified coach. I also continued with my own development and later became qualified in Emotional Intelligence and continued to study other coaching philosophies such as cognitive behaviour and soutions focused coaching.
Not long after we had our second child. I took another 8 months off and it took some adjusting having two little ones just eightheen months apart. Another amazing experience; I never knew how you could love another as much as the first. Watching Hannah grow and develop her own personality has been inspiring. She too never ceases to amaze me.
I returned to work and continued as a career management and performance coach. There began to be a shift in what clients were looking for and executive coaching was becoming more popular. My coaching began to support new leaders; facilitate the growh or high potentials and help senior leaders become even more successful.
As part of my development, I attended an executive leadership retreat with Miki Wallecheck which was a transformational experience. One of the most profound learnings for me was to recognise that I had been living the life of 'needing to look good' in all apsects of my life; as a daughter, wife, mother, professional. This was a liberating experience and today I am filled with gratitude for the life I have and to all those who have supported me on my journey of discovery, which continues today.
I also thank my clients who I have enjoyed working with immensely and I feel privileged to have experienced and witnessed their growth, success and achievements through their own commitment and willingness to discover what is possible for them.
