Personal Development Coaching
I imagine you are leading a busy life, and are juggling many different responsibilities and conflicting demands. The consequence of a 24/7 lifestyle is that it is demanding; one outcome is that there is never enough time to get everything done. Neither is there time to develop yourself, even though you know you should be spending time investing in yourself, both personally and professionally.
One day rolls into the next, a week becomes two weeks, the months role by, and a year later you are looking at a list of things you should have done, or ought to have done. But for whatever reasons, the progress you want to make is still not happening.
You are clear about what you want, whether it is better career prospects, more fulfilling relationships, a better work-life balance, better time management etc. You have also been honest with yourself that your approach to changing your future has not worked for you; and you recognise that your personal development goes hand in hand with your growth as a professional in your industry.
The reality is that change is always possible: you just have to consider the most effective way of approaching the problem.
What is holding you back, worrying you or keeping you awake at night?
If you are a manager from any kind of commercial, service or not for profit environment, with responsibilities for managing a team of people, you may well be working within a number of different scenarios:
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Preparing for a job interview
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Anxious about your level of income
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Stressed and need to develop a better work life balance in order to look after your health
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Challenged every Monday morning by the work you have to do in the week ahead
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Worried about aspects of your job such as having to give presentations
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Working out how to mend or develop relationships with partners, colleagues, or managers
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Thinking about a change in your career
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Feeling that you am being pulled in different directions
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Trying to manage conflicting priorities
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Considering applying for promotion
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Managing many new problems after a recent promotion
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Concerned that you just never get around to doing some tasks
A qualified and well trained Personal Development coach can help you move on to achieve the balance and success you are looking for… but don’t take my work for it.
“Graham is an authentic coach, who uses his experience, training and personal approach to get to the heart of the matter.”
Lizzie Bond – Chief Executive, Changing Tunes
“Graham’s coaching has unlocked my potential and given me the confidence to achieve.”
E King – Community Health Practitioner
“Graham helps me see things from a different perspective and has been instrumental in shifting my thinking and leadership style.”
Elizabeth Hayward – Executive Head Teacher
What will I get from Personal Development coaching?
At the most fundamental level you will move from some of these issues:
Sleepless nights
Overwhelmed
Being worried
Frustration
Headaches
Feeling Stressed
Putting on weight
Quick tempered
Frequent arguments
Comfort eating
To these:
Feeling in control, with better coping strategies
A sense of calm
Having more ‘me’ time
Great relationships
Being more relaxed more often
Seeing possibilities and looking forward
Making clear, firm decisions
Increased motivation and confidence
Having real energy again
Clarity about how to maintain your new life
Above all, personal performance coaching will help you make progress towards the issues you want to resolve, since that is what the process does; and it will help you make progress quicker than if you tried to do resolve the issues yourself!
Will Personal Development Coaching work for me?
Good question, you see it depends:
One of the challenges people face when they first start working with a coach is accepting personal responsibility for their own actions. In the coaching process you become accountable to yourself; you set the goals that only you know you can achieve and, as a result, reap the rewards.
I will manage the coaching process and give you the option of learning many invaluable tools and techniques that will help you start, and maintain, your journey to the successful outcomes you are looking for. But this will involve you doing things differently and doing different things.
The value of having me as your coach is that I will ask you really important questions that you never ask yourself! The actual sessions do not have to take place face to face; they are equally effective on the phone, or an online video call.
“It is not the strongest of the species who survive, not the most intelligent, but those who are most adaptive to change” – Charles Darwin
If you think you are ready for this, take my coaching readiness assessment to see how coachable you are at this moment in time.
I have made the decision to work with you, what can I expect?
Although there are many variations on the type of coaching delivered, all will follow a similar process:
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An initial conversation
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A first meeting following a particular format
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A series of weekly or fortnightly meetings consisting of a structured conversation – usually 45-50 minutes long
The initial conversation is very significant from the point of view of anyone who is thinking about using a coach. This is the time when you get to decide whether or not I am the right coach for you.
The first session is designed to:
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Clarify how a normal coaching session would be run
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Agree on the boundaries around confidentiality
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Agree on the commitment to attend the sessions or be available on the planned dates/times
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Confirm the ground rules
The subsequent coaching meetings will start with agreement on the specific aim of the session. This will be left up to you, the client: it is your issue, your problem to resolve, your challenge, or your goal to achieve.
Starting a session without a clear goal is similar to riding a stationary bike; eventually, you wobble about, fall off and get nowhere. It may take you 1 or 2 sessions to learn how to make the best use of your time with me as your coach; which is why some forethought is needed beforehand.
I will then work with you by asking forward-thinking, open questions, exploring any self-doubts, turning around negative statements into positive ones, clarifying statements, and keeping the conversation focused on moving forward and orientated towards you making progress.
The value that I will bring to the process is that as a coach is that I will ask you important questions that you never ask yourself! The actual sessions do not have to take place face to face; they are equally effective on the phone, or an online video call.
How will I know if the personal development coaching process is working?
The real test of the success of a performance coaching session is whether or not you leave it enlightened, inspired, motivated and feeling that you have made progress and are clear about:
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The steps you are going to take in order to move forward
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How you are going to take them
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When you will take them
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What having taken them will mean
“Success will never be a big step in the future, success is a small step taken just now.”
Jonatan Martensson
What are the advantages of working with a well trained personal development coach?
If you have not yet experienced structured life coaching, it is hard to understand the advantages of what a coaching session can offer: why is it so different from the kind of support available from a family member or close friend?
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As your coach, I will remain entirely impartial; I will act just like a ‘sounding board’
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I will have no established perception of you or your issue: there is no ‘baggage’ attached to the conversation
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100% of the content of the conversation stays in ‘in the room’, it is completely confidential
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I will not solve the problem for you, (unlike friends and family who may tell you what you should do) but support you to recognise your own strengths, knowledge and skills, and how you can use them to produce a realistic solution to your issue. This is a much more empowering approach, which will lead to more realistic outcome
Consequently, will not hear me say:
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In my opinion
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This is what you should do
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Why don’t you try?
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Have you thought about doing …?
These are the kind of responses that well-meaning friends and family might come up with.
“You can’t solve a problem with the same mind that created it” – Albert Einstein
How long will it take before I notice a difference?
The question how many sessions will it take is a challenging one to answer, but here are some pointers that will help. A typical coaching relationship will involve 3-8 sessions, most are around 6. Some clients will have one session, experience a light bulb moment, and walk away knowing what to do and when to do it.
At the other end of the scale, anyone still seeing a life coach after 15-20 sessions should start to ask themselves whether the coach is actually helping them take the responsibility required to take action or move forward. After about 6 sessions with an ethical coach, a person will have a clear understanding of the issue, have come up with a clear sustainable strategy for dealing with it and will have already started to address or solve the problem. Is it 100% successful? The answer has to be no.
Occasionally a performance coach will experience blocks to progress due to issues that are best addressed by a counselling approach. On other occasions, the change process takes a long time, so the consequences of the coaching sessions might become apparent well after the actual coaching sessions have finished.In these situations, I provide my clients with tools, techniques, exercises, and approaches, which can be used repeatedly in the future (almost buy one, get one free).
“Each learning journey is unique, like you” – Anon
Coaching for performance is not a panacea for solving all ills, but it can be a very effective process. Although it is widely accepted within the business and commercial world – many managers are now being trained in how to coach their staff – the potential it has to make a profound difference to the way people live their lives has yet to be recognised by the everyday person in the street.
By way of comparison, for the same price of a trip to a typical hairdresser, or a decent meal in a restaurant, you could experience a change that could well last a lifetime!
“Ten years from now we’ll look back at this challenge and laugh, so why wait?” – Tony Robbins
Taking the decision to engage me as your coach is not one that should be taken quickly. The consequences of the relationship you create with me as you work on your personal development are ones that will stay with you
For a long time.