portrait by christian banfield
I started my first business when I was just 18 years old. I was fortunate to have two great business partners, one of whom also happened to be my father. I didn't know it at the time, but he was my first coach. Rarely telling me what to do, always encouraging me by asking the right questions. He had the skill of widening my vision lifting my eyes from the day-to-day issues to think more strategically.
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Fast forward to 2022. I celebrated 20 years as a professional coach myself. My first (official) coaching training being with CTI, then with Shirlaws, and Clean Learning where I received an ILM Level 5 in Coaching and Mentoring. I'm lucky enough to work in a field where I am able to indulge my love of learning (which I only discovered after I left school) and in recent years I have studied the great steps forward in understanding our brains in the fields of neuroscience and psychology.
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What drew me to coaching was the personal development that it inspired. Creating the environment for clients to reflect and see with a new perspective allowed them to grow as people, and as leaders.​​​
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What gives me most pleasure in my work is when a client has an 'aha' moment. It could be that they discover a new value of theirs and the reason why they are drawn to certain behaviours.​
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meyer simmonds 1926-1992
Sometimes it's a realisation about a limiting belief that they have held since childhood.
You can see the energy of the person change in an instant.
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​The missing piece for me was something I didn’t know was missing! I’d never been much of a planner, and I didn’t learn the skills of creating a plan and taking steps to turn a dream into reality.
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What changed is when I met New Level Results, and I was introduced to their coaching platform The Curve. It’s a plan that’s both simple and comprehensive. It puts an Annual Plan on a single page and I and my clients have found it to be really clarifying and motivating. It’s also a living document, prompting a review of progress and learning every month, keeping us on track towards achieving our goals.​
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The Plan holds us securely, inspiring us to take the actions that will lead to our success while ‘keeping us honest’ and mitigating the impact of external distractions.
My new mantra is: “If it isn’t on my plan, I ain’t doing it”.
Quite a change for a magpie like me who is constantly attracted to shiny new things!