The term ‘coaching’ conjures up different things for different people. And, if you’ve never experienced coaching, you wouldn’t be expected to know if it’s something that would be right for you.

I fell in love with Coaching 17 years ago following my foundation skills training with Lane4. The co-founder and Managing Director of Lane4 is the Olympic Gold medal winning swimmer, Adrian Moorhouse MBE. I also had the wonderful opportunity to meet Greg Searle MBE, a British Olympic rower, during my programme.

I was immediately inspired by the tools, techniques and powerful process of connecting with an individual and working with them in a flexible and proactive way to achieve their personal goals.

Coaching is not about instruction, training or telling people what to do and how to do it. Instead it’s a process where people are helped to work things out for themselves. It develops self reliance.

Coaching enables people to perform a new task, improve performance, develop a skill, solve a problem, achieve a higher target and develop self confidence.

Coaching is real – using actual life and work situations as learning opportunities.

I don’t know how many people I have had the privilege to coach in my career to date. However, having just had a quick count up, I have coached 40 people since January this year.

These sessions, like all the others, were personal and different to one another. It never ceases to amaze me of the incredible outcomes that can be revealed by keeping an open mind and trusting the process.

These are some examples of the topics that have been the focus of the sessions over the last six months:

• Connecting with our true self and identifying purpose
• Enhancing self-esteem and building confidence
• Developing Assertive Skills and dealing with challenging situations
• Creating a reality of choice
• Reducing stress and anxiety
• Personal development objectives
• Career / Business planning

These are some examples of feedback that has been generated from these sessions:

• Before seeing Sandra I was at a very anxious period and generally stressed. After seeing her, I got the support which I needed and some very helpful tools/tips on how to manage stresses of life
• The sessions allowed me the time and space to reflect on my personal needs in relation to the job I am required to do and how to meet both my personal needs and the needs of the role and the workforce
• Sandra was amazing and this has been a very positive experience. It has equipped me with practical ideas of how to think through some of the issues raised during the session. The session has also increased my confidence
• I will definitely recommend coaching sessions to my friends and colleagues
• The coaching is not just about my professional self, it is very much about my personal self, which in turn impacts my professional self. I am finding the process invaluable, and I believe it is going to have a massive positive impact on me in so many ways

I hope this article has given you a flavour of what it’s like to experience coaching and what can be achieved. If you have any questions about coaching and would like to find out more about booking a session for yourself or your organisation, please call on 0771 293 6296 or email me.