Coaching is like stepping through a door, opening up a new world for yourself!
One that is full of fresh possibilities, one in which our thinking is shifted in a positive way and we have new insights into ourselves and what we can achieve!
Coaching is a collaborative, forward focused, person centred, solution focused process where the coach facilitates the personal growth, resilience, coping strategies and goals of the coachee.
What makes it so effective is the fact that it takes place with an equal relationship and is about designing and working towards outcomes that are brought into the room. You, the coachee, decide the area in which you want to work and the coach helps to guide the process. Often in our various roles there is a power differential, with coaching we are on the same level. Effective coaching creates a safe, egalitarian place to talk.
The coach works alongside you, encouraging you, supporting you but ultimately the responsibility for change and progress is your own.
We can't always see things with clarity unless we have someone else to help us to a greater understanding. The coach helps you to have fresh perspectives and find new achievable ways forward, in personal and professional life.
We all want to feel like we are riding that wave and have a sense of achievement.
A recent coachee said that my coaching had given her fulfilment - to feel fulfilled, well how cool is that! The coach's job is to focus on creating a conversational space where you can explore options and perspectives to move forward with decisions that can support future goals that work for you.
In my practice I use a variety of coaching approaches, based in evidence based psychology, and adapt materials to learning need.
This can be via discussion, written work, handouts, artwork, visualisation, ‘chair work’, skills practice as appropriate.
At it's best coaching is tailored to individual need, to learning style and values diversity by it’s very nature of being person centred. Some people like to have theories and handouts for the strategies that come up in session, others like to have discussion and for some who are more visual thinkers it takes place with coloured paper! Have a think about how you learn best.
Coaching helps you, or your staff, to achieve self identified outcomes. These might be about concrete actions or about beliefs and an increase in resilience.
So what outcomes do YOU want from coaching sessions?
To be better at handling emotions?
To reduce stress in your life?
To have more focus and be more productive (addressing procrastination) and having a better work/life balance?
To increase your interpersonal skills and influence?
To increase your confidence, performance and self esteem?
To increase positive thinking and get rid of negative behaviours?
To be the best you can be at leading a team or running a business?
The list goes on...
I have been coaching and training for over 19 years, I have worked with more than 1600 people and each individual or team has their own areas that they choose to work on.
During coaching a conversation takes place to explore the focus of the coaching, devise strategies to get to the desired outcome and review how steps taken towards goals are progressing. There is always a feeling of being compassionate to ourselves - change is a process and can take time and a variety of techniques and strategies to achieve!
Getting results in a forward focused way
Coaching differs from counselling in that it is forward focused, looking to the future. An idea of your ideal world can be created in sessions.
You get to discuss areas you want to work on to be at your optimum, share what is not working and then look at how to overcome the barriers.
The coach works in partnership with you to stimulate your thinking and help with fresh perspectives.
You know how good you are with advising your friends to do things but it is harder to apply that to your own life? Coaching enables you to recognise the changes you want to make. Changes are most effective when you feel motivated, can share progress and feel a sense of accountability. Having a coach alongside you means that you have someone to feedback to on your progress and achievements.
What steps do we take to get there?
Step 1 Assess where you are currently - explore it!
We look at what feels good in your life and what you would like to see in an ideal future
Step 2 Design the outcome you would like to see - craft it!
We explore outcomes that you want to achieve from the coaching. Sometimes we don't know what we want exactly but we do know when areas of our life feels slightly out of kilter and we explore what could help to improve the situation. It maybe that you know exactly what the issues are, such as difficulties managing emotions, time, relationships, and we work on exploring what the ideal outcome would look like.
Step 3 Apply evidence based skills and strategies - work it!
The most effective way to produce positive outcomes may involve doing something totally different, such as setting up a new business. However it may involve doing more of what you are doing already in one area of your life and applying this to other areas. It might be, for example, that you are really confident with your interpersonal skills when with friends but lack confidence in team meetings. This is where I can bring in evidence based skills and strategies, use appropriate challenge and help you to work through changes with new perspectives, theories and ideas.
Step 4 Work out what works - evaluate it!
So we don't know until we put things into place what is going to work. We need an idea of where we are going (step 2 craft it) because if we do what we always used to do then we get the same results that we always did! We need to put the ideas from the coaching sessions into practice.
The benefit of having a coach means that I can be with you all the way, we get to talk through what is working and what is not in a safe confidential space. Think about little children, they need to try out a whole load of different things before they learn what is good for them and what is not!
Animals too..
think about the first time your pets get really bold and explore something new and then find it is loud, it gets them wet or it stings!
The evaluation process means we can get rid of what is not helpful and increase what is.
Once you have learnt new concepts and practiced them and chosen what works for you then you can never unlearn it.
This is the lovely part of coaching.
Dip into that toolkit
Coaching provides a toolkit of skills to enhance your business and personal life. Having a toolkit means you increase the ability to;
- to visualise achieving your outcomes;
- know how your thinking, feeling and actions interrelate for optimum performance;
- relate to others using influencing, assertiveness and communication;
- generate ideas, problem solve and goal set;
- self management for time management;
- get motivated and have a positive mindset;
- be more focused, less self critical and more dynamic;
- be more productive.
The toolkit of skills helps you to achieve the results you want on a personal level and for your business needs.
So why me as your coach?
I set up Mariposa Coaching with a portfolio of facilitating over 1600 workshops, working with 40 clients a week, an accredited facilitator of over 10 CBT based programmes and staff trainer I wanted to take my skills to a wider audience. I consolidated previous learning by completing training in coaching psychology approaches at The Centre for Coaching, London with certification in Stress Management and Performance Coaching.
Mariposa Coaching started off by providing 1:1 coaching, master classes and training to a range of clients. Some of the first of these were delivering in house training for well known engineering companies, in Bristol in stress management and worklife balance. I now have a freelance contract to deliver post graduate training for Educational Advisors who are medical consultants (surgeons, psychiatrists) in coaching and mentoring skills as part of their non clinical training for medical education for the Severn Deanery NHS Trust. I am one of Meningitis Now's coaching practitioners which has been amazing. Companies have attended work life balance and stress management workshops and booked me for leadership and influencing skills coaching for staff retention and performance. I am particularly passionate about delivering talks and coaching to staff within companies to enhance effective team communication and influencing skills for leadership.
I have a practice a few miles from Bristol City centre in Nailsea and a quiet tranquil room which provides a place for reflective space for the coaching work. Drop me a line at sarah.mariposacoaching@gmail.com or call me on 07811 740580 to book your free 20 mins initial consultation!
Wellbeing is essential to optimum performance and growth and helping others to have satisfying lives and to live well underlies my work.
