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My Coaching Journey

My Coaching Journey (the long story)

Before becoming a coach I worked for 20 years in Consumer Goods Businesses including Mars1, Diageo2, Danone3 and Waterwipes. Having made it to a senior level managing large teams and eventually managing the UK & Ireland business for the latter, I had been coaching for at least 15 years and loving it. I realised that without coaching I wasn’t the best version of myself and I couldn’t help those around me to recognise their own potential. As an addition to the day job, coaching was fast becoming where I spent most of my time.

When I left Diageo, where I had been lucky enough to grow personally and to build my career for ten years, I decided to explore coaching further and completed a course with The Coaching Academy which ignited my passion further. I was then able to continue coaching from within my next company, Accrediting as an internal Business Coach, and nurtured that passion for growth, working with new teams and new businesses. I grew personally over that time too - moving to Ireland and having 2 children.

I loved enabling coachees to explore their inner most motivations and values, what gets them out of bed in the morning. What I was witnessing was coaching helping to unlock the potential they have within, to bring more of that into their lives.

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It wasn’t until I had a complete lack of coaching in my life – either coaching or being coached – that I realised how important it had been to my own well-being and success.

In the space of 6 months we had moved our young family from Ireland back to UK, arriving in a village we had only briefly visited, burnt out from a very busy consulting role and managing a difficult period of illness with the kids - as well as what I now know to be Perimenopause symptoms.

Whilst going through all the previous big decisions and growth moments in my life (including multiple Employer moves, relocating to another country and undergoing 2 rounds of IVF), I had always had coaching available to help me navigate the choppy waters.  I also gained a great sense of fulfilment from coaching others myself. Now I was overwhelmed, finding it difficult to concentrate, make decisions and stand up for what I believed in. Working double the hours I was paid for, both mentally and physically I was burnt out; no longer feeling like myself and crumbling under the weight of managing a family and a career.

It seemed impossible to manage my life only in my own mind. So I came back to Coaching. Being coached created the space to open up my thinking, connect with my own needs and resources. It was transformative for me. Now, having qualified with Barefoot Coaching and working towards my Associate Certified Coach credential with the International Coaching Federation, I am fortunate enough to be able to pay it forward.

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If you would like to explore whether Coaching or Coach-Mentoring could be for you, get in touch below.