How did I become a Coach?

Like many people, I started my working life without a plan.

I worked in the corporate world in marketing and stayed there for 6 years as I climbed the career ladder. I learnt a lot and met some great people. And yet it wasn’t enough. At some point my learning curve plateaued and all I could see was more of the same looming ahead with the ‘end’ - retirement - far out of sight.

I then returned to University to train as a dietician. I was inspired by the opportunity to work with people to make a real difference in their lives. So, how come I’m not a dietician? Well, we also chose this time to start our family. It turned out that the financial and practical considerations of combining studying and placements with a baby and a toddler gave us some difficult choices. After much deliberation the right choice for all of us was for me to spend a year with the kids.

Mostly it was lots of fun but as my youngest approached her first birthday I began to realise that I was out of balance and there were parts of me not being fulfilled. So, what next? And how to make choices that worked for all four of us? I faced two main challenges. One, by starting from a blank page I felt like I had no excuse for not finding the ‘perfect’ thing. Secondly, I needed to feel confident that it would work with all the elements of my life without throwing them out of kilter.

I joined a former colleague in establishing Level Vision as the UK provider of the i-Lead system for Leadership Development and Team Workshops. After training with the Coaches Training Institute as a Co-Active Coach on a programme accredited by the International Coaches Federation I set up Emerald City Coaching to provide coaching services to individuals and groups both privately and through their organisations.