The Chemistry Session
Checking to see if there is a spark.
Welcome! I hear you've never had coaching before but are curious to see if it is something that might help you. If this were an ordinary chemistry session, or as most people might call it, an introductory session, I'd ask you what you're looking to get out of coaching before I started telling you things. However this isn't ordinary - you're reading this rather than participating - so I'll start telling, which, as you'll see, is ironically not what coaching is about.
Coaching is about you. A coaching session is not me giving you advice or telling you how to do something or what goals you should prioritise. It's not me telling you something is wrong or right, or stupid, or great. It's me listening to you and asking you questions to seek out what it is you actually want to achieve, what your options are to get to where you want to be, and how you're going to make sure you get there in a way that you're happy with. It's about helping you be reflective, more self-aware, and more confident in your decisions.
It may be that as you share in a session, I recognise things that you're saying, believing, or doing that are holding you back, I might challenge those things if you're happy for me to do that. I might spot some unrealistic expectations or that your goals are about other people's behaviour and I'll redirect you to things you can actually control. The level of challenge in our sessions is really up to you, if you don't want to be challenged in a session, that's fine, we can save that for a session when you're open to it.
All that to say, my coaching is non-directive and non-judgemental. If you need advice or an expert, then you need to look for a mentor. While there are similarities between mentoring and coaching (we even share a code of ethics), that's not what these sessions are. The direction I bring is logistical, managing the time and taking you through models like GROW that structure our conversations so they're productive and helpful.
Our sessions are fully confidential, even if I'm hired by your organisation to be your coach. The only things I'll share beyond our sessions are if there are concerns about your or someone else's wellbeing, reflections with my supervisor on anonymised topics so I can improve my own coaching, or anything you explicitly give me permission to share.
If you've got a goal you want to achieve, a habit you want to start, a behaviour you want to change, or a mix of all three that needs untangling, coaching may well be for you. If you're interested in me being your coach, or want an actual chemistry session to explore this further, feel free to get in touch.
