After having my first child in 2007 and taking maternity leave from the police I went back to my old role in 2008 but was less than inspired. I had some coaching to help me work out what I wanted to do with my career. I realised that I wanted something else but didn’t know what. It was in 2009 when I was on a conference for women in policing when I first realised that it was possible to re-train to do something much more inspirational. An ex-police officer was working as a coach at the conference and then I knew that is what I wanted to do. It was like a green light to realise my dreams.
I discovered the 2 day course in London and initially thought “that sounds too good to be true”. However, I decided to give it a go. This course changed my outlook and aspirations for good!
I was, and still am (at the moment) a police officer - an Inspector in Hertfordshire Police.
When I signed up as a protégé student my husband, a soldier, had recently been away in Afghanistan for 6 months. I had a lot on my plate with my young son and a demanding job. I admit that I found it quite difficult to get qualified. I know now that I took on a bit too much by starting 4 diplomas at once. I loved the accelerator days so much and was enjoying the amazing feeling that it gave me. However, I was not so good at the follow up. I had to learn the hard way that there is an easy way to eat the elephant – one piece at a time. I ended up with lots of aeroplanes taking off (as Bev would say) and none landing. I also am a real perfectionist so when it came to getting clients I had loads of offers but kept on turning them down as I was nervous of not being great. I even did this with the question paper which sat on my desk for 6 months virtually completed but I didn’t want to give it in in case it wasn’t up to scratch. Eventually I had to get real with myself and just do it. Funnily enough, I qualified with distinction and this gave me the kick I needed to start believing in myself. I am now running a new belief that Imperfect Action is better than Perfect Inaction”.
For me it was enlightening to see how people can come up with their own answers as to what they need to do to move forward. I used to think I would need to tell people what to do and now I know I don’t need to.
Whenever I get one of those little thank you emails from a client it reminds me why I have taken these steps to change my career. There is nothing more rewarding for me than knowing I have helped someone grow and achieve.
The best parts of the whole course for me are the accelerator days. Even now, if I ever feel like I need an input of positivity, belief in the process and myself and just general feeling great then I know where I want to be – with all of you!
The commitment for a protégé student is high but it is possible if you are methodical and manage your time well. I had to give myself a reality check when I allowed it to take over a lot of my time. Once I stopped kidding myself and got down to work, it helped.
I have since been coaching extensively within Hertfordshire Police and have been concentrating on managers with teams who are either in conflict or who are not well engaged. I also work with managers who want to develop their skills, particularly in understanding their teams better to improve performance. I use DISC profiling for almost all my clients and find this is extremely popular. I am now about to concentrate on developing my own business rather than working for an employer.
I am in the process of launching my small business coaching program and plan to split my time between this and the corporate coaching work.
The best thing that could happen to my business is that I get more clients than I can handle and then I am ready with my online coaching packages that I am developing to enable me to spend less time working and more time with my family.
I am not a fan of having ready-made questions but I would say that “What is stopping you?” is a really useful question for people who are struggling to move forward. It is a hard question to answer but certainly helps people to be honest about the reality of their commitment and desire to move forward.
Seeing the transformation in people and being a part of it!
If you are wondering whether to take a coaching course then I would say go for it and be ready for it to change your world! If you are thinking of studying with The Coaching Academy then I would say that the support you get from the trainers, other students, the accelerator days and study groups makes The Coaching Academy a great environment to learn. It is the best thing I ever did and I wouldn’t look back!
Focus on one thing at a time and fix a date by which you are going to achieve it. Then tell someone so that you have committed. I gave myself so many excuses (and I had some great ones) but when I finally did this it made all the difference.
Just submit your work and don’t try to be perfect. You don’t have to be and you may just surprise yourself and have already done more than you need.
If you are like me and struggle to focus on just one thing or stop yourself through trying to be perfect, then I can recommend turning off emails, facebook and all distractions, picture your reward for completing your diploma and don’t let yourself move from the spot until you have at least moved forward one step!
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