Coach In The Spotlight - Caroline Molloy

2013 was my year of jubilee I celebrated by becoming a personal performance coach and nlp practitioner, doing a zip wire over the river Wear, scuba diving, starting a new business and speaking at an international conference in Delhi. I have enjoyed every minute of my 50th year and I have gone from redundancy to abundancy with the help of the coaching academy and my fellow coaches.

I had always been an opportunist, quite happy to take life’s path and the doors that were open in front of me. I hadn’t really got much of a plan, but up to recently life was pretty good and I had reached a senior management position at work and I was alright “Thank you very much”. But then the recession hit, and my job with the local council was written out during a restructure to meets its required budget savings and I was redundant! As it happened there were other significant life changes heading my way that I didn’t foresee, and there I was abandoned to “God and goodwill” with no real plan and no strategies to help me move forwards.

I worked away from home for 18 months, travelling every weekend and living out of a suitcase and it was tough but looking back, a journey I have grown through. Although I have a strong faith, and knew that I was saved from the pit of despair, I spent a long time sitting on the edge; until it started to crumble then I knew I had to do something to find the tools and strategies to build my belief up again.

I went to the 2 day coaching weekend in Leeds. It was an incredible weekend and I learnt so much in those 2 days alone that I applied and embarked on the Life Coaching Diploma and NLP programs.

I live in the North East so travelling to Chesham was a commitment, but with those new planning skills I planned ahead and factored in the weekend I was going to attend, alongside any CPD events that were on the Sunday. This maximised my time in Chesham and actually helped me to stay motivated knowing that my next module was planned in ahead of time.  Every weekend was packed with interesting material and very well presented, I loved being with likeminded people, ready to learn about themselves and take challenges, I always came away buzzing.

So where am I now? well, I have learnt the strategies I needed to build belief in myself and am in a position to be ready to meet new challenges in work that were beyond my previous comfort zone. I have moved into the commercial healthcare industry into a partnership with an established company which has launched me quite publically in a journal article with a 900,000 circulation. Although my biggest thrill was being photographed for the article by a London photographer!

At weekends I am a presenter with the Personal Development Circle North East. I run a personal development café in Newcastle and take personal coaching clients through my website.

For those who are considering embarking on training with the coaching academy, I have not regretted a single penny I have invested in myself, and I have far more to give back to others than I ever started with!

For those of you still completing your diplomas, take the time you need to progress at your own pace. It took me 2 years to complete 2 programs and that was right for me. Also, some of my greatest breakthroughs were facilitated by my 2 coaches who were ahead of me in the training. You do not have to be qualified to deliver a breakthrough just trust the GROW model process.

My favourite coaching question still is

“What does success mean to you, and how will you know you have got it?”

I was once redundant, but I am now abundant with a valuable toolkit to handle the rest of life’s journey more purposely.

Finally may I wish you the greatest success in your journey, whatever that means to you.

If you want to connect with me you can find me on Linked In through The Coaching Academy group.