This week, our wonderful coach, Lynn Degele shares with us her inspiring journey where Coaching empowered her to overcome her learning difficulty and go on to do remarkable things that she would never have thought of. Lynn has begun giving public talks on 'Ways to Succeed with a Learning Difficulty' at local libraries to share her story.
We hope you enjoy…
What inspired you to join The Coaching Academy?
I first heard about The Coaching Academy in January 2013 when I discovered the Free 2-Day Course. I went to Bristol for the Course and was hooked on Day One. I was inspired by the idea of coaching and I remember I bought a copy of Bev James's book "Do it or Ditch it", which I started reading that night, sharing insights with my friends.
By the end of the second day, I had decided to apply for the Life Coaching Diploma. I had already been working in Academic Journals publishing for 5 years, and I could see how coaching could help me to communicate more effectively, and set achievable goals. 5 years on, I can see the impact, but would never have predicted how I would grow as a result.
What was the most rewarding part about the course for you?
What I found most interesting to learn during the course, was how Values and Beliefs shape our experiences, and how important they are to setting and achieving our goals.
The most rewarding part of my training was helping other coaching students grow in confidence, and achieve their goals, in some cases, finding their ideal new job. I relished helping them discover the reasons they wanted to achieve their goal, and helping them to unlock their potential.
I really enjoyed the Academy Days, because they gave me an opportunity to deepen my learning and meet like-minded students from the Academy. Because of the way they are run, I might meet newly enrolled students, students doing other Diplomas, or students near to graduating. It was all inspiring and motivated me to continue, to persevere, and graduate myself.
How did you fit coaching training into your busy life?
Although I had a full-time job, I could fit coaching in by doing coaching sessions in the evenings, after work, and reading coaching materials whilst commuting to and from work. I found setting aside one to two hours a day was sufficient to create a routine and maintain momentum.
Where are you now and how are you using coaching skills?
Whilst training I also discovered that I had a Learning Difficulty, and went through an official diagnosis of Dyspraxia and Attention Deficit Disorder. As I was diagnosed as an adult, coaching helped to give me the confidence and self-belief to persevere and apply for the support at my work. It also helped me to understand my strengths and challenges, so that I was able to harness my strengths to complete my Diploma in my own way, in February 2016.
Two years on, since having qualified, I use my coaching in my day-to-day work, both on an individual level with clients on projects that I manage, and in group coaching with colleagues. I am also a Diversity & Equality Representative, for our local chapel of the National Union of Journals (NUJ).
Shortly after I began my Coaching Diploma, I started a lunchtime knowledge-sharing group at my place of employment, to help colleagues share ideas, best practice, and resources, to save time. Since starting the group, I have expanded it from lunchtime sessions to include a monthly online international webinar, and have even visited our regional offices in Delhi and Singapore to present workshops on-site. The group has grown to 350 colleagues worldwide, and we recently celebrated our 5-year anniversary.
What is your coaching niche and why did you choose it?
As the group's focus is on well-being in the workplace, this has become my niche; encouraging colleagues to discover their own definition of success and to understand their authentic selves to find a balance between their personal and work lives. As part of this, I have also begun giving public talks on "Ways to Succeed with a Learning Difficulty" at local Oxfordshire libraries, to share my story.
What I enjoy most about being a coach, is uncovering other people's hopes and dreams, and being able to support them in working out their own ways to achieve their goals, and seeing them change their view of themselves and their abilities in the process.
Your tips for:
• People who are looking to qualify as a professional coach: would be to visualise yourself having achieved your goal. I used to imagine myself running a race, and reminding myself that in order to qualify I needed to cross the finishing line and to understand what that meant. Ask yourself what is important to you about becoming a coach.
• Those currently in training: Make the most of all you are learning and the people you will meet on your journey. Also, make it a habit to complete your coaching Record Learning Sheet as soon as possible after coaching sessions, whilst the insights are still fresh.
• Coaches that are about to qualify: Believe in yourself, you are so close, just remember to take it one day, one step, at a time. Surround yourself with other coaching buddies nearing qualification, if you can, and remember to reward yourself when you have handed in your Personal Development Journal, and good luck!
The Coaching Academy was established in 1999, and is now the world's largest coaching school.
In that time we have trained over 14,000 people to become life coaches.
We are accredited by the International Coach Federation and the Association for Coaching, and we're rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot.
