Harkiran Bhogal - 'Using coaching skills in the classroom'

Harkiran shares her journey juggling a new career in education with her coaching diploma and how being part of a like-minded community helped her in this process.  

What inspired you to enrol with The Coaching Academy?

I went to the free 2-day taster course not knowing what coaching was and came out totally hooked! I was a marine biologist and had followed my childhood dreams of working with dolphins and sharks so I suddenly felt this burning desire to want to encourage others to pursue their passions too. I felt like I wanted to offer more to the world. The 2-day event inspired me to want to help people and offer them a way to achieve their dreams too. 

What was the most rewarding part of your training?

The most rewarding part of my journey was the coaching practice with my clients and seeing those light bulb moments. When a client changed their perspective or had a breakthrough as a result of my questions, it confirmed to me how well coaching can work. It was eye-opening to see the changes in a client throughout the sessions. I would leave a meeting with the knowledge that I helped somebody on their own personal journey. 

How did you fit coach training into your busy life?

It was tough trying to fit coaching into my life. I was going through a career change to become a teacher and was in the middle of leaving my marine biology career and doing a PGCE. I was studying and working full time as well as trying to fit the coaching diploma in. I had to be very proactive, fitting practice sessions in on my free evenings. I joined a coaching community and developed a close friendship through it, so we kept each other motivated and before I knew it, I was a qualified coach and a qualified teacher!

Where are you now? How are you using your coaching skills?

I am now using my coaching skills in the classroom. The culture I’m developing as well as my teaching techniques have coaching embedded in them. It’s reflected in the way I communicate with the children, empowering them to come up with their own actions as well as helping them take ownership and responsibility for their choices. It’s become a way of life and I use coaching skills in my daily interactions with staff and parents too. 

What is your coaching niche and why did you choose it?

Throughout the course I found that many of my practice clients needed coaching on relationship issues and realised that I loved delving into these types of challenges, helping a client identify their self-limiting beliefs that were preventing their relationships from flourishing. I grew passionate about this niche very quickly and ended up coaching women and men on nights out without even realising it! I have always been interested in personal development and alternative therapies that revolved around bringing about change in relationships and soon realised that the most important relationship you have to work on is the relationship you have with yourself. Time and time again the clients would realise this for themselves and that was the beauty of this niche, it always leads back to you, that is when the magic happens.

Do you have any tips for anyone looking to become qualified as a professional coach?

My top tip is to make sure you work on yourself first. Get a coach and go through the process yourself so you know what it’s all about and experience the benefits. You want to try and make sure that things don’t trigger you when you are coaching a client so you have to ensure you are continually investing in your own personal development. Read as much as you can to understand coaching and the strategies/ frameworks used. Talk to qualified coaches and people that have gone through the training to see if it’s what you want and think about what it is that you have to offer. 

What are your best tips for those currently in training with TCA?

If you are currently training with TCA, network as much as you can and put yourself out there. The more people you know and the more people see you at events, the better chances you have of being remembered. Talk about your passions and what it is you have to offer and people will be drawn to you and will help you figure out your vision. Join coaching communities as they are a great way to get feedback and ask questions about any obstacles you may have encountered as well as getting insight and advice from professionals in the field. Enjoy the journey as much as you can, you will learn a lot about yourself and meet some fantastic people along the way.

And lastly, remember, you want to help other people and make this world a better place, so be proud of yourself!