How do you deal with change? Sometimes life can throw unexpected challenges at you that help you look at things from a different perspective. Sharon Lawton found a new perspective when she left her corporate career and unexpectedly found coaching. For those wishing to help families, parents and all those who have an impact on young people's lives - you can't miss this story. Read on!
It was a life-changing event 23 years ago, which caused me to change focus.
Do you like change? Some people prefer the comfort of the known evil while others constantly look for change and can’t seem to stay put.
23 years ago I chose to leave the corporate world behind. I didn’t see myself working in that fast-paced environment anymore. This is not something new, the past one and a half years especially opened our eyes to what’s truly important.
My husband and I had recently welcomed a new baby into our lives and this sparked my interest in child development and family dynamics. As I had decided a change needs to happen, I was looking for new career opportunities, and like many of our graduates have, I came across The Coaching Academy’s then Introduction to Life Coaching training.
A career change and a new mother’s perspective had lead me to coaching at a time in my life when I didn’t know this opportunity existed. It allowed me to put my family first but still working on something I loved – helping and empowering other families, just like mine.
It wasn’t a change that I looked for, but it came anyway. You might have experienced similar changes in your life. The whole world went through a big change with the pandemic and it’s not slowing down. I got a chance to look at life in an unexpected way and with it, I found my path within Coaching Parents and families. Coaching is a powerful tool that raises awareness in ourselves and others. A tool that helps us be aware of our habits and mindset that could be either helping or hindering us to flourish and become who we are born to be. Working with families and coaching within the wider education system has given me the flexibility to bring my skills to an industry that can benefit so much from the tools of empowerment that coaching offers.
A recent report from Ofsted looking at the effect of the pandemic on education showed that many children are thought to be at least 6 months behind where they should be. A new survey conducted by Education Technology suggests that ”the events of the last year have had a profound impact on the teaching profession, with the vast majority – 85% – claiming that having to give lessons remotely has left them feeling anxious or overwhelmed.” This tells me that there has never been a better time to raise awareness of the power of coaching in this sector.
There is no doubt that coaching transforms lives, and it also shapes outstanding leaders. Those leaders or role models come in many forms; • School leaders • Teachers and educators at all levels • Parents/carers • Youth workers
Think back now to when you were a child or young person. • Who was an inspirational leader or role model for you? • What was it about them that made an impact? • Why was that life-changing for you?
The pandemic has been a life-changing event for so many of us. However, the impact on our young people could potentially last a lifetime.
So imagine having the skills to be able to coach school leaders with new and dynamic tools to shape and engage their school community and raise awareness of wellbeing. What if you had the tools to support teaching staff to achieve that all-important work-life balance so that they can reduce their stress, step into the teacher they were born to be and become that all-important role model in a student’s life – be that one person who believed in them and was the difference that made the difference! What about parent coaching?
Coaching parents also impacts young people. It provides parents with that non-judgemental space to reflect on their parenting style, their family values and the way they interact as a family. Coaching empowers parents to see if those values are in alignment with what they are modelling to their children. Transformational in itself! I passionately believe that regardless of whom you coach within the education sector; parent, school leader, university lecturer, early years or youth worker, parents or the young people themselves this will impact tomorrow's adults to positively shape their outcomes. For me, that’s an exciting thing to be part of.
So what about those questions earlier about the role models in your life – what if you could be that someone? What if you were that person who inspired someone to flourish and become their best self? What if you coached someone to be that inspirational leader who could change lives for the better? That someone who changed was transformational in someone else's lives?
Join me now on this journey and train to be a coach within education – contact us now and become the difference that makes the difference.
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.
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