We are pleased to be featuring Helen Lynagh as our Coach in the Spotlight in this week’s blog. Since graduating from The Coaching Academy, Helen has built a private client base as a Leadership & Executive Coach, collaborating with professionals and executives from 10+ countries, including the USA, UK, Japan, China, Singapore, and Australia.
Prior to becoming a coach I enjoyed a successful 12 year career in Wealth Management, working for leading banks in both London and Zurich. As a client manager the part of the job I enjoyed most was the relationship building - establishing rapport and building trust with my clients. However, by the time I had 2 small children and I was working full time, I was really struggling to find the right balance and felt I was sacrificing so much for a job I was only partially engaged with. After a bit of soul searching and a lot of encouragement from family and friends I finally embarked on a new career; one which allows me to focus my professional strengths and experience on something I am now passionate about.
Coaching has illuminated so many areas of my own life. I now understand many of the past choices I have made. I have been able to identify the limiting beliefs and negative thought patterns that until now had held me back . But more importantly, I have been able to clearly define the things I want to achieve in life and I have the tools with which to achieve them.
The structure of the course is incredibly flexible, meaning I could work entirely at my own pace. From the ready availability of 1:1 sessions with The Coaching Academy mentors to the constant roll out of the accelerator modules, I was always able to find time to make it work. It wasn’t even an issue factoring in the 6 hour time difference from Chicago, which is where I was based while I was doing the course.
There are so many rewarding parts of my coaching journey so far, but seeing the tangible, positive impact coaching has on people's lives is extraordinary. The tools and techniques we are able to impart to our clients can be genuinely life changing for them! I also feel so grateful to finally be able to say that I do something I am not only good at, but that I also love.
Since qualifying I have established myself as a Leadership & Executive coach and have been building up my private client base, specialising in leadership and executive development. To date I have worked with professionals and executives from over 10 countries including the USA, UK, Japan, China, Singapore and Australia. The organisations I have worked with range from start-up businesses to large multinational companies. I help my clients with a range of topics, including navigating career challenges and ambitions, finding balance between achieving personal and professional goals and supporting them through the complexities of the corporate world.
I absolutely loved the DISC profiling module and find it an incredibly useful tool. Individuals, teams and leaders gain so much from the insights DISC can reveal. I think personality profiling is an area which will develop and expand over the coming years. Businesses and leaders are becoming ever more aware of the benefits of creating diversity within their organisations as diversity is seen as a major contributing factor to performance. Personality profiling will play a key role in being able to establish diversity.
Go for it!! There can be no downside to how you will develop: learning how to set meaningful goals, improve performance, unlock potential, overcome limiting beliefs and create a purposeful, positive mindset in life.
First and foremost, the best resource during my coach training has to be my accountability buddy. We met on our first accelerator training day and kept each other on track throughout the course. Her support, advice and encouragement was invaluable! Secondly, the extra curricular reading list I got through was hugely helpful. There are some phenomenal books around the topic of coaching, many which are cited throughout the course. It introduced me to some really exciting and inspiring thinkers and opened my coaching horizons further.
Thank you Helen for sharing your coaching journey with us!
If you are feeling inspired and would you like to have a coaching business you can run from the comfort of your own home, then do join us on our Introduction to Life Coaching webinar - choose from available dates here. Also look our for our next free Insight Into Corporate and Executive Coaching webinar - choose from available dates here.
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.
