This week's Coach in the Spotlight is Laura Barker! After a successful career, Laura decided to train to become a life coach herself after experiencing coaching in the workplace with one of our very own Coaching Academy graduates and trainers Lisa Read. Laura has set up her own coaching business where she specialises in helping parents develop their talent post-parenthood with balance, wellbeing and fulfilment, as well as helping companies and employers retain top talent!
I experienced coaching as part of a manager development programme through my previous workplace. My coach was Lisa Read who is one of the brilliant Coaching Academy trainers and I felt like I would love to be on the other side, doing what she was doing! I very quickly signed up for one of the Introduction to Life Coaching webinars and realised that I had actually been having coaching conversations for a long time as part of my management positions, but never realised that was the name for it. I couldn’t wait to learn more!
Coaching has benefitted me hugely in terms of my own journey of self-discovery. The deeper thinking that being coached encouraged within me has led to lots of revelations about the barriers that I put in my own way and the patterns that have regularly repeated in my life. Armed with so much new self-knowledge I feel I can be kinder to myself and move forward with my goals more effectively.
The learning for my coaching qualification felt more like a hobby than work! I always really looked forward to the live online training sessions and each time came away keen to share what I had learnt and put it into practice as soon as possible. I chose the evening option for these so that I could keep weekends protected as family time and this worked really well for me. I threw myself into qualification and completed Life Coaching Diploma in just over 9 months and my Corporate & Executive Coaching Programme 2 months later. I could fit my studies and practice clients into the hours my children were at school and treated these as my working hours that I committed to every week.
Getting started coaching clients was amazingly rewarding for me. I had a block in my mind that until I was qualified I wouldn’t be able to facilitate really impactful sessions and should stick to coaching my peers. However, as soon as I stepped out of my comfort zone I was as able to see the light bulb moments and deep realisations that my clients were having and there really is no better feeling! I was lucky enough to secure an Associate Coach position while I was still qualifying and the experience hugely boosted my confidence.
I am now working as an Associate Coach for two fantastic organisations, MTPT Project and Genius Within. I am so passionate about how both encourage more diversity in the workplace and support everyone to reach their full potential professionally.
I have also started my own coaching business, The Navigation Point, where I look to support working parents and their employers in order to retain and develop their amazing talent post-parenthood with balance, wellbeing and fulfilment. I really believe in the impact that coaching support can make for the transitional period through pregnancy, maternity leave and return to work. I know it could have made a big difference to me staying in my career post having my first child, rather than feeling I was letting people down by working part-time and suffering such a crisis of confidence that I felt I had to leave the role I had loved so much prior to my maternity leave.
I love that coaching is now allowing me to create something of a portfolio career with real variety to my days.
For me, coaching around values and beliefs holds so much interest. I have found it so powerful to help clients to uncover their values and see the clarity that this can reveal. Values can become like an internal compass that help you to make authentic decisions that feel right for you and bring the most fulfilment and purpose.
I would thoroughly recommend it, it has truly been one of the best life decisions that I have made. Although it feels scary to start coaching I would encourage you to start offering sessions as soon as possible to help build your confidence and put the theory into practice.
I have loved discovering so many inspiring books throughout my learning journey but some of my particular favourites have been ‘Time to Think’ by Nancy Klein and ‘Simplifying Coaching’ by Claire Pedrick.
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.
