Life Coaching: From comfort zone to growth zone

What has led you to coaching?  

I wanted to make an immediate difference to people’s lives. As a psychology professor, I help my students learn and find their careers, but I wanted to do something a bit more tangible and for a wider audience. Also, work in the Higher Education sector is becoming increasingly bureaucratic, and I find myself spending more and more time on admin tasks that have less and less to do with the goals I have signed up for. When I began to consider Coaching as an alternative to my current career path, I got in touch with a friend of mine who is a successful coach. He recommended The Coaching Academy to me. What attracted me was that I could pursue this training online, and while working full time, at my own pace.  Setting up a coaching business is my way to return to more impactful and meaningful work. 

How has coaching benefited your own life?  

I have become a better teacher and educator – integrating coaching skills into my university job changed my approach to how I relate to colleagues and students and has made me a more rounded, balanced, and happy employee, and I can see that in how colleagues and students behave towards me.  Being coached myself constantly pushes me outside of my comfort zone and into my growth zone.  Even the coaching I experienced as part of the peer-to-peer training had at times a profound impact on my life. For example, I had the unappealing habit of biting my fingernails, and seemed unable to shake it.  I brought that to a training session one day and left with a plan that really worked and saw my nails grow back. 

How did the qualification slot in with your day-to-day life?  

Very well – I really appreciated the flexibility of being able to choose the times when I could attend the various trainings, and to work at my own pace. I found the experience very manageable and stress free! I found the process overall really straightforward and well described, so I knew exactly what I needed to do at any given time. I liked having additional readings recommended, like the 7 Habits of Highly Effective people by Steven Covey, and Coaching for Performance by John Whitmore. 

What was the most rewarding part of your Coaching journey?  

The training days with Pam Lidford and Sarah Urquart! It has been a real privilege to get to know these two amazing women and to learn from them. I also really appreciated the peer-to-peer support we set up along the way! 

Can you share a coaching tool that you find particularly effective in facilitating self-discovery for clients? 

One of my opening exercises in my coaching programme is to get clients to reflect on “Decision Blindness” – I get them to write down all the instances in their life where they feel they have no choice, as well as decisions they currently face.  The goal of the first exercise is to question whether we really have no choice, whether we are missing opportunities for choice, or whether we are avoiding responsibility.  The goal of the second exercise is to interrogate where we actually have to make decisions, and what can wait. 

What’s the biggest area in coaching you are curious about and why?  

I am really curious about group coaching because I never experienced it myself and would love to know more about it. I am also very interested in NLP and have that on my radar as my next step of CPD.

How are you using your coaching skills?  

As mentioned above, I use them in my day job when teaching my students, esp in small group settings. I am now less instructive and more inquisitive – I have learnt to ask open questions and to engage in deep listening. 

I have also set up my own coaching business where I combine my expertise as a Cognitive Psychologist who specialises in Decision Making with my coaching skills. My business –Make Better Choices – aims to help leaders make better choices so that their lives align with the values. 

Thank you Marc for sharing your inspirational journey with us.