After 9 years (6 in recruitment, 1 in FX, 1 at the UN and 1 year in various short-term contracts) in the corporate world, I “woke” up and realised I was lost in my own corporate jungle. Everyone around me seemed to be swinging through the trees and progressing upwards while I was hacking away at closed doors and glass ceilings. My confidence was shot. I believed I was in a rut and doomed to be a corporate slave forever with no life outside to be proud of. In reality though, I was so busy caught up in my mess that I was blind to the opportunities that cropped up.
If I were to have coached myself at that point using the coaching techniques that we will use, my Deep Dive session would have revealed:
My VALUES :
Honesty - Thorough - Effectiveness - Commitment - Connection - Authenticity - Accountability
Partnership - Choice - Discretion - Professionalism - Balance - Fairness - Family - Reliability
Things that INSPIRE me:
- Personal and professional development.
- Travel and different cultural nuances (hold dual nationality, lived in 7 countries & visited an additional 45).
- Puzzles, innovative design, art (especially street art) and ancient history.
- Outdoor sports and adventure – road trips, ice hiking and aqua parks.
My PASSIONS include:
- Help people find their feet and their voice to become their best-ever natural self.
- Creating adventures and memories. Keeping life real and not letting it become a virtual identity.
- Living an integrated life that is healthy, fulfilling and balanced.
BELIEFS:
- We are all a student and a teacher to others, including ourselves.
- Energy attracts like energy.
- We all have something unique to contribute to this world.
- An obstacle is simply an opportunity in disguise.
What HELD ME BACK:
- Serious lack in confidence – this was a real gremlin for me!
- Was unaware of what my actual skills, strengths and abilities were and didn’t know how to get out of my rut.
- Get caught up working out solutions in my head rather than just taking the plunge.
- Being a perfectionist and getting caught up working out solutions in my head.
- Believed that to be successful I had to sacrifice everything for the corporate good.
- Assumed that my managers and superiors knew best and had my interests at heart.
When I lifted the lid I found my STRENGTHS:
- Finding solutions for others, thinking outside the box, and have a mind that quantum leaps and finds connections between random things.
- Resourcefulness, a real team player, assertive yet not aggressive, non-judgemental.
- Able to quickly grasp new concepts and able to actually understand what people are going through.
- Memory for details, faces and facts and able to pick out the salient points when speaking with people.
- Able to see both the whole forest and the individual tress within at the same time.
- Highly intuitive with very high emotional intelligence and a natural holographic thinker.
Key REALISATIONS hit me like a high-speed train….
- I actually wasn’t that plain vanilla ice cream melting under corporate frustrations with nothing to offer.
- I have a value to bring. I was simply in the wrong industry and work environment.
- I had reached my limit of being driven by those around me.– a real rabbit-in-headlights moment.
- Recruitment had served its purpose and taught me lessons (both good and bad).
- It was time to stop trying to make a name as a “typical” recruiter and to discover my own environment.
- It was time to acknowledge that I could offer more and give better attention to people’s needs outside of the direct recruitment industry.
GOALS:
- Give true depth and insight to those I work with.
- Create a space for people to find answers and solutions to their career concerns.
- Raise a happy and healthy family.
- Integrate a real balance between life and work.
SINCE THEN (2013):
- Learnt to believe in my own skills, abilities and strengths.
- Grew a passion into a business through word of mouth and tripled annual revenue every year until 2016.
- Undertook a highly intensive training course with one of the world’s leading professional coaching institutions (iPEC). It involved 360 hours of direct coaching, 5 hours a week of virtual classes, numerous exercises, book report and an exam. All of which I completed in 9 months.
- Became both a Certified Professional Coach and an ELI Master Practitioner.
- Became a mother to 2 little toddlers/angels/divas (depending on how mischievous they are feeling).
- Consciously stride into life instead of hobbling through it.
Coaching enabled me to realise that life isn’t a competition between our different selves. It is not a question of “OR”. It is a statement of “AND”….I am a mother, wife, daughter, friend, global citizen AND a professional coach. The competition is now about productivity and a day that is won is one where I have progressed forward in all my aspects and balanced my passions as a coach, mother, wife and friend.
It is because of this golden thread that links between my different “hats” that I do not class myself as simply a coach. I am a mentor, consultant, partner in crime, information provider and a career coach. I also make introductions and connections when possible and relevant.
People come to me because they see my value and love the tools, support and space I give, for them to stand up and become their own best self. Dreams are achievable….