Whether resuming a career after taking parental leave, looking for a better work-life balance or wishing to increase your levels of happiness and satisfaction at work or in your personal life, Abi Unwin discusses how coaching can help you achieve your goal in 2021.
We can often become stuck in a rut, failing to explore new challenges and feeling unhappy but unable to move forward. If you continue to do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get the same results; doing things differently can bring about big changes.
When Sarah hired me as her coach, she explained that she felt as if she was “Constantly letting down both her employer and her children.” She had the feeling of being unable to cope with the full-time role she had been doing successfully for 10 years, before taking maternity leave, and experienced a sense of guilt about spending so much time on her laptop when at home.
She could see no way out and said she hadn’t the time to search for a different job. Her confidence was low and she was struggling to think clearly due to fatigue and stress. She had been burying her head in the sand for several months, feeling exhausted and unable to see how things could change. Sarah hadn’t been able to articulate this before and found that during coaching, being actively listened to was really what she needed.
My priority was to help Sarah find clarity and identify goals which were achievable and realistic. We spent the first session focussing on what she wanted, exploring her concerns and fears. By the end, Sarah decided that, although she had become a successful manager of a recruitment company before having children, she now wanted a more flexible role that allowed her to juggle work alongside childcare in a less demanding and pressured way.
I helped Sarah recognise she needed to start by giving herself space and time to update her CV and think about her strengths and experience, so that she could feel confident about what she could do. She decided to take annual leave to focus on this goal. Knowing she’d have a further coaching session helped her stay motivated and, when we met again, she had a CV detailing the many skills and achievements she had forgotten she possessed.
Next we focussed on options – what other jobs were out there, what contacts did she have, what was her passion? By creating the opportunity to focus on herself and think clearly in a safe and confidential place where she could speak openly, Sarah came up with a goal which both excited and challenged her positively.
Sarah was able to use her excellent CV and negotiating skills (they had always been there, but had been marginalised by anxiety and fatigue) to reduce her hours and move into a role with fewer managerial tasks. She was able to spend more time with her family and do an online course to retrain in HR – an area she had always wanted to explore.
“I was back – Abi helped me remember who I was,” recalled Sarah. “I had many strengths which I had overlooked. I was able to reprioritise my time in a calm and manageable way, once I took the time to gain perspective. Coaching allowed me to do this, it was really empowering!”
Coaching can help draw out your talents and skills, explore your current reality, and help you look at all options to overcome barriers which have stopped you before. Whether by phone, video calls or outdoor walks, coaching can energise you to reach the goals you set for yourself to become happier and more fulfilled.
Book a free taster session using the booking form online or by calling 07812 089095.