Coaching – is it for me?

Have you ever thought about getting a coach? Maybe a friend or colleague has one or perhaps you’ve read about coaching and wondered if it’s for you.

For us at Women to Work, we love coaching – of course we do! We’ve happily been on the receiving end of it, we train others to deliver it and of course we do it…a lot!

Based on experience here are our top reasons why you might want to consider working with a coach, we hope you find it helpful…

1. You have a specific goal you want to work on…


This can be as big or as small as you like – maybe you have a plan to run a marathon, maybe you’re looking for a promotion at work, perhaps you’re setting up a business or trying to grow one or you have a particular project you want to get off the ground ….

Coaching can help you to clarify your goal, help you to visualise it and really ‘feel’ what it will be like to get there. It can help you to break your goal into smaller chunks so you don’t feel so overwhelmed and it can encourage you to celebrate every success along the way.

2. You are your own worst enemy…

By this we mean you constantly doubt your own abilities, you talk yourself out of doing what you want and your inner voice is so loud, at times it’s deafening!

Coaching can help you to analyse your beliefs and particularly those that are holding you back. It can help you to tune into your inner self-talk and develop strategies for dealing with it. It can give you tools to practice so you can develop and build your resilience and ability to challenge any negative messages you keep telling yourself.

 

3. You are lacking in confidence…


You might know what you want or be less clear but what you do know is that stepping out of your comfort zone feels pretty scary and you wish you didn’t feel so worried when you have to do something new.

Coaching can give you a great boost and provide supportive challenge to gradually push your comfort zone. It can provide a positively supportive environment that will give you the opportunity to build your strengths profile based on who you are and what you have achieved. Building your confidence and personal awareness as you take your new (& possibly slightly scary!) steps forward.

 

4. You want to make a change but are not quite sure what that change is or how you might get there…

Sometimes we know we want things to be different but we’re not always sure what that looks like or what we need to do to get there.

Coaching can support you to look at your values, work out what is important to you about your working life and your life in general. You will have the opportunity to consider the ideal work life balance for you and your family, consider all the options available to you and explore what is the best fit for you and your aspirations. Coaching can then enable you to create a time-scaled action plan to make it happen.

 

5. You feel overwhelmed with how much you have in your life right now and want it to change…


Perhaps you’re packing in work, children, family, caring responsibilities, looking after your home, going to the gym, trying to keep a hobby going and you have no time to yourself to think, let alone plan what you might want your life to look like.

Coaching can give you that space and time to reflect, to think, to dream and plan. Most importantly it can help you to develop an action plan whilst also helping you to consider and develop coping strategies for those moments when it all feels a bit chaotic.

 

6. You have a decision to make…

This could be now or in the future, it could be a yes or no decision or it may be a more complex choice of routes to take. It could be about preparing for the challenges that you might face at certain stages in your life ahead and you want to be prepared and ready.

Coaching can help you to consider the decision or decisions that face you, what the alternative outcomes might be, how your choices will affect you and others. It can give you tools to use now and in the future for whatever decisions you might face so you can feel confident that you’ve got it all covered.

This list is of course not exhaustive and there are many reasons why you might consider working with a coach. If you’re not sure, just get in touch at info@womentowork.co.uk and we can set up a free 15 minute call to see if coaching is for you.
Emma & Jenny
Emma Shute & Jenny Pollock are the founders & coaches with Women to Work. Emma & Jenny both offer one to one coaching sessions either face to face in Sheffield or by telephone or Skype.