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Tapping into your intuition |
I’m guilty of it as well. I was in a session this morning, this time being coached by a colleague, and I heard the words come out of my mouth: “I don’t know…” And I instantly knew what my coach’s next words were going to be: “And if you did know, what would it mean?” This time, however, the response popped into my head and I immediately responded to her question.
Did I already have my own answers? Of course! Though I wasn’t aware of it at first. Was the outcome of the session a surprise to me? Not at all! But it took the coaching session to help clarify the situation for me, through the use of my coach’s targeted questions, and my trust in my own intuition. Read more
Filed Under Transformational Coaching
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Finding Track 9 3/4…Or how to find the solution you didn’t know was there |
In 2009 I was still living in Germany working for a freight company as an Account Manager. But only a few years earlier an idea had started shaping in my head that I wanted to do something else. And so my lady partner and I made the decision mid 2009 to move to the UK so that I could start my own business as a Trainer in Logistics. Our move was over night of the 11th January 2010. And it was only the call coming from Germany on 13th that disturbed our unpacking.
My mobile rang upstairs and I went to get the call. It was the hospital in Germany that had done a few checks a few days earlier. The doctor said, “Mr. Talbot, I am very sorry to have to tell you this. Our results show that you have cancer of the oesophagus. I would suggest you come back as soon as possible. I will arrange everything needed and let you know that dates.” I went back downstairs, told my family what I had been told, smiled and said…”Oh well, let’s get everything unpacked and ready till then!”
Wait a minute! This wasn’t the plan!! I had plans to build a new future. It seemed unreal but I wanted to stay sensible and so I thought, OK I will get this behind me and then get back to my plans. It’s only a delay! We spent 4 months in Germany. Things happen like that, you just have to adapt.
I went through treatment and recovered quite quickly in May 2010. I was so determined to get well and get back to the UK to start my business that on April 22nd they discharged me and 27th I was on an exhibition promoting my business in Birmingham. I had used the time in hospital to prepare a flyer and have it printed. Two weeks earlier I was hardly walking upright. That is how determined I was. Thinking back it seems even crazy to me.
It took me a while to build up relationships in the UK freight market but in 2011 everything seemed to be on track. One company had a talent pool of 13 young managers and I was supposed to help with their development and deliver skills over a period of a year. Another company had received some coaching for one of their supervisors and was ready for a trial to train their customer service teams, 250 people in the UK in total. That is when I more or less lost my voice and was diagnosed for secondary cancer. I had to cancel the orders. You can surely imagine my frustration. At last I had started selling my product successfully and now I couldn’t deliver. I love standing in front of groups and wanted so much to train/group coach. But I just couldn’t.
Have you ever read the first Harry Potter book when he gets to Kings Cross and is supposed get on the train at platform 9 ¾? There he is with his trolley but he just can’t find the platform “believing” it is not possible that there is a track between 9 and 10. He was brought up to believe that here is no walking through brick walls and suddenly is supposed to accept the fact that there is a track behind one that he can easily reach by just walk through it?!
I still can’t speak loud enough to group coach. It frustrated me quite a while because helping people develop is something I really love doing. My dreams and plans of doing what I am passionate about were about to become my brick wall.
I had started coaching 4 people of a company in Oxford. The original plan was to coach the individuals and then set up group coachings inbetween to deliver skills. Out of pure necessity I persuaded the company to try a new concept. I coached these individuals and then, by evaluating their needed skills in coaching, I started delivering 1-2-1 training and blending it with the coaching. The results have been fantastic and the company is happy. I had found my platform 9 ¾!
Life delivers challenges that we do not expect, but as always it is up to us to interpret the situation. No matter how difficult the situation may seem, there is always a solution we haven’t thought of. So keep an eye open for platform 9 ¾!
Filed Under Transformational Coaching
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Don’t be afraid of the goal |
Guest author: Sonia Gill
I stayed at the St Pancras Grand Hotel this weekend as a birthday treat. It is an amazing building and if you’re ever in the area stop in for a drink and take in the breath taking beauty of Sir Giles Scott’s gothic masterpiece that was so nearly demolished in the 1960’s. During my stay I was a little perturbed when I found out that the Spice Girls video ‘Wannabe’ was filmed there. Yes, you know the one ‘Tell me what you want, what you really, really want’. Wouldn’t coaching be easier if our clients did this? But, like Geri and the Spices, they more often than not don’t tell us in clear and certain terms (I still don’t know what a ‘zig-a-zig-ah’ is!)
The more I coach the more I see how important having a really clear goal makes a lot of difference to the change we create. Read more
Filed Under Transformational Coaching
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