There have been magical moments in my life when the penny dropped, the insight landed, the way forward became clear. I knew what needed to change!
I’ll never forget those moments, often sparked by an unexpected conversation with someone who unlocked the way forward.
Each one fundamentally changed the course of my life. They led to years out, travel, career paths, resignations, redirections and reinventions.
Which makes it sound like the changes were easy. If only!
Some of my favourite coaching sessions recently have been to identify peoples strengths - the particular contributions they naturally make, the qualities and skills they bring with them wherever they go.
It’s a fun process, using feedback they’ve received and responses to how they’ve shown up and what they’ve done. It’s a brilliant way of gathering the threads from real life experience.
What’s fascinating is that most of these people have only had the information to work with because they’re about to leave - either temporarily or permanently.
In 2011, when I was in the messy liminal space between roles, I wrote my criteria for what I wanted from the next stage of my working life.
I went back through my CV and thought about when I’d been happiest and at my best.
I thought about what I’d learned from realising I wanted and needed to change paths.
I gathered the threads from the journey I’d been on with my first ever coach - the wondrous Nicola Jones.
These 5 questions acted as my career compass - a set of filters that helped me land happily in the world of consultancy for the next 7 years.
Over a decade later it’s one of my favourite coaching tools.
