Coaching and mentoring

Leadership and business coaching can take many different forms. Following my banking career I went back to “school’ with a company called Full Circle Development based in Edinburgh. What I was looking for and did achieve, was to give me a structured process to help others. I trained using the ‘Transform’ model from the International Coaching federation. This is a very practical form of coaching that starts with the identification of areas to concentrate on, the setting of goals and the creation of milestones. If there is a secret however, it would be in forming a trusting relationship where issues can be discussed in confidence. The coach role in my view, is to push the boundaries a little and help look beyond what might be obvious. Also I have always used goal setting personally and now as a coach I am at your side supporting, encouraging and challenging you towards the attainment of your goals.

I have led very large teams in my career and I will  certainly have some shared experiences that will help however I would also draw a distinction between coaching and mentoring. Through coaching I am looking to help you draw out and decide on the right actions for you and through mentoring I use my experiences to talk more directly about situations and how that knowledge and understanding could help you.

The coaching ‘wheels’ are a great starting point in the coaching process and can be found below. Choose the one most appropriate to your needs. For example the ‘wheel of life’ is a good all rounder for work and home whilst the ‘wheel of work’ will allow you to focus more on your work environment. If you are leading teams then the ‘leadership wheel’ may help you. As a starting point  assess in each segment of the wheel how fulfilled you feel in that area and show that by shading in the segment. I do recommend using a wheel even if you know what specific topics you want to discuss in coaching. It helps to understand broader issues.