So yesterday was kind of a big deal for me… I got the train down to London early in the morning as I was delivering my very first coaching session.
Now let me explain – I AM NOT A BUSINESS COACH! I do coaching with my own staff as part of their development and staff training, but I am not and definitely don’t profess to be a professional coach.
What I do do (and I think I do it well) is deliver motivational speaking sessions to groups and within these sessions I usually touch on subjects I’m passionate about and where I have real first hand experiences that I can share.
Last year, I was asked (as a favour) to deliver one of these motivational / educational sessions virtually to a group of leaders within the BBC and in speaking to Kalpna Patel-Knight (the head of the team) I concluded that the best ‘subject’ I could impart some knowledge on was that of Radical Candor (a framework developed by Kim Scott that my amazing leadership coach Kirstie Garrett taught me almost 10 years ago in one of our early sessions). Anyway, a year on that team are apparently still raving about the session and what they learnt so a few months back Kalpna asked if I would come back to their big away day yesterday and deliver a follow up session building on what they’d learnt, taking it to the next level.
*This was the point at which panic set in*
I don’t do this sort of thing – I’m not a professional coach, all I was doing was regurgitating stories and things I’d learnt – now she was asking me to actually deliver a hands on session!
Not to be perturbed – I rang Kirstie and said I really wanted to do this but I needed her help – and I’d dug the slides out that she had used all those years ago (which she told me to scrap and she’d send me up-to-date ones) then SHE did a coaching session with me both to help me plan the session and also to coach me in how to go about delivering an interactive development session like that.
And you know what – I loved it! Definitely a completely new skill I had to work on and develop today! Was I perfect? No absolutely not, but the group all seemed to take loads away from the session I did and I came away feeling like I’d genuinely had a positive impact on the team and that feeling was just magical.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not planning on having a career change, and this was most definitely just a one off, but you know what – it just shows you can really achieve what you want to when you put your mind to it – and if you approach everything with a growth mindset and work hard at it then there’s nothing you can’t achieve!
And kudos to Kirstie – she really is my rock in all walks of life – my leadership coach, my mentor, a close friend, and hands down the person who has played the most pivotal role in my career development to date and for that I’ll be forever truly grateful!