Dear Friends, Colleagues & Valued Clients,

I hope that 2015 has got off to a tremendous start for you; it certainly has for me (more about that later), so you will have to excuse the high vibe that is fizzing off this newsletter! And if by chance you are not quite in the same high-energy place I am, then please do share some of mine - it is nearly Valentine's Day after all. And to make you smile there is a love clip at the end - with a coaching slant of course, about checking your assumptions.

I started February with a surprise – Linked In notified me that people were congratulating me on my Anniversary, but I couldn’t think what it was referring to. Apparently it is my ‘years as a Coach’ birthday.

It is 5 years ago, that I set up Coaching for Success. 5 years ago that I started working and contributing in a role that played to my strengths, a role that I was “perfectly placed” (thanks for those words Emma Coker) to play. I use the word play, not because I take my work lightly, quite the contrary – I care deeply about my clients and my professionalism – it’s just that I love what I do and it comes so naturally that it doesn’t feel like work.

My only worry is that 5 years have flown by and indeed January has disappeared in an instant and I’ve had to move over to an iPhone 6 Plus so that I can see it, so I must be getting older :(

Coaching Presence and Magic Moments

One of the things that fires me up about being a coach is the connection I get with my clients during a session (aka #magic moments - thanks RR for coining that term). It is then that time seems to stand still and the world outside ceases to exist. It is called Coaching ‘presence’ – “that which is important to the client’s learning and is exuded through the consultant’s way of being” or, in plain English, when the coach is being fully attentive and really, really listening.

What I find so incongruent is that the enemy of presence is ‘anxiety’ and golly, I so often feel anxious and also when you are being truly present, you simply cannot think of anything else and as I prize myself on being the master of multi-tasking, it is a wonder that I can coach! Probably it’s that when I'm with my clients I do have the three things that have been said all go together to make up presence: “commitment of soul, charisma and bearing”.

I do not find it so easy to be present in my own world. The current buzz word for this is being mindful. I'd like to share with you an experience I had last winter when I was spectacularly not 'in the moment' and thinking a multitude of things – not such a good idea as I was driving to the train station in heavy rain and against the clock. I came to park my car, under pressure and distracted, and reversed into a stationary car. Crash! Crunch! Catapulted back to being present! And the outcome? Apart from berating myself? The time and inconvenience to repair the damage and a hefty excess bill. All so unnecessary.

What next? Well a common theme I coach my clients around is their attitude when things go wrong. I do believe that there is no such thing as failure only learning, so once I’d calmed down I gave myself a bit of a talking to:

• You can’t change the past, so learn from what’s done and move on
• You CAN change the future by doing things differently next time
• Just do one thing at a time and do it properly
• Be fully present, wherever you are, whomever you’re with.

Me and being mindful, well it’s still work in progress and easy to forget – only last week I stepped on to the platform at Victoria station, 7.30am, feeling smart, sprightly and, I'm ashamed to say, a bit smug on my way to run a workshop, not concentrating on the world around me and Splat! Painfully back to reality as I went A over T and sprained my foot! Yet another avoidable reminder to just focus on the task in hand.

Now for my News.

My Coaching world is flourishing! All those foundations I’ve laid, wide and deep, and the connections I’ve made, are coming to fruition. So here is an update:

Private Client work going strong and referrals coming in. You can see what others have to say about coaching here.

Voice at the Table. Delighted to be an Associate for this gender diversity consultancy. Organisations that leverage the potential of their female employees perform better, so harnessing diversity is a business critical strategy. Our approach centers on how to help women overcome ‘The Confidence Gap’ and further their careers authentically and without fear. Read about our coaching, mentoring and workshops here.

Growth Accelerator. Am now a registered and approved coach for this government funded scheme to help ambitious businesses achieve rapid and sustainable growth. Find out about the scheme here.

Ashurst - Selected for the Coaching Panel for this leading international Law firm.

ProfilerLive. The next business success differentiator is how well does an organisation know it’s people? Predictive analytics solutions can help improve retention, strengthen leadership pipelines and improve career paths for employees. ProfilerLive have the enabling technology to correlate skills data to business data (performance and profits) and I’m thrilled to be part of their team. Learn more here.

It's going to be a busy and exciting year!

As always though, I’m here for you

Cara x

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