About  Coaching

The International Coach Federation defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential”.

Coaching is a process, a series of thoughtful conversations, which give you the opportunity to examine what you do and how you do it. It helps you think things through, make discoveries, explore options, and then plan for growth.

In short, coaching is about change, and being bespoke to you and your needs, is one of the most effective forms of professional development available. Because “you can’t see your reflection in running water”, it’s an opportunity to pause and care for yourself.

Ruth is not a life coach, but does believe what happens in the rest of our lives affects our work performance, and equally what happens at work affects our personal lives. Even when coaching hones in on the specific issue you put on the table, you’re approached as a whole person, realising your situation is much broader.

The coach’s role is to listen to you, ask questions and reflect back to you what is heard. The coach is not necessarily an expert in your area of work, but provides a sounding board for you to talk things through very thoroughly and discover if, how, what, when and why you can make changes.

As you talk and the coach listens and asks you questions, you get to make your own learning discoveries, and then you try them out. Tools and models may be used during sessions, or you may be asked to complete a questionnaire, so both you and the coach can understand how you tend to operate. Whatever you tell the coach is confidential unless it points to a safety risk for you or someone else.

Most clients start coaching with a learning block of four sessions. This gives the partnership the opportunity to gain momentum and the client time to embed their new learning and practice