As a #leadershipcoach, I work with all sorts of women – those who work in the NHS, local authorities, civil service, charities, and occasionally those in the private sector. I've worked with women who were in the first five years of their professional lives and those who have been working for 30 plus years, and of course many who are in the middle of their careers. Some women are registered professionals, others are starting to work out what they want from their jobs.
Some women are white, a lot are from the #globalmajority. Some are #neurodivergent, some are #queer, some have #mentalhealth challenges, some are #mums, some are #grandmothers too. Some have #postgraduate qualifications and some finished school with #GCSEs. Many have their first language as English, and there are some who don’t. I haven’t yet worked with women who have pronounced #physicaldisability or those who identify as #nonbinary or #trans. But please know that you are very welcome at Full Frame Coach too.
There was a period in my career where I received mediocre support and virtually no encouragement to understand my leadership potential, including sponsored development opportunities. This went on for the best part of ten years. However I didn’t sit still – I self-funded a Masters degree whilst living in a big share house in London (to this day I'm not sure how I did it financially!). And because I have always been interested in trying to understand myself and others, I sought out my own learning opportunities.
I can remember a time when I had a new, interim boss, and so I had tried to think of a way for them to get the best out of me as quickly as possible. I pulled together what I knew so far – my MBTI preferences, my preferred Belbin team roles and my top five strengths. Unfortunately (and not surprisingly with the benefit of hindsight), that boss had no idea how to work with me as an individual – their style was pretty much throw everyone into the deep end and see who sinks and who swims. The ones who swam got attention and opportunities. I wanted to swim so much, but the most I managed at that time was a strong doggy paddle.
In my years of coaching and mentoring, I've noticed that there are some very common themes that come up for women:
Not knowing and appreciating our #strengths
Knowing that we are ‘value driven’ but not being able to articulate those #values clearly
Not knowing how to manage #boundaries and tricky #relationships at work
Thinking that leadership means leading from the front, in a big extraverted kind of way and competing with others
Thinking that leadership means being the expert and that there is no room for doubts
Getting lost in being a mum and having a career – that there is no room or energy for anything else
Not knowing what the most crucial thing is in our lives, to keep our personal energy levels up
Not knowing how to describe *who* I am, really.
So I’ve put together a programme that looks at these points and allows for a wonderful group of diverse women to come together to explore them – through dialogue, creativity and mutual support and encouragement. I don’t want women to feel isolated, and to have to struggle to work out who they are as a leader on their own like I did.
If you (or a woman you care about) don’t want to figure this stuff out on your own either, please get in touch. I’d love to hear from you. Enrolments for You, In Focus close in August and there is a 20% early bird discount for anyone who subscribes to Full Frame Coach. Discount expires on 31st July 2022.
