Coaching for Performance
Sue Corben's Story
Many people are now using coaches to help them set a new direction for their lives. When Sue Corben went down this route she ended up becoming a personal development coach herself.
“I worked in financial services for 23 years before embarking on a career in coaching. It was a good job that I took great pride in and enjoyed doing and it came with a good salary, good working hours, lovely plush offices in the centre of Leeds and only 20 to 25 minutes on the train.”
“But it began to get too much; lots of stress with very little job satisfaction. I wanted out of the rat race.”
The direction she needed came after several years at a crossroads in her life. A friend living in the USA told her how coaching seminars had helped her.
Her friend had learnt about Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) — a discipline in which the internal dialogue you use and how such language can influence your mental and physical state is addressed — which had been useful for her own situation. It took time for Sue to realise what she wanted to do next.
“I knew what I didn't want in life — I could run a list off of jobs that I didn't want to do — but just did not know what I wanted or how to even get focused and motivated again!”
After several conversations with her friend, Sue did some research of her own into coaching and found a coach she thought she could trust to help her.
“I chose this particular coach as she was empathetic to my situation and could see where I was now and where I wanted to go, but I knew she would challenge me and keep me focused and motivated.”
Where counselling often relies on looking back over a person's development from childhood, coaching works toward setting and achieving future goals using a range of techniques like NLP. Sue explains:
“As a client you are able to see things from a different perspective, enhance thinking and decision making, improve interpersonal effectiveness and increase confidence in carrying out your chosen work and life roles.”
Sue started a course of sessions with her life coach in the autumn of 2007.
“It helped unpeel the layers and really dig deep to discover what I really wanted (this was quite hard work and could also be quite emotional) to do with my life.”
“The session also involved using some NLP techniques which are absolutely invaluable and enhanced the session and really brought to life my end goal. I still do have coaching sessions today.”
Her positive experience inspired her to train as a coach, now able to help clients like herself to fix and achieve their goals. She says:
“Coaching is about working in a thought provoking and creative way that gives confidence and motivation to inspire you to maximise your personal and professional potential.”
Sue Corben