Resilience Unravelled – Coaching and personal development. Make the leap and invest in yourself.
SUMMARY:
In this episode, Dr. Russell Thackeray talks to Liz Martell. Liz is an experienced Development and Business Consultant who is passionate about helping people to improve and develop themselves and their businesses.
Liz has a really interesting employment history. She was a partner in a computer and desktop publishing business that was well known for Apple pre-press and print. After Apple went direct and had no need for consultancy, she became involved in ecommerce during the mid 90’s. She was involved in building some of the first shopping sites for companies including Avon, Halfords and Toys R Us. After the dot com bubble burst she did some temping before joining a large corporate organisation on a short-term contract. This was in the training department which was a huge change but Liz found it was really what she really wanted to do.
After 16 years working in the corporate world, Liz set up a new business as a personal development consultant and coach. She wanted to do something that gave her the flexibility she wasn’t finding in corporate life. She also felt the level of impact she was having in a large organisation that was growing rapidly was diminishing and that when coaching is free in an organisation, it is not always acted on. The effect and help she can give to a small business owner is far greater! Liz started her business as the pandemic was just starting to hit but she feels that people are now looking for something more authentic that feels more personal and less corporate.
Coaching is becoming far more known as a form of personal development nowadays. People are also taking more time to invest in themselves. They can choose to engage with a coach at any point in their life or career. They might already be doing something and want to do it better or they might be doing OK but feel there’s a gap. A good coach will hold the space, ask the challenging questions and provide feedback in an authentic way whilst keeping it safe and confidential.
It’s important not to become too dependent on a coach. Chemistry is of course important but you need to remember that a coach operates as a critical friend. They are the person who will tell you things because no one else can. Over time you might need more than one coach as they serve different purposes at different times. There should however always be some discussion about expectation. Sometimes a coach may not be able to help you and they need to be upfront on these occasions.
People at the top of a business are often the least developed. People talk about an investment in their people but there is also the need to invest in themselves. In business planning there is always talk about vision, mission and the objectives that feed into them. It’s exactly the same for personal development.
You can find out more about Liz at www.brightzebra.co.uk
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