My Coaching Philosophy
April 2020
There are four key values that motivated me to become a coach. These were a desire to experience equality, justice and fairness, with a true sense of community in the world. I believe in the value of coaching, and feel it should be available to everyone.
My aim is to bring immense positive impact to my clients, as well as everyone I encounter. I want my clients to have a deeper understanding of their true authentic self, beneath all the conditioned limiting beliefs they may harbour. I want to support my clients with their understanding of contentment, holding the elements of happiness and sadness within this. I want coaching to inspire confidence in individuals, so that they have the power to own their voice. I want to be known as a coach that is certain, confident and clear.
I believe that by understanding consciousness, a client will become aware of the tremendous choice they possess. I use grounding and centring exercises frequently, to demonstrate and to allow the client to experience a shift in their state of wellbeing. This firstly brings the client to the present, and it also raises the clients awareness of how capable they truly are as they begin to shift their mindset and energy without effort.
I want coaching to be enjoyable, and so I incorporate creativity and humour into my conversations. I like to keep the energy light-hearted, and often joke, and bring an ease to the interaction. I enjoy resourcing my clients with activities such as mindfulness exercises, reflective writing, breathwork, poetry, music and movement. I personally find bringing pen to paper works really well during coaching, as does movement.
I want to truly embody this notion of choice and responsibility. I am very frank when offering feedback, and not afraid to challenge assumptions. I want to wake my clients up to an awareness of their current state of reality, is this really how they want things to be, and if not, I want to enable them to find inspiration to action change.
As someone who was new too coaching, I have now become confident in my ability to empower others. I bring my authentic self to the realm of coaching. I am strong, concise, challenging, and action orientated, but alongside that, compassionate and understanding. I value and believe in the idea of social responsibility, fairness, justice and equality. I have become a deliberate and intentional coach. And the journey has only just began.
MY PERSONAL COACHING PHILOSOPHY — February 2021
Ten months on, in the midst of a global pandemic, and in my third London lockdown, here we are. So what’s changed in my philosophy. Reading back I realise how strong a personality I truly was and still am. Funnily enough, at that point, I didn’t see it. But now I most certainly know it’s true.
I did not re-educate myself into the coaching profession to find my purpose or because I was disheartened with my previous career. I still throughly enjoy optometry and get a lot of joy from my role. This year I am truly appreciating the interaction and connection I have with my patients.
With coaching I have the opportunity to positively impact on a larger scale. Having been in this profession officially the past two years, I was surprised with the lack of diversity in the executive coaching realm. I had thought it would be much like the healthcare sector, which in the UK is largely government funded and so attracts a wide demographic. What I noticed in the higher tier executive coaching realm was a complete imbalance, it seemed to be reserved for a select few. This realisation disappointed me, and I guess it ties in with the 2020 theme, unearthing the levels of racism and prejudice present in society.
So who am I as a coach, well all of those things I had affirmed in April 2020. But now my aim is expansive and I have gone deeper. I am not only focusing on 1:1 clients. I have been holding peer circles all of 2020, and I love this opportunity for all that it offers. I revel in holding space and facilitating thought provoking conversations in psychologically safe spaces of course.
Beyond that, what I have in the works is a desire to support the democratisation of the coaching field. I feel coaching is powerful, and it seems such a waste that our education system alongside teaching, doesn’t also have a coaching and mentoring ethos. I believe that we should support the youth in their education, and in this current time it is essential, as mental wellbeing has been throughly tested.
Coaching is also a powerful tool when addressing global social issues. Steering towards climate conversations is crucial at this stage in the game. Let us not forget dismantling racism, the possibilities when using coaching skills in the work of diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging is immense. So, in this essence focusing solely on 1:1 clients would not be putting good use to my skills and expertise. I was made to do more than take a back seat. And for those who keep trying to put me in the back corner, be prepared to be challenged. My voice is not here to be silenced.
To finish with the last two sentences from my philosophy from April 2020 — I value and believe in the idea of social responsibility, fairness, justice and equality. I have become a deliberate and intentional coach.
And the journey has only just began.
Jasmine