My Journey to Becoming a Coach by Jo Murfin
My journey to becoming a leadership coach began 18 years ago when I became a manager of a busy contact centre. I was under pressure to improve performance and I wanted to expand and recruit, however sickness and turnover rates were high and staff were demoralised. I engaged a coach to help me to develop my leadership skills, in particular delegation and motivation.
I was amazed at the range of topics we worked on together, from rehearsing difficult conversations, through time management, to my future career aspirations. My confidence soared and I started to use a coaching style with my team members, which improved morale, wellbeing and productivity and enabled them to develop and grow. Sickness and turnover rates dropped dramatically and I was able to recruit more great people to expand the service. Check out my Leadership Coaching page to see the benefits of leadership coaching.
When I later moved into a senior management role, in which my first task was to plan and implement a new customer contact centre whilst managing service delivery, a re-structure and redundancies all at once, I was more than ready for the challenge. You can see more in my Benefits of Coaching video.
The reason I initially studied to become an Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) Qualified Coach was to enable me to enthuse and support new managers to be their absolute best, as my coach had done for me. By then I was working as a project manager, bringing together people from various backgrounds, often with vastly different strengths and personalities to form temporary teams for co-creating. As my coaching skills improved, so did my ability to lead these diverse teams with confidence.
I began my coaching career 5 years ago as part of an internal coaching network for East Sussex County Council and Brighton & Hove City Council, where I am now an ILM Level 5 Qualified Leadership Coach. I am privileged to work with a wide range of new and experienced leaders and it’s wonderful to support them to explore new ideas and see their strengths. The ‘aha’ moment when they find a great solution is fabulous to be part of. You can see more about me on My Story page.
In early 2020 I decided to offer freelance coaching in the other part of my week, to share my expertise and support people through challenges such as remote working, career change and work life balance. I’m working online, helping people to find out what they really want, what’s blocking them and how they can make the most of their strengths.
I am loving the opportunity to work with people in smaller organisations. An unexpected benefit of connecting with the local community is sharing business ideas and learning with fellow members of the Brighton Chamber. In fact, this is where I met the fabulous people who developed my new brand, website and promotional photographs.
What’s next for me is a series of group coaching sessions on compassionate leadership and managing remote teams and I am excited to work with yet more inspiring individuals on my coaching journey.
You can see more about me on My LinkedIn Profile