LIVING MY VALUES
Being conscious of your values is a core part of the work I do as a coach with my clients.
This includes being aware of your own personal values, and also articulating the values of your organisation. Living and acting in alignment with your values sits right at the heart of conscious leadership.
Within My Vision I set out the values which are true both for my work and across all areas of my life. I wanted to share with you how I live and work in accordance with my values and core beliefs.
INTEGRITY
Doing the right thing and being true to yourself. I act with the utmost integrity in all aspects of my work. Not doing so means not being me.
There are two parts to this: holding myself to high ethical standards personally and professionally; and conducting myself in a way that is true to myself: which may be referred to as authenticity.
As a coach, I am accredited as a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation, the leading global organisation for coaches and coaching, and take upholding their Code of Ethics very seriously. I put professional integrity at the heart of how I conduct relationships with all the clients I serve and always strive to do my very best to help them accomplish the outcomes they are working with to to achieve.
I conduct myself as a coach as through I am a role model for other coaches within the profession. This is one of the reasons I was awarded the prestigious Thomas J. Leonard Humanitarian Award in 2022, named after the founder of the International Coaching Federation.
Conscious leadership is my way of life as well as being at the core of my work as a coach, trainer and speaker. Any practices I encourage others to engage in to develop their conscious awareness, I also do myself. In that sense, I also work to be a role model for my clients.
There is no separation between who I am as a coach and who I am in other parts of my life. I strive for authenticity in my actions and in communication with others, whether verbally, online or through social media. The views I express are my own and true to me.
Integrity also informs the clients I choose to work with and the companies I buy from.
FAIRNESS
I believe everyone, regardless of who, human or animal, has a right to a good life and should be treated with dignity, respect and compassion. My vision is a fairer society and greater social justice.
The core of fairness is empathy and compassion, fundamental elements of emotional intelligence, which I have developed as I have grown as a person.
Because I have a high level of empathy, my instinct is to see things from another’s point of view. Allied to this, two of my top character strengths are perspective and judgement. This means seeking out what is fair and defending the rights of other living beings based on fairness. Especially those who are more vulnerable and experience inequalities.
This informs my choice to be vegan and the lifestyle decisions I make as result. My political affiliation is based on how we can create a more just society for everyone, respecting animals and the planet at the same time. I take a long term view on how we can achieve the fairest outcomes, where prosperity is based on well-being rather than just making money.
INDIVIDUALITY
Everyone is unique and should be valued according to who they are and what they can offer as an individual. This means celebrating and nurturing diversity, and a commitment to equity, inclusion and belonging.
I endeavour to to treat every person I meet as the individual they are, striving to see people at face value. Not only respecting, also valuing their differences. I’m aware on the impact of unconscious bias, something that we all have, and challenge myself if and when I notice this may impact on how I interact with others.
I am passionate about diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) and have spoken at events on this issue to raise awareness of its importance as a society or for organisations. I work with leaders to help them become more aware of how they can make changes in their organisations to value and embrace diversity and treat the people they lead as individuals.
Part of this is also respecting my own individuality and uniqueness and valuing the impact I can have using my talents, skills and strengths. What a good coach friend of mine describes as what makes you ‘fabulous’, which we all are in our own way.
WELLBEING
physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. Serving my clients in a way that supports their overall well-being and advocating working practices and culture that value the well-being of everyone.
I believe that it is vital to understand all the components that comprise well-being and make a conscious effort to implement practices that promote our own well-being and that of others.
Starting at a personal level, I incorporate regular practices into my own wellbeing, encompassing each of the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual elements. These include having an active lifestyle, incorporating mindful and reflective activities, such as journaling and meditation, having a healthy diet and making a commitment to getting enough sleep. I’m aware of things that negatively impact my mental and emotional health and also activities that make me feel good, so I can create balance.
In my work with my coaching clients, I explore with them what a ‘good’ life looks like for them and support them in developing habits and practices to support and improve their own well-being. Wider than this, raising awareness with leaders of the importance of workplace cultures that make the well-being of team members a priority.
I value the work I do as a Mental Health Trainer for Manchester Mind for the opportunity this provides to raise awareness of what mental health means and teaching people how to improve their well-being. I also work as a trainer on other projects related to public health, focused on reducing inequalities and improving a wide range of health outcomes, including in relation to cancer.
Well-being is a passion and I like to stay up to date with the latest research findings and incorporate learnings into both the coaching and training work I do.
FREEDOM
Supporting people to make career choices that enable them to have the freedom to achieve their wider life goals. We all have the power of choice.
It is my belief that everyone has the right to a career they love and find rewarding, and my passion to help people achieve success in a career that is a good fit for them.
I’ve had multiple career changes before finding the perfect for me in coaching and training, and I love helping other people do the same. Both through career development in the form of leadership coaching, and also in my work as a career coach to help people become more aware of a good career fit for them and supporting them in transitioning to something new.
Freedom goes hand in hand with flexibility. Creating workplace cultures that empower team members to work in a way that enables them to both optimise their performance at work and allows them to have balance and well-being.
I’m a strong advocate of raising awareness of freedom of choice. Helping people create more choices for themselves and removing barriers that they often unconsciously also create, and which prevent them from doing the things they want to do.
I’ve created a career and life that enables me to feel a sense of freedom, do the things I’m passionate about and enjoy new and joyful experiences. It provides immense satisfaction that I help others do the same.
GROWTH
anything worthwhile is a challenge to achieve. I encourage my clients to challenge themselves in ways that support their growth and achievement of their vision and purpose.
I have a passion for learning, pushing myself out of my comfort zone and constantly developing myself personally and professionally. This benefits not only myself, but also my clients through constantly learning new things that I can then incorporate into my work in helping them move forwards.
This includes anything from daily reading and listening to podcasts and audiobooks to more formal continuing professional development through training courses and qualifications. I’m a naturally curious person and love learning new things, including from others people, their expertise and life experiences. I’ve co-established a business mastermind group with whom I meet regularly to help us grow our businesses and encourage each other to solve problems, develop and try new things.
Since 2019, I have been co-chair of the International Gay Coaches Alliance, which takes place each May in New York, with also an annual online event. I love the opportunity this provides to help build community, nurture the growth and development of other coaches and also to learn from people within this community.
I’m a firm believer in learning and sharing knowledge for the collective benefit of communities and society. This is how we can achieve the changes so needed in this world.
SOLUTIONS-FOCUS
Problem solving is in my DNA. I thrive on helping people and organisations to identify the root cause of challenges and working alongside them in a practical way to find the right solution.
Logical thinking and problem solving are natural talents that I realise I have consciously and unconsciously nurtured and developed throughout my entire life.
I bring a very practical approach to my work as a coach, which is one reason why clients choose to work with me. I have a natural ability to see the component parts of a problem, zoom out to see the bigger picture and find solutions. Through coaching I know how to ask the right questions to help clients explore a situation and find the answers to move them forwards to the place they want to be.
This is an ability I recognised I had and one of the reasons I chose to become a coach: I love helping people solve problems! This expands beyond my work to other people in my life. I’m someone people gravitate towards when they need someone with a calm head, can look at things logically and help them find the answers.
Balanced with this is empathy and knowing that sometimes what is needed first is simply to create a space for listening and showing compassion before tackling the problem itself. My intention is always to do and find what is right for each individual, or group of stakeholders, dependent on the situation.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
Our planet is precious. I work with clients to become more conscious of their impact on the environment, and make changes to positively impact the world that we all share. It starts with us.
I pay close attention to climate issues and try to make choices that continually reduce negative impact on the planet – and move towards a net positive impact.
This is anything from being vegan, making more ethical and sustainable choices in terms of purchases of goods and also services to other lifestyle choices and business decisions. By becoming more conscious, we can all make better choices that are kinder to the environment. It’s an ongoing process, changing one thing at a time as we become more aware and can change our behaviours and actions.
Part of this is being a member of the Green Party as I believe this is the party most able to affect the environmental and social change needed to reduce climate change, either through governing or through shaping public opinion and influencing policy change.
Through my work, I help people understand their own impact and encourage them to see the bigger picture and the impact they can have personally and as leaders within organisations to safeguard our precious planet.
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