Wednesday 11 May 2016

The value of coaching

I first discovered coaching in 2005, in my former role as Pennine Care's Director of Operations. I had heard of coaching but never experienced it. I immediately saw the value in coaching and wished I had found it earlier in my career. 

Such was my interest, I trained as a professional coach and mentor and, with colleagues, formed the Trust's coaching service in 2008 (I think).  I am pleased to say the service is still available today and I would encourage staff to use the opportunity to support their work.

Coaching has helped me with a range of things, including developing as a leader, being more effective in my role, planning my career, managing demands, maintaining a work life balance and dealing with complex challenges.  I also used coaching to help me plan and apply for my current role as Chief Executive. Coaching helped me with many things and I have certainly developed positively as a leader and, I think, as a person.

It does require individuals to be opened minded and also to value making time for their personal development.  I think it's worth justifying the time as it has a direct relationship with the quality of care we provide as a Trust.  The better we are in our roles at work the better run the Trust is and, therefore, the better the quality of care is.

I would encourage all staff to consider using coaching and, if I could offer one reflection, you are never too young or too early in your career to seek coaching. 

Coaching empowers leaders to lead well and we need this to be in place at all levels across the Trust.

Pennine Care staff can find out more about coaching opportunities on the intranet.  

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