John, a Senior Global Manager based in London was a seasoned veteran in his industry, well liked among both senior peers and team members, when he experienced coaching for the first time in this career. Having read and heard about the benefits of coaching, he set up a programme for his direct reports.
He chose to lead by example in order to set the tone for the new programme and enrolled to take part alongside his team. Using his annual 360 performance feedback as the springboard and starting point for his one-to-one coaching partnership, over the course of eight sessions he gained fresh awareness and insight that enabled him to make a series of changes even as his retirement beckoned.
John says:
“I’ll be honest – I’m rather long in the tooth, I’d never had a coach before, and my expectations for coaching were low.
“With that said, I’d chosen to enroll several of my high-performing direct reports into a coaching programme, and I thought I should set a positive example – so I signed up for coaching too.
“Over eight sessions, I was challenged, supported and questioned. Tracy gave me lots of time to think and opened my eyes to the value of coaching. She helped me see that it’s never too late to learn, and I found myself able to explore new options with a breadth of thinking and a fresh perspective that I’d never achieved before.
“My only outstanding wish is that I’d found coaching 15 years earlier in my career.”