The discovery call

Before any coaching begins, I recommend that we have a free discovery call. There’s no pressure to book any sessions beyond that first call. If you decide not to go ahead, or it’s a ‘just not right now’, then that’s fine! :). Find out what to expect on a discovery call. You can book your free discovery call now.

After the discovery call I’ll send you an email with a few notes from our conversation and your options for next steps.

Before the session

If do you decide to book 1 x 60-minute session, firstly, great! We’ll get the paperwork out of the way before we begin. Once the session is paid for and agreement is in place then I can send the tools which you complete by yourself in your own time ahead of our coaching session (these tools are optional, but recommended).

It can be useful to start our coaching session with us both gaining a better understanding of what’s important to you in life (values) and what you’re great at (strengths). These things are unique to you, and when combined can give you insight to help guide you when making decisions throughout your life. The intention is that you refer back to this work, so you can get a long-term benefit from this session. This knowledge can be applied to most aspects of your work and home life. But if you choose not to complete them, then that’s ok.

I can email a link to a Values identification worksheet that I created (this is a Google Sheet that you directly edit). This typically takes around 20-30 minutes for you to complete.

I also recommend you complete the VIA Character Strengths online assessment (note that you will need to register on the VIA Character website to do this and agree to their terms and privacy policy). The online assessment takes 30 minutes, and you’ll discover your unique findings immediately when you have completed the assessment.

Booking the session

I’ll share with you my online Google Calendar booking form, so that you can book in your session on a day and time that best suits you. Bring your findings from the Values and Strengths exercises to the session.

What happens during the session?

The 60 minute session is yours for you to choose how to use it.

If you have a topic you’d like to work on, then we will discuss it. If not, then I can ask some questions at the start of the session to help you identify what is a good topic for discussion.

I will only be making a few notes during our conversation to support the discussion we are having in the session. If there is any insight or actions that you want to remember, then please do make notes as you need to.

After the session

The work that you completed remains for you to use whenever you need to in the future. There may be actions. Or you may leave with a greater self-awareness and understanding about what makes you tick that you can use throughout your life.

You will likely find that you spend more time thinking about and reflecting upon the work you have done. You may have the realisation that you want to make some adjustments in your life. This is normal and expected. The investment you are making goes beyond the assessments and the 60 minute call.

There is no further obligation for you to do anything else. I will send a short survey for you to complete if you would like to.

If there are some areas that you would like to explore in more detail in further coaching sessions, then I would be happy to discuss what I can do to support you. And if you’re not quite sure what you want to change, then there are further tools and techniques that we can use to help you.

Why start with strengths and values?

Throughout my education and career, I have experienced a greater focus being placed on improving ‘weaknesses’. Discussions are very often related to improving (real or perceived) weaknesses. If you are also neurodivergent, like myself, then the diagnosis process and the labels attached to conditions such as Autism and ADHD often relate to deficit and differences to neurotypical individuals. I want to help you identify and celebrate the positive differences that you have. That we all have. Knowing these can make significant positive impact on our day-to-day lives.

In 2022, whilst working for Mars I was first introduced to the CliftonStrengths® StrengthsFinder® assessment. By this time I had 25 years’ of working in various companies, having had many annual performance review meetings and seen many versions of personal development plans. There was also Myers-Briggs and other assessments along the way. But for me, gaining a better understanding of my strengths and having conversations in my team where we all talked about our different strengths was new. And it has given me a different perspective.

As someone living with autism, aspects of working in a corporate environment are difficult and very often exhausting. Knowing my strengths and discovering how I can use them is empowering. We can dismiss our own strengths as something we just do, the work we do when using strengths is easy and doesn’t take much effort on our part. Work that uses our strengths is often enjoyable, so it doesn’t even feel like work. We can be caught up in that flow state where time passes quickly. At these times we need to recognise the work or task is easy only because these strengths are natural for us. We’re great at these things without really trying as hard.

Values are related, but different. These are beliefs and preferences that are held that determine a sense of what is right or wrong for me, the individual. At different times in our lives we may be seeking to make a change or we may be facing a tricky decision that needs to be taken. This decision could relate to work, hobbies, relationships, education or any other topic. But the same values can be applied. At these times, it can be difficult to move forward because there is not an obvious right or wrong answer. So it can be helpful to use your values to help guide you through the decision-making process. Your values will not tell you the answer, but could be a useful guide towards the direction that most aligns to your beliefs and preferences.