Working primarily from home has been a god-send to me. I love it! In fact, both my husband and I work from home, and we have learned to roll with the punches, each having our own responsibilities throughout the day to keep the ‘office’ running smoothly. The other half is a dab hand at sandwich making – I’ve been blessed to have my lunch made for me every day since way back at the start of lockdown (I know, amazing, right?). Now this blog is not from the appreciation of David Society 😂 It is in fact just a precursor to say that things for me are good with this work routine.

I do, however, still benefit from the power of connection (beyond our home-front set-up). This week I had several opportunities to connect with others through some professional development I was involved in. I also had a couple of beautiful conversations that warmed the soul and allowed me to contemplate the nuances of those exchanges and consider a wider perspective other than that of my own.

I had a coaching question that I took to my monthly supervision session last Monday. I absolutely love those sessions, as we get to have proper conversations about coaching, and they feed my soul! The collective experience is incredible and the power of the collective fills me with great joy and wonder. The ability to be able to reach out and know that others will have your back with their suggestions and advice is amazing.

I also had a monthly session this week in a virtual coaching club I’m part of. Now, unlike supervision, it is an opportunity for me to coach another coach, be coached myself and observe others coaching. This is gold-dust for me! You see, coaching can be a very isolated profession. There is you and your client, but there isn’t often the opportunity to learn directly from the coaching experiences of others, nor be provided with constructive feedback from the observer with suggestions to consider that might support your learning and improvement. And the icing on the cake, is we also have an opportunity to be coached ourselves, which is incredible.

I’m not trying to recreate a diary extract from my recent week, but it has been such a gift for me. I don’t crave contact with others usually, as I am in my own wee world, grafting away. The thought of spending hours on virtual sessions after work is enough to make me want to commit hari-kari, BUT, once I’m there, I’m fully in! I’m fully committed to learning, talking, exchanging, coaching, deliberating and feeding off the social connection that I otherwise don’t get. I feel the health benefits from the positive energies exchanged in those sessions and the trust built – the sense of belonging is wonderful. Knowing that people have my back, and they enable me to grow and evolve as a coach, is everything.

As leaders, this is also crucial for you. It’s crucial to have a place where you can be supported and heard.

Where you don’t feel like a sole operator, but part of something greater that allows you to be supported as you grow and learn.

A place where you can ask the daft-lassie questions, and not be afraid of looking foolish.

A place where you know people will listen when times are tough, or the Negative Nancy in your team is bringing you down.

If we work for companies or organisations that are larger, then it is more likely that there will be professional learning opportunities with people within the same pay grade. However, with today’s financial challenges there seems to be sadly less and less of those opportunities available.

That’s why I’m busy working away on my group coaching offer. I want to create a space for you where you can connect with others and support each other as you learn about and lean in further to your managerial/ leadership role.

⭐️ Lean Into Leadership⭐️ has been created for people, like me, who desire the connection without feeling they are opening themselves up to criticism from their line managers or their team members. It’s a space where you can ‘be’ and engage without feeling you are opening your soul up for criticism.

Let’s face it, being a manager is one of the most challenging of roles, and I don’t think the majority of us expect the role to be quite so challenging. So, if this sounds like something that sounds interesting to you, then please do add your name to my mailing list, and I will send you over information as soon as I have the content ironed out, and ready for you. Click here to add your name for more information. This is going to be something amazing! It’s going to be a great place to learn, but also to just ‘be’, and it’s something I can’t wait to bring to you. I’m so excited about the transformation it is going to bring!