Changing lives by doing something you love

We are changing the lives of 531 women and 2,330 children. Does it get any better than changing lives by doing something you love? That’s me – happy coach – at the WLA Coachathon 2020.

Wednesday 18 November. 24 hours. 140 coaches worldwide. Almost 500 coaching sessions. And seven of them came from me!

In addition, there were events throughout the day, including panel discussions on Leadership & Performance, Leadership & Gender, and Wellbeing & Resilience. People also had the opportunity to join sessions on Career attitudes for long-term success, How to find your Why, and Sound Therapy.

For just £25 per 45-minute coaching session, the event offered 11 coaching streams – Business, Career, Change management, Coaching supervision, Confidence, Executive, Leadership, Life, Public speaking, Spiritual, and Wellbeing & resilience. But more than that, it enabled everyone involved to energise, explore, evaluate and empower themselves and others.

Energise

Working with a wide variety of people, each with their own challenges and coaching needs was both energising and stimulating. No two sessions were alike. Even if someone came with the same broad concern, such as feeling nervous as a speaker, the experience of nerves manifested in quite different ways from speaking avoidance to concerns about how to be yourself and find your voice, your message and your stories.

Collaborating with each person to understand their public speaking and presenting challenges, I shared different solutions that were right for them as an individual, empowering them to put their own stamp on the learnings. I would go so far as to describe the day as energising and exhilarating, knowing that each participant went away with ideas and tips that they could put into action in their own way, straight away.

Explore

The sheer volume of coaching offers in one place gave some people an opportunity to try coaching for the first time and others to try a different type of coaching, such as wellbeing instead of career coaching.

It gave people a cost-effective introduction to the ever-expanding world of coaching. Some even joined several sessions, giving them the chance to experience different approaches and styles offered by different coaches and to reflect on their preferences. It is so important when choosing a coach to find someone who knows their stuff of course, but also someone you like and trust and helps you achieve tangible skills and benefits.

Evaluate

At the end of a challenging 2020, the event brought an opportunity for each of us to evaluate where we stand, reflect on how we want to move forward and the role coaching can play in that process.

It gave us time to rethink and refocus based on how we have experienced the pandemic and what we have discovered about ourselves and our needs. It may have involved examination of career goals, skillsets, health and wellbeing, even our guiding beliefs and priorities.

Empower

I love helping people learn public speaking skills and, more importantly, enabling them to bring those skills to life in a way that is meaningful for them. In this way, people make the skills their own, allowing them to connect engagingly with their audiences and deliver clear and meaningful messages that change hearts and minds. Every speaker is a person, with their own unique voice and story to tell. For me, public speaking and presentation skills coaching doesn’t involve telling people what to do and how to do it. Rather, it empowers them to make a difference by internalising the skills and techniques in ways that are right for them and their audiences.

I also felt empowered talking about public speaking and sharing ideas and experiences with some wonderful people throughout the day. Hopefully our encounters will make a difference to their talks and presentations and will definitely make a difference to the 531 women and 2,330 children in sub-Saharan Africa. All proceeds go to MicroLoanFoundation to support and empower these women to start their own business and kickstart their way out of poverty.

To all the people I coached, thank you for changing lives and thanks to Sandra Pinnington, founder of the Women Leaders Association (WLA), MicroLoan Foundation and fellow coaches for bringing this wonderful experience to life #Coachathon2020

It was such a positive experience for everyone involved that we all agreed that it should be an annual event. Now you’re talking! I can’t wait!

Author

Lyn Roseaman

Now You’re Talking