Our community has recently grown by a number of certified coaches. Their task is to support our mentees in forming their SMART goals prior to the regular 1-0-1 mentoring as a part of our new Coaching & Mentoring program. To give you a clearer idea about the benefit of coaching, we organised an online group coaching session with our certified coach, Jana Honkova, to show you how coaching can elevate your career. Here are the key learnings.
Coaching is a way of exploring your inner potential and a means to design your future. A coach is an independent listener who possesses the power of asking the right questions. Unlike a mentor, who shares their advice and gives their mentee tips on what to do, a coach lets their coachee speak and only ever-so-gently navigates their journey to self-discovery.
TIP: If you are unsure what the difference between mentoring and coaching is, check out this article for more clarification.
At Femme Palette, we have a strong database of certified coaches who are helping our mentees clarify their goals prior to the mentoring sessions. If you would like to find out more about how we collaborate with coaches, check out the program’s page or schedule a consultation here.
During the group coaching session facilitated by the solution-focused coach Jana Honkova, the 40+ participants worked on building their own ‘wheel of life’ (or was it a pizza?) and then focused on identifying one key area of life which they would like to improve over the next three weeks.
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Selecting the key areas of life and thinking of ways to improve one of them was not easy but the participants faced this challenge with courage and determination. Here are the main takeaways from the group coaching:
How often do you sit down and think about the areas or values in life that truly matter to you? Every day? Once a month? Never? Coming up with around eight crucial areas in life is no easy task. On the plus side, you can come back to this question regularly and constantly re-evaluate what is it that truly matters to you.
You might think that you know what is important to you - family, friends, work, etc. But if you were to assign value to each category, which one do you think would be the weakest? Tricky, right? Drawing a chart and visualising which area brings you the most fulfillment is the one you need to concentrate your efforts on!
Maybe today you choose to focus on family, maybe next time you select love. Whatever it is, make sure you start with one area and only once you fulfill your potential there, you move on to the next one. Having said that, nothing is ever set in stone and if you wish to change your focus, feel free to do so. We are all unique human beings and as such we constantly develop as we grow. But remember that commitment is key in delivering results.
You know that feeling when you dream of something big but then convince yourself it will never happen. Well, during the group coaching session, the participants tried to visualise themselves in three week’s time and had to think about as many details as possible.
If you visualise yourself in as many details as possible, it will become easier to start turning this dream into reality. Because you know exactly what you are trying to achieve and how.
Jana invited the participants to borrow a magic wand for a moment and become Harry Potter or Hermione. They were encouraged to dream about as many solutions to the given challenge as possible and write them all down. The outcome? Top secret, but the long minutes of silence confirmed that they all enjoyed being unrestricted and free for a moment and have scribbled many ideas down. And that is a great way to start!
One key takeaway was to start small. And that applies also to putting a plan into action. If you were to choose half of the key areas in your life and came up with 20 different actionable steps, you would likely get overwhelmed and fail to get anything done. That’s why it’s super important to break it down into small steps that you can apply right away. And once those are in place, you can move on to the next chapter.
At the end of the session, all of the participants created a pizza-like chart and were eager to start putting it into practice. And that is key! It is no good if you have your action plan but never take any steps to achieve it. Only once you start the implementation, can you see the true benefit on yourself, your surroundings, and your career.
We understand making changes can be difficult, but remember that Femme Palette is a community, and as such, we are here to support you. And also our certified coaches are happy to guide you and navigate through various challenges. So, you are never alone!
At the end of the session, Jana asked about the value of the session for the participants to share anonymously. Some mentioned the time for myself and to think, others mentioned confirmation, clarity, and encouragement to implement their thoughts. Jana’s session also helped clarify goals, set priorities and decide on an action plan which helps us to get there.
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Overall, the group coaching has been incredibly rewarding and valuable for all partakers, which was confirmed by the multiple thank you messages at the end. Jana choreographed a wonderful virtual session, during which she presented a technique to elevate a professional as well as personal life. And now is your turn. Are you ready to start your transformation? If yes, join the Coaching & Mentoring Program at Femme Palette today.
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