Coaching Stories

Sujana Adapa

Sujana's Coaching Story

I wanted to become a medical doctor when I was a teenager influenced by family as my father was a Physician. I also quickly realised that the medical profession may not necessarily suit to me as I cannot handle needles or medication. My Bachelors degree was in agriculture and I also completed a Masters in agriculture. Academically, my Masters research work in agriculture attracted wider attention and secured me high distinction and three university medals in India. I have also secured a government job in the state (Tamilnadu) agricultural extension department in India. However, I preferred not to take up this job offer as this would have meant to stay away from my family. I decided to enrol into MBA as I found interest in working with people. I completed my major in MBA in marketing and minor in HR. I had my first career break whilst pursuing MBA studies in India. Then, we moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and I enrolled into a PhD program in Multimedia University and completed first six months of course work and we had to move to Armidale. I took my second career break but, enrolled into a PhD program at UNE in the Business School.

I was not too sure during the first year of my PhD studies, whether or not I really wanted to become an academic. The casual academic experience during the second year of my PhD studies helped me to fine tune my career interests and set career goals. I really enjoyed teaching, interacting with students and also equally enjoyed working collaboratively with colleagues on various research projects. The first question that I asked myself was – do I have adequate KSAs (knowledge, skills and abilities) to pursue an academic job? I went through personal career mapping process. It was evident that I have subject knowledge and abilities and some skills. I questioned myself – what are the gaps and how can I close the identified gaps?

Personal reflection also indicated to me the differences between scientific research and social science research. I have learnt new software and data analysis programmes to understand data in social sciences and attended courses that helped me unpack the results obtained from data analysis. I enjoyed mixed methods research both talking to people (qualitative data) and analysis of numbers (quantitative data). I kept abreast of different data analysis techniques that also allowed me to understand the value of being coached. Having the research skills alone is not enough in the academic career. Therefore, I have attended several teaching related workshops and tried different innovations in my own teaching practice. Several educators as experts and coaches shared great tips that helped to improvise the quality of my teaching on a continued basis. Coaches also take a methodical developmental approach to understand gaps and to enhance skills and capabilities. Coaches take us to level zero and work with us in order to close the gaps.

A slightly different story to careers is the personal development. I started to go to SportUNE group fitness classes in late 2006. My goal was to reduce postnatal weight. The very first class that I accessed was weights class and I did not know how to use bar and weights. Simon was the fitness instructor who went out of his way to help me understand the value of fitness. Simon’s coaching style was performance-oriented. I could see that transformation in the first two years as I was able to complete level 4 high intensity cardio step classes. Simon now is a high school Maths teacher and a fitness instructor who works in Griffith and moreover a good friend.

In my view, openness to upskill, unlearn, reskill and retrain (U²R²) helped me achieve a national teaching award in 2016 and also progress in my career. Lesson learnt is – never be shy to equip with necessary skills that will help immensely in the career progression. This may mean that we need to be prepared to unlearn everything and start as a fresher. Coaching helps to develop KSAs.   

Katrina Dickson

Katrina's Coaching Story

My interest in coaching started around 8 years ago, and I have completed several certifications since then, involving coaching others as a coach and being coached as a client (or coachee). Coaching is different from mentoring or consulting because while a coach may occasionally offer suggestions, the coach’s prime role is to ask you questions that enable you to grow and develop, to see things for yourself. The coaching that I do is concerned with what is “behind” your story, not the story’s content per se, making it applicable to anything, including career development, workplace change, relationships, and personal growth.

My initial training was in Developmental Coaching. This form of coaching is very useful in understanding thoughts and behavioural patterns of ourselves and others; in other words, what makes us tick. This includes our mindsets, emotions, beliefs, and the framework of personality governing these things. Many of our thought patterns are habitual, and these are often unconscious. Many of these go back to early childhood, when we were “told” what to think and how to behave: they were “gifted” to us by our parents, teachers and society. This means we may not see them in ourselves, and therefore don’t question them. That is why coaching is so valuable – it helps us see things we cannot see in ourselves, and then helps us identify options for change. It helps us change “the inner game”, which means we can then change “the outer game”. This can improve our relationships with ourselves and others; at home and in the workplace, helping us to become more understanding, flexible, relaxed and happier, while also achieving more. 

Through training in Holistic Counselling and Psychotherapy, I am expanding my capacity to work with clients and thereby enhancing their capacities for change and growth. Based on process-oriented psychology (also known as process-work), this allows me to work more fully with the emotions, uncertainties and body symptoms that may arise in clients when they move beyond their comfort zones. Crossing this edge is where real growth can occur and the support of a process-work coach can accelerate this growth in a supported space. 

I am also an Action Learning Coach (certified with the World Institute of Action Learning). This is a specific form of coaching in which we work with a group of 4-8 people (often in organisations) to find solutions to individual or group problems. Sessions are approximately 90 minutes and run to a specific structure. The main ground rule is that statements can only be given in response to questions. It is amazing how this can bring out the wisdom of the group, level the playing field in terms of power differences, and result in creative and innovative solutions to problems. More information is at https://wial.org/action-learning/ 

When I look back on pivotal things that have changed my life, although there have been many things, I would say doing my MBA and undergoing the self-development required to become a successful coach have been highlights. When seeking a coach, it is important that you feel comfortable with the person. You should know in around 15 minutes if you are going to feel relaxed and open with a coach and if they are going to be able to help you. With coaching increasingly practiced on zoom, the best coach for you may be in anywhere – even in another country. I now have a business called Leading Edge Consulting and Coaching – feel free to contact me for further information about what I do or to chat about possibilities, either through my UNE email, my personal email Trini.Dickson@gmail.com or 0429 461092.

Ed Lefley

Ed's Coaching Story

Following a defined trajectory to an extent, the 10 years I spent in outdoor education was straightforward – but a bit counter-intuitive at times as well, with some forward and backward moves (oh, and some sideways ones for good measure).

For much of that time it was a simple “if you want this job, you need these qualifications process”; that made mapping a route straight forward. However, taking a purely qualification approach forgot about the skills and experiences you needed to progress, and these were often harder to find, especially working in a local government role.

Often I would sit and plan what the next 2, 3 and 5 years would like, with goals set around:

• Home
• Work
• Qualifications

Using that would then allow me to plan what I did next, and work with mentors and managers to achieve these goals. At times however, you realised you had a gap somewhere, so working out how to fill that became important as well. This could be achieved through either self-reflection or through management processes; often mine would be through self-reflection.

Things I learnt from this process include be careful what you wish for – I did a plan in about 2003/4, and managed to get it through to completion… but in the end I wasn’t happy (even though on paper I’d succeeded), and in fact it soured me from both management and from working in local government. Would I have done it differently if I had had additional coaching and support? Quite possibly, however, I was a 20-something who was wanting to progress in their career, rather than build a career – and I knew my previous managers had achieved that position at a similar age.

Equally important is to learn how to be coached; this is not the same as learning to coach, but is more about learning how the process works and what it needs from you to succeed. An appreciation of the process includes the need to get a solid grounding in the basics and the layers that are then built upon that until you become proficient (the way we referred to it was unconsciously conscious) without having to think about it. When you start to stop thinking about the coaching process and you are just able to act, recognising what is being asked of you – either identifying your own gaps that need filling (laissez-faire) or through a guided process (guided discovery) where you are led to where the gaps are – as opposed to the more direct approach of an authoritarian process, then you have really got the idea of learning how to be coached.

Your next challenge is learning what style you prefer, which coach you prefer, and when do you prefer the combination of those.

Ian Wiltshire