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.