At burnt orange  we specialise in supporting individuals and organisations to manage the personal impact of change , in a way which is supportive of their goals.

All of us have to deal with how we feel when life has shifted in some way and there is no going back. Sometimes this can be caused by specific external events, like an organisational merger, reorganisation, a change of role, the arrival of a new boss, redundancy and retirement. Other times it can be internally triggered by growing feelings of boredom, mistrust, confusion, dissatisfaction, frustration and emotional upset, which may well have been building over time. Sometimes we initiate the change; sometimes change just happens to us.

Transition is the psychological process through which our lives move on and unfold. It can be a hit and miss affair and coaching helps leave nothing to chance, ensuring we learn and grow from the experience of change. If you are currently considering executive coaching we hope this information will help you to be clear about the benefits burnt orange can bring.

We bring to coaching a depth of knowledge about the psychology of human transition, the skills that come with being qualified counselors and years of corporate experience, leading organisational change. We have experienced our own personal transitions often enough to reflect on the process and recognise it as a developmental process that can be understood and managed. During a six session coaching programme our intent is to produce a dialogue that will benefit you in ways which support you to confidently deal with the challenges you are facing and identify and make progress towards achieving what you really want for yourself.

WHY DO PEOPLE HAVE COACHING?   Many of the people we have coached have enlisted our support because they want to improve their situations and achieve goals across all areas of their lives. These include using changes at work to put their lives on a different track; working towards the successful delivery of a specific work goal; moving from an operational role to a strategic role; changing their leadership style; building relationships with key influencers, reclaiming energy and motivation for their work. They have been keen to learn new ways of thinking and approaching these sorts of situations in order to get better results for themselves and the organisations they work for.

Many organisations have come to realise that they can improve both the motivation and performance of people through coaching, which ultimately enables results at the organisational level to be improved. The behaviour of people in senior positions within a hierarchy establishes similar standards for the people who work for them. So in short, the benefits of coaching are transferable and coaching can create a positive influence on people who have wider influence across the organisation.

Common benefits which have been gained from our coaching partnerships include:

• Improved sense of direction and focus

• Increased resourcefulness and resilience in the face of change

• Improved ability to relate to and influence others

• Increased motivation and energy

• Improved personal effectiveness through more focused effort

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM YOUR COACH?  We operate a collaborative style of coaching. By that we mean we work on creating changes together. We believe in everyone’s ability to create the insights and ideas needed to move their situation forward and discover what they need. We adopt the principle that you probably know more about your own situation than we do, so our task is to use our coaching skills to create highly effective conversations and experiences for you. As your coach we will focus solely on your situation. We will listen to you with interest and curiosity and work hard to understand who you are, what you think and generally how you experience the world. We will reflect back to you, with the kind of objective view that creates real clarity. During our conversations we will encourage you to rise to challenges, overcome obstacles and move into action. Having worked to establish exactly what you want to achieve from coaching, your goals and objectives become the focus for our conversation. Our attention during the time we spend together will be to your agenda, bringing a combination of objective detachment and commitment to your goals. Because the coaching relationship is based on trust and openness, the content of your discussion will be confidential.

WHAT WILL WE REQUIRE FROM YOU?  We will encourage you to stay committed to the coaching process in terms of keeping appointments, taking your own notes and keeping to any agreements you make during the sessions. In addition, we will need you to contribute to conversations openly and honestly. For example, if something is not working, we really need to know. If you have concerns or problems with our coaching process, please feel free to voice them. If you know why a problem is occurring, we need you to feel able to say so. In our experience, the effectiveness of coaching directly relates to the level of openness and trust between us.

HOW MIGHT COACHING BENEFIT YOU?  The following questions may help you to begin to form your goals and outcomes for our coaching relationship. They are not intended to identify specifics, but rather encourage thoughts and ideas.

• What do you want from the situation that is presenting you with a challenge? From yourself, colleagues, people in authority, friends, family

• Why is this situation important to you?

• How are you feeling right now about the situation you are in?

• How have you tried to resolve the situation so far?

• Have you ever been involved in similar situations before and how did you resolve those?

We hope this information is useful to you. If you would like to talk to us or require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us on Judith@burntorange.info or telephone 07968 161362.