"Jim is an outstanding person. He can change individuals' lives for the better and empower them both personally and professionally with what they need to take the next step in the right direction."
DC, Chief Operating Officer, London
Most of my clients at the moment are early and mid-career professionals. They are rising stars who are establishing themselves as career business professionals, and the emphasis tends to be on:
My clients have included Management Consultants, Economists, Lawyers, Coaches, Marketers, Trainers and Journalists and more.
I've also worked with people of all ages with a personal development rather than professional/career focus, helping them to explore and resolve issues around areas as diverse as grief, anxiety, confidence, public speaking and family relationships.
The first thing to say is that Coaching is positive, forward-looking and intentional. Working with a coach is a serious and proactive commitment to the creation of a fulfilling, rewarding and successful future whether you are fortunate enough to have it funded by your company, or whether you are far-sighted enough to invest in your own future.
Life is never without challenges, whether you are at work or at home. Most people do their best to face those challenges alone, assuming that they can work it out for themselves or simply struggle on through, and learn, eventually, the hard way, from personal experience.
That can be a long road, and coaching offers you a short-cut. Not always an easy ride! But definitely a short-cut.
Whether you choose me as a coach, or someone else, here's what you should expect:
Your coach will help you to get under the skin of situations and see the reality of what's going on. He will challenge your assumptions. He will question the stories you tell yourself about yourself. He will help you to explore and understand your own behavioural preferences and habits, and will help you to make the best of the best and try new strategies on for size where the opportunity presents itself.
He will bring an unbiased outside perspective, as well as a whole wealth of proven experience, tools and strategies that are immediately available to you.
He will encourage you to commit to the actions you want to take, and he will hold you accountable.
He will help you to acknowledge and celebrate your successes. He will be there for you through the toughest of times.
He will encourage you to live life on your own terms, instead of being blown hither and thither by the will and prejudices of other people.
Coaching is not about driving you to 'achieve' more.
Coaching is about supporting your commitment to living the most fulfilling, rewarding and 'successful' life you can.
Whatever that 'success' might mean for you.
Coaching engagements typically work on the basis of a three or six month agreement, working together on whatever cadence works for the client, most often for an hour every other week.
That's a big commitment on both parts, so it's really important for both client and coach to feel comfortable with each other, and to feel they will be able to establish and build a strong, secure and trusting working relationship right from the word go.
To that end the usual process is to have a short fifteen-minute call to establish the initial connection, and then to schedule a free, no-obligation full-length coaching session which can last anything up to an hour and a half. That's long enough for both parties to agree that they both want to continue the conversation.
That's long enough to genuinely explore one or more issues that have brought the client to coaching, and it's also long enough to understand the quality of rapport between coach and client.
At the end of that first coaching session, we jointly make the decision whether to continue the conversation.
If you want to schedule a quick fifteen-minute chat then just drop me an email at jim@jimpirrie.com and we can take it from there. It's free, and there's no expectation or obligation involved. Just a chat.