Career Coaching, a Writergrrls Special Event

by Bronwyn Doyle

Okay, so why did you come here today?

• I've been working in the high-tech industry and want to start my own business.
• I just had a baby and I'm trying to juggle work and family.
• I can't decide what direction to go in, or what to do next.
• I'm tired of being an entrepreneur. I need a day job.

These are the kinds of answers women gave to Leslie Collins, guest speaker at the last Seattle Writergrrls special event on career coaching. Thus began what was to be a very intriguing discussion on how a career coach can provide the mentoring and motivation needed to help clarify and manifest one's strengths and visions.

Collins' natural humor and speaking ability in front of 26 women was evident as she first told her own story about slowly transforming her career from recruiter to therapist and finally to career coach two years ago this summer. Collins has a master's in psychology. She uses her experience as a therapist to guide people toward making positive career changes in their lives.

Asking the question "So, what is a career coach?" Leslie launched into a definition that could also describe a mentor, a guide, or a role model.

"A career coach is someone who holds you accountable," she said.

A Little History

Still a young, evolving profession, career coaching has become more affordable to small businesses, nonprofits, and individuals who simply need to clarify where their strengths lie. Many career coaches work on sliding scales, but the average amount a career coach will charge is $50–100 per half-hour session.

Kind of pricey, huh? Why pay a career coach and not do the homework? Part of the philosophy of career coaching is taking your career seriously enough to pay for their guidance. An invested client is more willing to take risks and make hard decisions. However, many people in career transitions can't afford to pay $200–400 a month for coaching, so some career coaches are finding a niche in the market of individuals who might start out at a lower rate. Once clients experience more career and financial fulfillment, they can begin to pay more for a service that has contributed greatly to their lives. Wouldn't it be nice if the world worked that way?

Career Coach vs. Therapist/Consultant

Though Collins might utilize her skills as a therapist in her coaching, she stresses that the difference between the two is vast.

"Coaching is very action-oriented and focuses on moving right to making changes in your immediate world instead of analysis, analysis, analysis," she said.

"A career coach is someone who helps be an advocate for you and helps you advocate yourself," said Collins. "Someone may say something that triggers something true or brings you a message," but ultimately, the final decision lies within you.

So how do you find those answers?

Doing the Homework

Homework provides motivation for discovery and follow-through. The outside results happen out of the homework that the career coach and her client develop. It's action that creates changes in society and within one's own community.

"Follow-through is a major problem with anyone struggling to make changes in their life," said Collins. "We decide together what is appropriate homework. It has to be something that they want to do."

Enter the concept of taking responsibility, which means acting on the homework assigned. One Writergrrl asked a very astute question about how some people might see responsibility as something that equals blame. To say, "I am responsible for this," is to say, "I am to blame for this."

Collins utilizes her therapy skills to motivate a client to move past fear of failure, blame, or victimization and toward action and follow-through.

"That doesn't mean if you don't do your homework I'm going to bite your head off," said Collins. "Then we talk about why, what changes you might be experiencing in your vision. It's all a process of becoming clear. Then we talk about what to do the next week."

Process, Process, Process

Career coaching can help provide a myriad of helpful strategies to manage the process of change, including:

• Taking healthy risks
• Cultivating daily discipline
• Getting emotional support
• Doing what it takes
• Staying motivated and focused
• Learning
• Refining your strategy
• Letting the process evolve and change

Leslie stressed that many people think there is only one answer or one way to make a change; the decision has to be the right one from the start. In reality, the decisions we make are not set in concrete. Career coaching includes cultivating the intuitive as well as the pragmatic in decision-making.

"It'd be great if it were neat and tidy, but I just don't think life works that way," she said. "It's a process of becoming. There are ways to cultivate a sense of trust and knowing that work for you. It's about trusting yourself that you can make the decision and that you can handle it."

How It Works—The Breakout Principle

Collins' own approach to career coaching utilizes the Breakout Principle, which happens in three stages. The first stage is a period of struggle where one might feel stuck, lonely, broke, etc. The main problem she sees in this stage is not the struggle but the judgment of it.

"Understand that struggle is normal," Collins stressed. "We all go through inner and outer struggles throughout our lives."

The second stage is a feeling of release, a detaching from judgment and from the struggle itself. Within these first two stages, a client may experience a number of shifting perspectives, including uncovering limited and erroneous thinking, cultivating courage, listening to the higher, wiser self, and paying attention to synchronicities. Synchronicities may look like consequences, but the more we stay open to them, the more we see how they are directly related to how and what we're committed to.

Then comes the breakout, stage three, "the improved new normal," said Collins. It's after the process of struggle, release, and contemplation that a new awareness can happen.

If you are interested in learning more about career coaching or would like to talk with Collins about her approach, call her at (206) 478-0503 or send her an e-mail at coachleslie@attbi.com.

Bronwyn Doyle is a writer/musician/teacher/entrepreneur who is still trying to figure out what to do with her life. She lives in Seattle and is actively involved with Seattle Writergrrls.