I received my training as a corporate coach and career coach from the TAI Group in New York City, a global human interaction firm that pioneers new directions in the design of action-based, experiential solutions for individuals and teams. TAI is rooted in the belief true success comes from the boldness of stepping fully into who you are, rather than who you think you are supposed to be. I also have worked as a trainer for Balancing Life Issues, Inc., a corporate training firm that offers interactive seminars on a variety of topics, including stress management, balancing work and family life, organizational change, team building, leadership skills, and workplace effectiveness.
Helping People Navigate Through Professional Blocks
I use this conglomerate of experience, in my own work as a career coach, to help people navigate through their professional blocks, and learn how to move around them, under them, and over them, and then move forward. To illustrate the process of my coaching strategy, I had a client who was a bright young man and served as an advisor to the CEO of a leading global consulting company.
During the initial coaching session he explained that when he gives presentations before a group, he feels incompetent, unable to express himself, and seems to lack the ability to stand up straight to show his strength and intelligence. He tells me that what he wants out of coaching is to give himself the freedom to allow his intelligence and humanity to shine through. He feels restrained when expressing himself before groups. He would like to access the same sparkle he evokes when he works on a one-to-one basis with the company’s CEO.
We began working by exploring and clarifying his strengths. I asked him to write about his experience of expressing himself to the CEO. We also began to discover his passions in life, including his love of theater and music. When he talked about these passions, a very strong personality emerged. We also discussed his family and his passionate feelings for his wife and young son. He showed me a photograph that was taken when he brought his son to work. In the photograph, he was standing straight and tall. We began to pay attention to his physical presence. We paid attention to him walking with physical tallness. He practiced by entering his office repeatedly as if he owned the place.
The Outcome
This experience helped to demonstrate his physical stance of power and authority. His strength of presentation would become familiar feelings in his body; feelings that would allow him to recall automatically. As a major outcome of the work we did, the client was asked by the CEO to make a presentation at a global summit. He was able to use many of the tools he learned when we worked together, and as a result, he received praise and positive feedback from global summit participants.
