"I have recently been promoted to a Senior Service
Management
position in a Social Services Department. When I started I felt unsure and
underconfident in my role, and with some of my peers, so decided to seek some
coaching. I have found these sessions to be of tremendous value to me. Lynda
has enabled me to reflect, analyse and positively appraise myself and to manage
my sometimes over-emotional reactions to certain situations and people. The
techniques I have learnt for managing situations, other people and myself
have been a powerful addition to my toolkit. I
have certainly benefited from coaching and feel able to continue to apply
what I have learned in many situations". LV
"I'm a successful chartered surveyor, running my own one-man business which I built up by working very long hours and by being constantly available to clients and potential clients, even in the evening and at weekends. I always had my mobile with me and was always available . When I started working with Lynda I was putting in a 14 hour day and working every week-end . I was upset if I wasn't at my desk before 7.00am and felt that I'd "skived" if I went home before 9:00pm. I felt permanently tired, had no time for social friends, had lost any sense of joie de vivre and felt guilty if I tried to take time away from the business for fun or family or anything else. I feared that if I didn't carry on doing everything the way I had always done it I'd get fewer clients, have unhappier clients and make less money. I found it hard to believe that I could work less hours, have more fun and still achieve my business objectives.
I now normally work only a 8am -5pm day and no weekends - and my business is doing better than ever. Although we initially focused on time and workload management coaching has also benefited me in many other areas of my life. Lynda has encouraged me to challenge myself, explore new approaches and try new things. And I'm reaping the benefits in all areas of my life." James
"My coaching sessions with Lynda have been wonderfully effective in two very different areas of my life. I decided on coaching because although I knew what I wanted to do career-wise, I wasn't doing it and was very good at finding ways of avoiding taking action. However, after the initial session I realised that I also really wanted to improve the very difficult relationship with my baby's father. In 6 months Lynda's coaching enabled me to achieve results in both areas that I knew to be theoretically possible but felt - quite literally - only able to dream of. In terms of my career, I now have precisely the career I want and access issues have been amicably resolved to my satisfaction without any solicitor's involvement, when once solicitors seemed essential. The money I've spent on my coaching sessions has been a superb investment. Working on my aims under Lynda's coaching quite simply turned my life around." Anna Plodowski
"When I started coaching I was a pretty anxious person - always worried, weighed down by self-imposed feelings of obligation and stress, and feeling like I wasn't experiencing the joy in life. I came to coaching with the intention of focusing on my career, but it's also been about so much more than that. Through the sessions I've come to understand myself better , have stopped being so self-critical and perfectionist, and feel much more optimistic and energised about life in general. I feel more in control, have taken positive steps so that my focus is now on work that I enjoy, have learnt how to set goals and also how to maintain boundaries on my time. Lynda has an uncanny ability to really get to the heart of issues in a sensitive way, and I found working with her both fun and inspiring." Laura
"I'm a single mother and I have a very serious long-term illness so I've always felt that it's important that I be a very strong and positive person. I felt that allowing myself to feel vulnerable, sad, afraid or angry would take that strength from me. However, in the sample session I connected with some of those feelings and realised how important it was for me to allow myself to experience my emotions and to 'go with' them - all the way through from laughter to crying. I have learnt that doing this makes me stronger rather than weaker. Other benefits from coaching have been fewer headaches, less stress generally and beating myself up less. I'm a lot calmer and I don't let other people bring me down. The tools and approaches Lynda used were ones I could take away from the sessions and adapt in a range of ways. Lynda really worked for me as my coach because I felt able to trust her with my innermost emotions which was a huge achievement for me. I always felt listened to and never felt judged. For me coaching has never been about 'setting SMART objectives' and creating 'action plans'. Rather, at the end of every session I would always feel absolutely light - as if I had spent time in a beautiful garden. I'm stopping coaching for the time being. Things are good and I just feel really happy. But I think it is a place I may visit again - to walk around the garden, sit under a tree and feed the ducks." Juliet
"I met Lynda back in 1988 when I was at a crossroads in my career. She helped me to make some very good decisions, not just about what to do with my working life but also about what I was capable of. I went on to have one heck of an exciting time and I look back on the past almost 20 years and think that I might never have lived the life I have had I not met her. People often say I’m one of the most confident, charismatic and brave people they have ever met. I think it’s because I really do believe in myself and I have Lynda to thank for setting me on that path. I know she has worked hard at getting the very best coaching training and qualifications but I believe Lynda has been coaching people since way before coaching was ever invented". Renee Binyon
