There is no professional or organisational health without mental health
Mental health is a vital part of professional health and well-being. When our working environments and practices support good mental health, we are better able to connect, function, cope, and thrive. When they don’t support good mental health, this can have a reverse impact. For a comprehensive and valuable resource designed to inspire and inform better mental health … Read More
Life is finite. What if we stopped trying to do everything?
Four thousand weeks – the average time a human being has on this planet. Life is finite. It involves choice and sacrifice. We simply cannot have it all. As the back of this thought-provoking books asks, “what if you stopped trying to do everything?” Might we actually and ironically find ourselves being more productive and … Read More
Let’s not go back to how things were
I have had an opinion piece published in Chatterbox, the Black Isle’s local magazine (named Community Newspaper of the Year in the Highlands and Islands Media Awards 2019 and 2016 no less!). I’m reflecting on the increase of community-minded thinking and action that the pandemic has brought about in our local area, and with it … Read More
Pause for thought: three reasons why identifying our values is a worth spending time on
If identity and purpose were a map, values would stand as signposts at the junctions of who we are and what we do. Core values are unique to the individual, the group, or the organisation, but they are also always relational, informing where we go and how we interact with others. Identifying what we value … Read More
Career coaching case study: Sarah* (lecturer)
I worked with Sarah, a lecturer in higher education, for just over a year. Our coaching sessions focussed on her career. We worked together strategically, and in her words, “plan[ning] for a future with financial security and holistic wellbeing in mind.” Sarah’s endorsement is below followed by an explanation of how our sessions worked. When … Read More
Beatrix Potter. One inspirational woman
“Pick a woman that has inspired you.” We were asked to do this yesterday at a Highland Business Women event nicely coincided with International Women’s Day (it was very nice!). I went for Beatrix Potter: For being a woman in a man’s world; for writing simple and beautiful stories; for loving and losing (she lost … Read More
A bookshelf or a self-portrait?
We change (grow, realign, evolve) and so do our books. I’d be telling untruths if I said I’d read all of these books from front to back but I bought every one of them for a reason. They’re like little parts of my story bought at different points in time when I was interested or … Read More
Hope. A small but mighty word
Hope changes the structures by which and around which we live. Hope is a small but mighty word. What is hope? Where does it come from? Who brings it? And how might it take practical shape in our lives? A little thought I’ve been thinking over recently is this: Figures who bring hope to others are … Read More
The land past the lamppost
Darkness to light. Constriction to freedom. Moving from narrow places to wide open spaces. I run down this path sometimes and especially when I want to remind myself of some of these themes. The path itself is lovely but dark because it’s all covered by trees. It’s not that scary, just a bit dark and … Read More
Leadership as a state of being
“Values cross the boundaries of professional disciples, cultures, and religious traditions. They have this incredible capacity to unite otherwise diverse people around similar connecting points.” It’s been International Leadership Week this week and here I am reflecting on leadership as a state of being that resides in a person or amongst a group of people … Read More
Digging deep and building strong
I’m delighted to have been awarded an Associate Certified Coach credential by the International Coaching Federation. This ACC credential (the first of three credentialing standards set by the ICF) represents 18 months of hard, stretching, but equally rewarding and fulfilling work training as a professional coach and then establishing my business, HM Coaching and Development. … Read More
Through and beyond restriction
When you stop and think about your professional life, are there things that you feel confined and restricted by? Do you know what they are? Sometimes we can have some sort of sense that something is there but we can’t articulate much more beyond this. That’s okay. Don’t push it. If you want to though, … Read More
Vision and forgiveness
Forgiveness can be the hardest thing, especially when people have done hurtful or horrible things to us or those we love. More often than not, forgiveness is not a one-off action but a process we have to work at. Unforgiveness distorts how we see, especially in those areas where we have been hurt If we … Read More
Mugs and unconscious bias
Social media knows me well. It suggested I buy this mug, and I… well, I thought this was a great idea! This helpful advertising suggestion followed some interesting conversations I have been having recently (both on-and-off-line) about unconscious bias. The context of these conversations was women in academia but as with most good conversations, this topic has stayed … Read More
How is your harmony and what is your movement?
Commitment to a harmonious relationship between thoughts, feelings, and actions is central to my coaching ethos and is drawn from my research work. As I work with clients, I implicitly think about these three areas and how they are showing up in and with that person.
Professional identity wrestle
I have had two lovely encouragements recently. I received a book award last month and I gained a coaching diploma last week.
These encouragements represent two very different parts of my professional life. This last year has been a massive struggle trying to chart my way through them. We might call this my professional identity wrestle.
Sarah Everard: an uncomfortable question?
omething has been troubling me over the last week of media coverage about Sarah Everard’s death. I wanted to write something here just to raise a question and offer a perspective really. This is not intended as a criticism of any person or any organisation, but the question that has been troubling me is this: if Sarah Everard had been a woman of colour, would there have been the same level of public outcry and media coverage as there has been?
Identity and pandemic bookshelves
om meeting backdrops have become fashionable! The pandemic got us all into Zoom and then suddenly our backgrounds became interesting. At least I think they did. I do not mean virtual background here (although they are also intriguing), I mean what is present and on view in someone’s room behind them.
Battersea Bridge moment: part two
In part one of this article, I shared a question my friend Tara asked me recently. She wanted to know if I could personally pinpoint a day or moment that signalled transformational change in my life. If you would like to know my answer to her question, read part one. I call it my ‘Battersea bridge moment.’
Battersea Bridge moment: part one
“Do you have a day when everything changed for you?”
My friend Tara asked me this question over a Zoom coffee catch-up recently. There was a day earlier this year when so much changed for Tara. She did not realize it then.
My professional journey
Commitment to a harmonious relationship between thoughts, feelings, and actions is central to my coaching ethos and is drawn from my research work. As I work with clients, I implicitly think about these three areas and how they are showing up in and with that person.