“Time flies when you’re having fun” or as Virgil might have said “fugit inreparible tempus”. Has it really been six months since James and I pressed the button on the Companies House website and registered our coaching consultancy?
Yes, it has.
It also feels like a good point to take stock of what we’ve managed to do over that time, have a ponder on the high points and rockier patches, and look forward to what we’re doing through the remainder of the year.
One of the joys about starting a company with a trusted friend has been that we’ve always had someone to gee us along, to lift us up and to have a bit of a laugh with on the journey. The counterbalance has also been the numerous times in which we’ve each bumped up (mildly so far, thank goodness) against the firm views of the other. Having a flick through our original business plan I was bemused to find the following proto-blogpost, which I drafted in an effort to get my head around one of the strands that James had picked up and run with, past the point at which I was comfortable:
James and I first discussed the founding of this coaching consultancy partnership during an outdoor session in which we ended up discussing how coaching is a pivotal tool in turning a person’s aspirations into actions. James, who also works as a running coach, loved the outdoorsy imagery that emerged of helping someone prepare and work towards reaching a mountain summit. It resonated with me too, bringing back memories of growing up in Worcestershire, climbing the Malvern hills and looking back over the path you’ve taken, looking very different from that angle and altitude.
As an avid reader, it also brought to mind a wonderful poem by Leontia Flynn – The furthest distances I’ve travelled (https://www.poetryinternational.com/en/poets-poems/poems/poem/103-8495_THE-FURTHEST-DISTANCES-I-VE-TRAVELLED) , which ends on the killer lines:
“…the furthest distances I’ve travelled
have been those between people. And what survives
of holidaying briefly in their lives.”
which seem especially pertinent to me when I think of coaching.
In coaching, we work together for a short time and within that period get you from where you’ve started, often becalmed, to the place you need to be. It’s not always the destination that people thought they were planning towards, but it’s always the right one, for you, the right one for you now.
The mountainous metaphor of our logo, and the imagery of the journey means different things to James and I and for the clients we work with. And much like coaching, the key isn’t looking for consensus, it’s about finding the path that works for you.
It seems funny, looking back, at how unsettled I felt with all the mountain imagery. I’d like to thank James for his patience at all my queries along the lines of “Should the logo be rolling hills? I mean, anyone who knows me, knows I’m not a climber – even if I did grow up around hills and love going up them.”
One of the consistent bits of feedback that we’ve had from clients and collaborators has been about how they love the mountain climbing metaphor. It really helps them to understand some of the quite abstract stuff that you need to bring together in the process of coaching. I was, not for the first time in my life, being a bit literal. No one has yet approached us asking for us to coach them on an actual mountain expedition.
But it was an important part of the process for me to absorb James’ idea, reflect upon it and reconstruct it (in my own way) to make it authentic to myself.
There’s a famous passage in the fifth volume of Proust’s epic tome (waaaaayyyy past the dipping the cake in the tea) which is helpfully paraphrased:
“The real voyage of discovery consists, not in seeking new landscapes, but in seeing with new eyes.”
Which has always seemed particularly pertinent to me in the field of coaching. Through the questions we ask, we’re able to help people look upon their life, their career and their challenges, from a different angle, and in that way see new paths and routes and possibilities of where they want to go.
So, not just a literal mountain peak.
Anyway, those early debates having been resolved here’s some highlights from the first six months:
James has put together an amazing suite of 11 (probably more by the time this blog goes live) free coaching tools and resources https://www.aspirationexperts.com/resources , to help both coachees and coaches get the stuff from their brains down and out onto the page (providing firm foundations and material for the subsequent coaching sessions). We’ve been using these in our coaching practice and getting great feedback and also had fellow public sector coaches talk about how they’re using them in their organisations. From a personal perspective it’s been rather lovely to chat about potential blog topics and common themes that have emerged from our coaching and then weeks (or months) later, seeing how James has gathered together thoughts, ideas, research and melded them into these wonderful resources. Huge kudos to him for all his efforts.
I’ve enjoyed setting the time aside each fortnight to write these blogs, and to draw all the eclectic thoughts and influences and experience together to set down and share. The realist in me knew that I was never going to be doing this for the clicks, but it’s been genuinely heartwarming to see which bits resonated, which themes I got pushback on and to know that people have found it handy and enriching in their own coaching relationships. In raw numbers the blog has accreted 30000 words, attracted well over 600 readers from over 30 countries. Looks like there’s increasingly return customers too, so I hope I’ve not been putting anyone off too much.
Getting the (external to the public sector) coaching underway. While the blog and the resources are fun, we’re here to coach, and it’s been good to get to the meat of our work too, and to have the luxury to be working with clients and organisations whose values align with our own (and thus, for whom the wins that they’re gaining feel particularly worthwhile to us as coaches too).
It’s also been really heartwarming working closely with the dynamo that is James Frowen, and appreciating the boundless enthusiasm he has for the work.
Yeah yeah yeah, enough with the love in. What have been the challenges?
There’s been some (minor) admin fun and games. From the bank trying to get its head around what the business was actually selling, to the Companies House website deciding that our address was too long and so rejecting the original company registration (why make a box that can accept more words than the process will?).
Being our own IT department, for things like website formatting snags when viewing the website on different platforms, to the past month or so in which this blog, having gone more official and professional looking with its own dedicated web address, was suddenly deemed too risky for the government firewalls (I think that’s resolved now). Little did I realise how edgy my musings on poetry and music and coaching would be!
It’ll also not escape anyone’s notice that we’ve launched a business into one of the tougher commercial environments of recent times and we’ve not got some magic bullet to have avoided all that. Transferring our strong reputations in the Public sector into the commercial sphere is an ongoing effort, but one that we’ve started to notice bearing fruit over the summer. Coming from a relatively standing start, it’s nice to have some irons in the fire and some exciting stuff starting to emerge. It’s also a privilege to be able to pursue the work we want to pursue, in which we can make the best impact for our coachees (and in which we can grow and expand our skills).
And finally, there’s been the odd crossed wires between James and I, which may have been more problematic if we didn’t have such a good working relationship and willingness to talk it through or out. (It’s invariably been a relief when we’ve gone “hang on!!!!” only to realise that we (I) have got the wrong end of the stick).
So what’s next? More blogs, more tools, more surprises in store. More working with clients, companies, organisations and charities to help them progress. More eclectic diversions and more mountaineering metaphors.
Thanks to all of you as well, for reading and for cheering us on and offering your (invariably constructive) feedback.
“You change your view to change your worldview” – Kristin Hersh – LAX ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdHs-YuqYKc )