The Unstuck Lawyer®
when one of those days is every day
Coaching is a specialist and effective tool for greater professional and personal success.
Coaching takes you from where you are now, to where you want to be, quicker and easier.
Coaching with Simonacombines a range of fields from coaching, psychologically, neurolinguistic programming and more, to help:
- using psychological tricks & tips for quicker change
- learn approaches to make habitual change easier
- have extra support whilst creating and implementing change
- achieve bigger goals quicker than trying to figure out what is not working alone and what to do about it
What is coaching?
Think of coaching with me as a personal trainer for your brain. Making the change you want but from the inside out. Habits, motivation, self-assurance, new knowledge, all combine for a new outcome.
My job is to help you develop your skills in various areas, develop your thoughts about you, and help you create the mental change (leading to the external change) that you want.
For some clients that is :
- a sounding board every 6 weeks and support in staying action focused
- for others, it is focused on a new position, role, or launching a firm
- and, finally, for some clients, it is about removing some internal niggles, that are getting in the way from them being truly happy at work
You can possibly do it all yourself, but has probably taken a while already, or you want it to be easier even if you have just started.
Coaching with me means we are working with the subconscious psychology, rather than pretending it does not exist.
Most of our thoughts, feelings, and actions are influenced but our deeper beliefs of who we are, what we can do, how we can cope, how we should behave when certain situations arise.
They impact on our motivation, drive, and overall chances of successfully implementing the change we seek. Or, depending on the goal, achieving the outcome we want. I work with all aspects, to offer greater success.
Whilst each individual aims are different, here are some examples of typical topics covered for legal professionals:
Coaching for Law firm owners/Partners
Time – Most legal professionals have competing demands on their time. This increases as we move into management and business development roles. Despite knowing practically what we need to do, to protect time for non-client work, clients often struggle to sustain this. For each individual, there may be different reasons why procrastination, difficulties with saying no, letting go, or avoiding certain work might arise. All of which influence what we do, or do not do, each day. Deeper delving into what is happening, allows us to create a more sustainable change to controlling our diaries.
Teams – Many of us have not had a great deal of leadership or management experience before stepping into these roles. We have not had sight of others who demonstrate these skills well. Likewise, training can be ad hoc and may not match our personal needs. Coaching, combined training during or separately to the sessions, helps explore skill gaps and other areas that impact confidence. Many traditional tools for ‘challenging conversations’ are also not helpful in sustaining relationships.
Self – Many legal professionals have a strong inner critic. Perfectionism, imposter phenomenon (the idea that we will be found out for not being as good as they think we are), fixed mindsets (I am not good at this (often non-legal work)), and other unhelpful beliefs of ‘not being good enough’ at different times is commonplace. Some can be more pervasive in their impact on enjoying work or creating thriving firms, than others. This can impact on going home at night, completing work in a timely manner, feeling comfortable charging clients (also linked to money mindset or money beliefs), worrying about making mistakes and more. Coaching, combined with neurolinguistic programming, and other tools, can help remove, change or significantly diminish these, creating very different outcomes and work/life experiences.
Sounding board – It can be lonely at the top, and having protected time, to sit, and think out loud can be priceless! Likewise, having someone to challenge, help with motivation, and support ongoing change makes a difference. What would you do differently, if every time you tried something new, you had someone’s support to keep it going until it was a new habit, of the new goal was done?
These are some of the areas lawyers benefit from coaching. Whilst sometimes we can work through it alone, it can take a lot longer, there is a lot more trial and error, and we may not get there if we find ourselves in a cyclical cycle of trying over and over again.
Want to find out more? Get in touch for a courtesy call to see if it can help with your goals.
Other coaching for legal professionals
- feeling more confident in charging clients
- working through upcoming promotions when new to a role
- upgrading management and leadership skills
- creating change to knee-jerk reactions, and default responses, to certain situations, or conflict
- speaking up in meetings or standing out more for promotional opportunities
- determining career choices, purpose, or future planning
- developing more self-confidence in certain areas of life or work
- strengthening networking or presentation skills
- finding ways to slow down and enjoy more from life
What are the different types of coaching?
The descriptor (ie leadership, executive, business, life) is often less important than the experience of the person in coaching and their approach. Coaching in the purest sense (outside of sport) is non-advisory. Therefore, a business coach who reviews your strategy and processes, and gives you advice, is usually referred to as an advisor or consultant (even though they may have that in their title). Trained coaches use different skills for you to reach your own solutions, and whilst they will share tips and skills, they won’t tell you what to do. Because if it doesn’t suit your personality, and life, and choices, you simply won’t do it! You may also prefer a coach who has expertise in the field you want to work within.
How does it compare to training?
Coaching allows individuals to determine what strategies and techniques work, specifically for them. Training is generic, so to capture everyone’s needs. Unlike most training, coaching allows individuals to try out a new approach, reflect, and then gain feedback before trying again. Allowing for ongoing growth and permanent change. Training is rarely fully implemented despite good intentions, for many reasons, including time and motivation to focus on it over a longer period of time. Or tried once, and if unsuccessful, then forgotten, as it is hard to keep doing that alone.
What about mentoring?
Coaching, is non-advisory, whereas mentoring or consultancy, includes guidance and advice. For example, I work with coaching, and sharing gained wisdom, depending on what is needed, to reach the goal or outcome chosen.
Is it counselling?
Coaching is about focusing on the future and where you want to be, whereas counselling has a greater focus on the past. Whilst our past influences our thinking and behaviours, this is used as a tool within coaching, without dwelling on that past situation. I often work with clients who are about to, or have recently had counselling, and are now focusing on moving forward.
Coaching & Mentoring
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Your Own Personal Trainer
A great comparator is a personal trainer. It may even be that we are struggling to motivate, or do exercise regularly and are now training for a specific race or sport, or have faced a recent change in our lifestyle, or even an injury. A personal trainer creates a bespoke package for our current fitness and specific goals. They then help push us to go further, and with great technique. They keep us motivated and accountable! This means we get our targeted results quicker.
Why would a high achiever want coaching?
Many of my clients are motivated. Whilst they may already feel reasonably accomplished in some areas of their life, they now want to do something else, enhance a skill, find more purpose, or create a better balance. Alternatively, they want to change something that they no longer want to put up with in their life.
Many athletes, actors, high profile leaders have mindset coaches in their team.
Ready for success?
Book your free online coaching session today.
