Considering change

It was a beautiful summer’s afternoon. I remember this because, earlier, I had walked across the river from the South Bank to Charing Cross. It is one of my favourite views – looking down towards St Paul’s on the right, the Houses of Parliament on the left, walking away from the thrill of the SouthBank and joining the mass of activity on the walk from Embankment to Trafalgar Square. I was in a meeting. The wonderful director I was working with was introducing me to a colleague. ‘When I met Kate it was as a GP’ my boss was saying, ‘but now, of course, I realise she is a change agent’. This made me stop. I felt this over­riding relief. All these ideas I have, people I connect with and the things I do in my professional and personal life, they are all bound in change. Change for the better. Change to make a difference. At times, I think it is an aspiration to make life the best it can be, physically or emotionally, for as many people as possible. At others times I recognise something about navigating the turbulent river of the human condition. I could explore why I am interested in change more. And, being psychologically minded, I naturally do. However, most of the time I simply embrace my interest in change and do the ‘doing’ of change. After that meeting, with that wonderful director, on that beautiful summer’s day, that’s exactly what I did. I am still not sure about the words “change agent”, but I certainly love what I do and “change” is the theme. If you would like to read more about Coaching for change, I have included a brief bibliography and my thoughts about the books below. John Whitmore’s ‘Coaching for Performance’ (2009) is a gentle introduction to coaching and his GROW model. I found it’s simplicity refreshing and enjoy the book for some light, yet effective, reading. Many will be familiar with Jenny Roger’s ‘Adult Learning’ text. Her ‘Coaching Skills. A Handbook’ is a deeper consider­ ation of coaching and helped me find Coaching’s meaning and place when I was coming from a therapeutic – clinical background. The NHS is investing in Coaching – to under­ stand what internal caching schemes are about, the strengths and challenges – Katherine St John­Brook’s book is excellent. Finally, so much is being said about resilience and it is such an interesting concept. To consider resilience within different paradigms Carol Pemberton’s book is a great start. Why this matters to me i am passionate about enabling people to articulate what they want to change and feel Coaching tools, in particular, can help people navigate change. ultimately this is with the aim of helping people fulfil their potential, improve their performance and be happier both in the workplace and their personal lives.