To change your professional life, get help from a coach
7 December 2010
Read by 1661 persons
Emilie Devienne, along with Martine Cerf, published "Want to change?" with Larousse editions. As a coach, she explains the questions you need to ask yourself before throwing it all away. What is the use of a coach in case of reorientation?
Stress at work, a susceptible boss... Who has never wanted to throw it all away to access a professional life that combines autonomy and self-fulfillment? With the days getting shorter, the desire may be even stronger. For coach Emilie Devienne (*), support will help the candidate for change to ask the right questions. Which always remains the best way to find the best answers!
Is the economic crisis a good time to change your life?
There is no good or bad time to change. You just have to do it having thought about the right reasons to do so. Changing should never be an end in itself, it is a means. A change that is not creative is of no interest. In times of crisis, even more precaution must be taken and you must get help.
How do you recognize a good coach?
Word of mouth is the first method. If you walk through the door of a coach you don't know, I advise you to check that they belong to a professional association. The title of coach is not reserved, anyone can be one. It is therefore important to check that they are under supervision somewhere. This guarantees that they are not an amateur. Then, that doesn't mean that they will be a magician who will solve all the problems. It is also important to feel a connection with your coach during a face-to-face meeting. If a coach doesn't inspire you, change them.
What influences your approach to the desire for change the most?
There are many criteria, but the life cycle plays a determining role. You don't support a 25-year-old young woman and a fifty-year-old senior executive in the same way. Often, the latter may want to throw everything away and start a new life. After a career emerges what I call the desire for a "bed and breakfast" in Lozère. In these cases, you have to stop and think. I remember this woman who wanted to completely change jobs and had never had the idea of going to see someone who did this much desired profession!
What can a coach bring to someone who wants to change their professional life?
Whatever the field concerned, the coach brings two things: permission and protection. During the coaching session, the candidate for change gives themselves permission to think about a question that concerns them. It's a framework where they can let go, let themselves go, dare to finally think differently, without fearing that they will be told all the blocking speeches that you can hear, such as: "you will never succeed" or "you? Become independent? But you're always overdrawn". The coach is there first to listen and help the person move forward in their project, without prejudice about who they are.
But a friend would do that very well, wouldn't they?
Sometimes, yes. But coaching provides a framework. The person comes to see us. This commits them. In general, when you start coaching, it lasts several weeks or several months. You can change the world with a friend one evening. When you are in a coaching process, you work between sessions, you think about what the coach tells you.
You talked about permission and protection. What does protection consist of?
The coach is not judgmental. They listen and help the coachee to express and develop their project. They lead them to take stock of their strengths and skills, but also their weaknesses. Together, they can reflect on what is blocking them or what is behind this desire to change. Sometimes, these are dissatisfactions that have nothing to do with work that are expressed. The first meetings during coaching are precisely used to better understand the request that is expressed.
(*) Emilie Devienne also recently supervised "Entreprise, mode d'emploi", a guide to managing your daily work life, also published by Larousse.
Published October 7, 2009
Posted online December 7, 2010
emploi-pro.fr
Stress at work, a susceptible boss... Who has never wanted to throw it all away to access a professional life that combines autonomy and self-fulfillment? With the days getting shorter, the desire may be even stronger. For coach Emilie Devienne (*), support will help the candidate for change to ask the right questions. Which always remains the best way to find the best answers!
Is the economic crisis a good time to change your life?
There is no good or bad time to change. You just have to do it having thought about the right reasons to do so. Changing should never be an end in itself, it is a means. A change that is not creative is of no interest. In times of crisis, even more precaution must be taken and you must get help.
How do you recognize a good coach?
Word of mouth is the first method. If you walk through the door of a coach you don't know, I advise you to check that they belong to a professional association. The title of coach is not reserved, anyone can be one. It is therefore important to check that they are under supervision somewhere. This guarantees that they are not an amateur. Then, that doesn't mean that they will be a magician who will solve all the problems. It is also important to feel a connection with your coach during a face-to-face meeting. If a coach doesn't inspire you, change them.
What influences your approach to the desire for change the most?
There are many criteria, but the life cycle plays a determining role. You don't support a 25-year-old young woman and a fifty-year-old senior executive in the same way. Often, the latter may want to throw everything away and start a new life. After a career emerges what I call the desire for a "bed and breakfast" in Lozère. In these cases, you have to stop and think. I remember this woman who wanted to completely change jobs and had never had the idea of going to see someone who did this much desired profession!
What can a coach bring to someone who wants to change their professional life?
Whatever the field concerned, the coach brings two things: permission and protection. During the coaching session, the candidate for change gives themselves permission to think about a question that concerns them. It's a framework where they can let go, let themselves go, dare to finally think differently, without fearing that they will be told all the blocking speeches that you can hear, such as: "you will never succeed" or "you? Become independent? But you're always overdrawn". The coach is there first to listen and help the person move forward in their project, without prejudice about who they are.
But a friend would do that very well, wouldn't they?
Sometimes, yes. But coaching provides a framework. The person comes to see us. This commits them. In general, when you start coaching, it lasts several weeks or several months. You can change the world with a friend one evening. When you are in a coaching process, you work between sessions, you think about what the coach tells you.
You talked about permission and protection. What does protection consist of?
The coach is not judgmental. They listen and help the coachee to express and develop their project. They lead them to take stock of their strengths and skills, but also their weaknesses. Together, they can reflect on what is blocking them or what is behind this desire to change. Sometimes, these are dissatisfactions that have nothing to do with work that are expressed. The first meetings during coaching are precisely used to better understand the request that is expressed.
(*) Emilie Devienne also recently supervised "Entreprise, mode d'emploi", a guide to managing your daily work life, also published by Larousse.
Published October 7, 2009
Posted online December 7, 2010
emploi-pro.fr
