Coaches Corner with Dr Terri Simpkin
1. Who or what inspired you to do what you do?
My work provides insight and academic rigor to ideas, practices and knowledge that supports coaches in their work. As it relates to my international study of the impostor phenomenon (it’s not a syndrome!) all my professional interests combine. These include leadership, gender and broader inclusion. All of this has both a personal and workplace/social element that can be improved through the coaching relationship and this is what inspires me to keep going with the work.
2. What do you find the most challenging about your work?
As an academic and as a consultant supporting the work of others, the main and infuriating challenge is the proliferation of ‘dumbing down’, oversimplification and misrepresentation of the impostor phenomenon. I see article upon article that are factually incorrect being dressed up as ‘imposter syndrome’ with ‘quick and dirty’ responses that diminish the gravity and complexity of the experience. I spend a good deal of my time telling people ‘IT’S NOT A SYNDROME!!!’
3. What’s the biggest lesson you have learnt in recent years?
I’ve learned in recent years that one can’t ‘boil the ocean’. Seeing the big picture makes me want to take it all on, but my learning of late has taught me to persist with that which makes a difference to individuals.
4. What advice would you give to new coaches?
There’s a lovely quote from Sir Terry Pratchett’sI Shall Wear Midnightthat sums up what it is to work in the service of others. “Do the job in front of you” is a call to action for those who, by virtue of their vocation, are charged with doing the right thing by those around them and those who may rely on them. It is a sentiment that encapsulates the notion of working with sound ethics and more of a view on the needs of others than one’s own agenda.
5. If you could wave a magic wand and have one wish for you or your coaching practice, what would it be and why?
One wish? I would wish that the work that I do has impact. I’d wish that people might come to realise that ‘stories’ that they’ve laid down for themselves, or those that others have constructed for them, are mutable. ‘Stories’, internal narratives, can be changed to bring about real, lasting and profound improvement to personal and professional lives. I’d wish that people find the courage and fortitude to create their own stories rather than be bound to those that might not be serving them.