Coaches Corner with Tim Segaller

Getting to know Tim Segaller who is leading our September workshop on mindfulness in coaching.

1.  Who or what inspired you to become a coach?
My life’s trajectory propelled me into coaching. For some years before training – and during some unsatisfying jobs – I had a sense that interpersonal work might be my true metier. Getting into mindfulness and meditation played a big part in this, as it’s all about an inner journey of discovery. Then when I started to teach mindfulness, I realised I had a natural ability to be a catalyst for others’ process of learning and insight. When I decided to quit my last ever ‘regular’ job, I recalled a coach friend saying he thought I’d be suited to it – and when I started my training I realised very quickly that he was right, and that coaching practice would be a fantastic partner for mindfulness training.

2.  What is your favourite thing about being a coach?
This may be a bit of cliché – but it’s true: my favourite thing is the sense of privilege of being trusted by clients to enter into their private and intimate worlds, with a view to supporting them towards real and lasting change. It’s such a special feeling to share this with another human being. And along the way, I get to learn so much about human nature, including my own!

3.  What is the thing you find the most challenging as a coach?
I’m lucky not to struggle with the common challenge of feeling burdened by ‘holding’ people’s difficulties or emotions in between sessions – I’m able to put it all down. However, during the session I sometimes feel drawn into trying to do too much or make change happen quicker than it naturally will. I have to keep reminding myself that real change for people needs to come at their own pace, on their own terms.

4.  What advice would you give to new coaches?
Once you are well grounded in basic coaching principles and techniques, find your own personal style and inhabit it deeply. You can only be the best coach as you, not as some idealised version of yourself. Plugging mindfulness again… perhaps the best way to find your own personal style is allowing yourself to respond authentically in the moment, and mindfulness skills can really help with this.

5.  If you could wave a magic wand and have one wish for you or your coaching practice, what would it be and why?
Building on my previous answers, I would wish to find ways to get more and more out of the client’s way in the coaching process. Of course I hope that I am able to do this often, but I sense that there is always more to learn in this respect – and that old habits of trying to solve other people’s problems for them run very deep in all of us. I suspect that the more one moves away from this, then the more masterful and fluid the coaching becomes. And, guess what…I believe that mindfulness techniques are the key here too!

Tuesday 24 September 2019 (18:15-20:00)
"Be here now: Using mindfulness in coaching" with Tim Segaller
Book Here for Tim Segaller