At Crosworks Career and Talent Strategists, we have an experienced, professional team of executive, leadership and career coaches. Each has a unique background that brings well founded insights to their coaching-client relationships.
This month, we’d like you to meet Emily Smith, leadership and career strategist, and hear directly from Emily about her coaching experience and how small changes can make a huge impact.
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Title: Leadership and Career Strategist
How many years have you been a coach? 7 years
What led you to become a coach? I spent three years in law school and another 12 years as a lawyer being really unhappy most of that time. I was “successful” in the eyes of my employers, clients, family and friends. However, I was never happy practicing law and my own career coach helped me to figure out why.
It boiled down to two important things: strengths and core values. As a lawyer, I wasn’t focusing on work that showcased my unique personality strengths. Much of my work conflicted with my natural personality and behavioral style, and working so hard to resolve the conflict was exhausting. I didn’t have the awareness to understand that my natural personality weaknesses weren’t character flaws or failures. That took a serious toll on my confidence. Also, I didn’t understand what deeply motivated me. I didn’t know my own core values or my own personal definition of success. I thought I knew those things, but I had them confused with what other people valued and what I thought I should value.
I now realize that blindly taking new jobs without comparing them against my strengths and core values was a big gamble that I never won! And lacking that awareness prevented me from being able to establish long-term career goals. It was truly a snowball effect.
It wasn’t until I hired my own career coach that I understood the importance of those self awareness tools, among so many others. Through that process, I realized I didn’t want to practice law anymore. And learning the importance of those tools made me want to help others learn them, too.
What was your last job before you started executive coaching? Account Executive, VP of Sales at Marsh Insurance Brokerage
How would you describe your style? Energetic, collaborative, positive and process- oriented
What types of clients do you work with most often? My career coaching practice runs the gamut. I work with all ages, from students, recent graduates and young professionals to people nearing retirement. My executive coaching practice tends to focus on mid-senior level executives. I also work with corporate teams facilitating workshops, such as high performing teams, strengths and leadership development, strategic planning, team building, etc.
What are some of the most impactful outcomes for a person who participates in executive coaching? Oh, there are so many!
Here are a few:
* increased self awareness
* helpful insight into the perceptions of others
* honest feedback
* a roadmap for achieving realistic goals and habits in support of them
* accountability
* systems/processes that can be applied in other contexts beyond the coaching relationship
Is there anything else you’d like to share about what you’ve seen in your coaching experience? In my executive coaching experience, achieving goals doesn’t always require big changes. In many cases, all it takes are small tweaks and adjustments to make huge impacts. My objective is to help clients identify the most efficient path to achieving outcomes.