Coaching can enable healthcare professionals to reach their full potential (Stewart-Lord et al, 2017). Through active listening and powerful questioning, a coach can elicit the goals of those being coached and support the individual to achieve them. Having been with a supportive coach, I am a firm believer that a coaching relationship can empower individuals to realise their potential and help them to find direction when at a crossroads or facing challenges that might seem to have no solutions.
In 2019, I discovered how powerful coaching is when I hired a coach to help me overcome personal obstacles that I was facing. Within 6 months of starting the coaching relationship, the coach empowered me to take active steps to change my situation. This also unlocked the possibility for other goals that I had put on hold for many years, and I achieved them too. My confidence increased and I successfully applied for a specialist midwifery role supporting Black, Asian and other minority ethnic pregnant women and birthing people to improve pregnancy and childbirth outcomes.
The beauty of the coaching process was that all the answers that I needed to overcome my obstacles were already in me. The key role that my coach played was to empower me by using powerful compelling questions and active listening skills to help me unlock my untapped potential and give me tools to help me reach my destination.
Last year, I was advised that the People and Organisational Development Department at my NHS Trust was o˚ ering coaching support for sta˚ from minority ethnic backgrounds to help them to improve their performance at work. I enlisted on the programme and was matched with a coach, Ruth Oshikanlu, who looked like me. It was refreshing not to have to explain the systemic challenges that I was facing in detail, because my coach understood. She had an understanding of my working and lived experiences, which helped to build rapport and trust quickly.
My coach enabled me to believe that I could achieve whatever I could conceive. She helped me stretch my mindset and get out of my comfort zone. I was provided with tools that helped challenge my mindset, such as the Pareto principle (the 80/20 rule), to help me prioritise my work e˚ ectively and make good use of the time available, the 4 Ds (ditch, defer, delegate, do), for time management (Oshikanlu, 2016), and Steven Covey's (2013) circle of concern, in˝ uence and control from the book ‘7 habits of highly e˚ ective people’, which helped me to choose what to focus on, and the things I could either control or in˝ uence.
The benefits of coaching have been immense. Since starting coaching, I have been supported to progress my career, accessing valuable training and interview preparation, and I have been successful in obtaining more senior roles in my organisation. In November 2021, I received my first senior midwifery role as a band 8A, better births project lead. I was supported by my coach to challenge imposter syndrome by identifying the signs and developing strategies to counter it. I continue to grow in confidence in my role and have had the privilege of coaching students and junior colleagues to perform better at work and get more senior roles too.
Ruth was an excellent listener and gave me a safe space to express my feelings and perceptions of my situation. She empowered me with her positive outlook and asked me highly e˚ ective questions to helped me identify the root cause of imposter syndrome and other challenges I was facing.
Within a few weeks of receiving coaching from Ruth, I began to feel more confident and have more clarity about my potential to excel in my new role. My passion for midwifery was reignited, and I am looking forward to growing in my leadership skills. My presentation and public speaking skills have improved, I have developed the courage to approach more senior leaders and I am improving in my strategic thinking and planning. The transformations I have experienced are phenomenal and I have been able to achieve other goals outside work. I had always wanted to showcase my musical talents but was terrified. Coaching enabled me to challenged these fears and conquer them. A famous quote by Nelson Mandela states ‘I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not one who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear’.
Imposter syndrome may keep showing up as reduced self-belief. However, I have learned to manage it. I was able to release my first single, entitled N'Cata Duvida, a few weeks ago and know this will be the first of many songs that I will record.
‘My presentation and public speaking skills have improved, I have developed the courage to approach more senior leaders and I am improving in my strategic thinking and planning’
Having greatly benefited from coaching, one of my desires is to train as a coach, so that I can enable others to overcome their challenges in life and at work. Personally, and professionally, the belief my coach had in me, as well as the tools and strategies I have gained from being coached continue to support me in my current role. I have no doubt they will stay with me throughout my career. I encourage any colleagues, fellow midwives or midwifery students to enlist the support of an experienced coach to enable their growth and development.