Tag: coaching

December 3, 2024

ACC ICF Certification

I am excited and proud to announce that I received my Associate Certified Coach Accreditation (ACC) from the International Coaching Federation (ICF). Through my educational training at the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute, 100+ coaching hours, and dedicated mentor coaching, I demonstrated knowledge and emerging proficiency in the application of the ICF Core Competencies, Code of Ethics, and fundamental definition of coaching. 

Earning this credential requires a deep commitment to high ethical standards and proven professional competence, validated through rigorous assessment. My journey has been transformative, allowing me to grow tremendously in my skills, mindset, and approach as a coach. Coaching beautifully interweaves my experiences as an educator, parent, and partner, creating a unique lens through which I support client growth.

I am grateful to all my teachers, coaches, mentors, and clients who have been part of this incredible journey. As I continue to develop my practice, I look forward to learning and growing with each new and returning client.

October 17, 2024

Name, Claim, Aim

My son named, claimed, and aimed his strengths to climb to the top, and we can do that as leaders.

Focusing on your top 5 strengths in your Clifton Strengths Assessment can be powerful! In my coach certification training through Gallup, I learned to help clients name, claim, and aim their strengths.  My son is a climber. I imagine he uses a similar tactic when approaching a climb. He knows what he is good at. He looks for spaces and grips where he can leverage his strengths. He aims his abilities and skills to get to the top of the climb.

When you name your strengths, you take a deep dive into how they show up for you and how you define each one in your life. It is important to think about what each one means to you. Self assurance can be defined differently for different individuals. Some folks might define self assurance as an extrovert who likes to take bold risks.

September 5, 2024

Balancing is a Series of Falls

What would it look like to view falling as a part of balancing, mistakes as a part of learning and growing, and a necessary means to an end?

Photo by Caique Nascimento on Unsplash

Balancing is a series of falls. My yoga teacher said something about how balancing is just the process of falling in and out over and over again. While I wobbled slowly in tree pose, I had a light bulb moment. Balancing is just a series of falling in and out. Someone rarely balances right into a tree pose. You need to ground yourself, ready your limbs, fall in and out of balance, practice a lot, and reflect! 

When I taught at an independent school in Marin County California, there was a class called Energy Time, a sort of combo of meditation and Aikido. At that time, an experienced and skilled teacher taught us to fall and get back up.

August 14, 2024

Understanding the Shadow Side of Your Strengths

Do you know the shadow side of your strengths?

Photo by Martino Pietropoli on Unsplash

One of the most intriguing parts of learning about my strengths was also learning about the blind spots or as I like to think of them: the shadow side. As I read about the blind spots in my strengths report, I felt as though my husband and children wrote the statements because they are the people who know me best. The statements spoke the truth and were such keen observations. For example, discipline is one of my top ten strengths. I bring order to processes and see the details, I am prepared, and the shadow side or the barrier is that I tend to be rigid. My family knows my shadow side very well!

Paying attention to your strengths is important. Reflecting on what happens when we lean too far into those strengths without reflection is vital.

July 29, 2024

Leveraging Your Strengths

Leverage your strengths to discover your full potential.

Photo by LOGAN WEAVER | @LGNWVR on Unsplash

Leverage your strengths to discover your full potential. When I was new to teaching, I used to think of strengths and weaknesses as two different things on opposite sides and disconnected from one another. Your strengths were in one silo and your weaknesses in another. As I gained more experience in life and as a teacher, I realized that our strengths can be used to leverage our areas of growth. Strengths and areas of growth are connected. This helped me immensely as a teacher of young children. Working with a student’s strengths builds confidence,  a clear understanding of how they learn best, and a way to influence their areas of growth.

As a student this summer these ideas were reinforced when I completed my training as a Clifton Strengths Finder Coach. Before the course, I took the Clifton Strengths Assessment and learned about my top 10 strengths in depth.

May 24, 2024

Understand Your Power

Understand your power and influence.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Teachers, coaches, and leaders understand your power and influence so that you can build the skills within your students, clients, and direct reports. In the first part of my teaching career, I did not truly understand or appreciate the power and influence I had over my students. Statements and comments I made to my students were taken as the honest truth and solid facts. Sure, I had to make things fun and engaging to keep their interest but what I said mattered and counted. My students were influenced by my words by the simple fact that I was their teacher. I held the most power in the room. It was up to me to set the tone for the classroom, help students feel safe and welcomed, and build a sense of belonging. When those basic needs were disrupted, I was the person with the power and ability to respond and make changes to bring our community back to safety and belonging.

May 3, 2024

The Power of Reflection

Reflection is a powerful tool.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez ???????? on Unsplash

Reflection is a powerful tool. It is the bridge between practice and growth and can lead to transformational change. Most of us live through our days barely stopping to think. I have discovered that I can practice endlessly at my craft to improve. Practice alone does not lead to transformative growth. Reflection serves as the bridge between practice and growth, not transactional growth but transformative growth.

Throughout my 30s and 40s, I functioned much like a robot going through the motions of work, taking care of kids, and then doing it all over the same watch day. Sometimes, I would not even remember the drive to work or home. I just knew I got there safely. 

I worked hard and practiced my craft daily but was going through the motions. I grew as an educator and became better at my job.

March 21, 2024

Standing Steady Between Praise or Blame

“When we find our center and our balance in the midst of these opposites…. we can find our ease and our freedom in the midst of these changing winds.”-Gayathri Narayanan

Photo by Jean-Pierre Brungs on Unsplash

What does standing steady between praise and blame mean to you? How do you respond to praise and blame? Do you crave and seek out praise? Do you resist, ignore, or avoid blame? As an educator and a school leader, I was told to develop a ‘thick skin’ or ‘armor’ when blame and negative comments came my way. Alternatively, I was told to soak in all the praise when it came my way. I was not standing steady between praise and blame. I was being pulled from one end to another, placing my value and worth on other people’s opinions. I have realized that may not be the way to go and there are other options.

January 18, 2024

Be a Human with a Human

Photo by Jackson David on Unsplash

I first heard this phrase when attending the ten-day intensive part of my executive coaching certification through Berkeley. “Be a human with a human.” noted one of the faculty coaches before they launched us into one of our first practicums where we coached a stranger in front of each other and received feedback. I was so nervous and was at the beginning of this journey, not feeling like I had the skills as yet to do a great job. A lot of self-doubt was creeping into my mind until I heard this phrase. Being a human with a human seemed doable to me. It was a reality that felt approachable, comfortable, and true. After all, we are just two human beings talking to each other. 

I saw the true expression of this phrase in a brilliant movie. Recently, I had the privilege to watch an early screening of Ava Duvernay’s new film, Origin, about the author Isabel Wilkerson’s journey to writing her book Caste while coping with personal loss.

October 6, 2023

Teacher, Coach, or Superhero?

When you were a child, did you think your favorite teacher was a kind of superhero?

Photo by Ali Kokab on Unsplash

I recently had the opportunity to serve as an alumni coachee at the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute during the in-person institute held at Berkeley. When I took the certification course, it was completely online and I saw the talented and skilled faculty through my Zoom screen. When I arrived at the Berkeley Faculty Club on this very hot day in October, I saw some of the incredible faculty that taught me during my course. Benjamin was playing the piano. Jennie came over to give me a hug. I saw Doy and Praew in the distance. It felt like celebrity sightings! These were the skilled and thoughtful people who taught me so much and I was actually seeing them in real life. I was surprised by my reaction. I am an adult and know that these are real human beings even though I saw them only on Zoom.