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Boost your confidence and your coaching practice with an ILM qualification

29th Oct 2020 by Marian Way in ILM, Training

Investing in your own professional development can be a big step – and there are lots of courses to choose from. You can read the blurb and look at the prices, but how can you know whether it will really work for you, or what difference it will make?

There is nothing like a personal recommendation, so we caught up with two of our ILM graduates, Marjorie Raymond and Suzi Sharples. Marjorie completed her Level 5 Certificate in Effective Coaching and Mentoring earlier this year and Suzi achieved the Level 5 Diploma in October 2019.

We asked them how come they joined the course, what it was like and what difference it has made to their coaching…

First, a little bit of background

Marjorie is a Chartered Psychologist (Occupational), a fellow of both the British Psychological Society and Chartered Institute of Management and a qualified ACT (Acceptance and Commitment) coach. She specialises in neurodiversity cognitive assessments and coaching, organisational development such as recruitment, onboarding, performance development and organisational change. She works with a wide range of organisations including manufacturing, financial services, and charities.

Following a career as a Research Scientist with British Nuclear Fuels, Suzi trained as a Bowen therapist and as an NLP coach and trainer and was already working as a coach – for Genius Within and with private clients – when she decided to join our ILM course in the autumn of 2016. In 2018 she had a stroke, and despite this setback, was able to complete her Diploma and is now back working as a coach, and more recently as a coaching supervisor.

Why did you join our ILM training?

Both Marjorie and Suzi had heard good things about it from their colleagues in Genius Within and both already knew the tutors who would be delivering their training. They were both looking for a coaching course that would have a Clean Language focus and one which would enable them to help their coaches to develop their own goals and their own strategies. Marjorie also told us, “I liked the science and the credentials, plus it has a well-recognised track record in use.”

The course was like what?

Marjorie: “The group I joined was small and welcoming - and other attendees were also interested in neurodiversity. These factors meant the course fitted well with my learning style and subject preferences.

“I felt that everyone involved - the tutors, the marker, and my peers - cared and were committed to my success. I learned a lot and developed great skills in leading, cutting-edge methodologies. There was a lot of ‘You can do this’ motivation and I felt very supported throughout.”

Suzi: “I loved seeing the Clean Learning team demonstrating the tools and techniques in action. They also set up an excellent peer-support network that helped us to develop self-efficacy.”

What difference has it made to your coaching?

Marjorie: “I’m now at greater ease when first meeting people – and more able to follow the emotional tempo of a coaching session. The clean approach is flexible and also sits nicely with ACT - another model I use. For one assignment I discussed the relationship between these two models and how they can be use in tandem – and doing this work has helped me to understand both approaches more thoroughly. With my clients I can usually get to the core of an issue quickly and respectfully.

Suzi: “Having this qualification has unlocked the door to me being able to do supervision with other Genius Within coaches. I take my practice more seriously, am much better at contracting with my clients and setting expectations from the beginning. And I have since been on other coaching courses to broaden my knowledge.

I have also been complimented on my laser attention. Other compliments I have received include:

“You’ve helped me to see how I can impact my world not only personally but commercially”
“You never ceased to have confidence in my ability to do what was needed”
“I’m amazed that I can transfer my ability to ‘keep my wardrobe in order’ into my work context; it’s so much easier than having to learn a whole new skill”.
“Not only has your coaching changed how I work, you have changed my world”.

I love it when clients tell me things like this. And I know that it is thanks to Clean Language and to Clean Learning that I am able to give good quality attention to the right kinds of information so that clients surprise and delight themselves!

Is there anything that didn’t work well for you?

Marjorie: No. I was really happy with my whole journey.

Suzi: I would have liked a few more examples of previous participants’ papers, to help me get clearer about the required standard for the assignments.

Can you sum up the whole experience in 6 words?

Marjorie: Professional, friendly and committed to success.

Suzi: Professional, challenging, invigorating, supportive, eye-opening, confidence-building.

Get in touch if you'd like to know more

If you would like to join our ILM Level 5 Certificate or Diploma in Effective Coaching and Mentoring, you can book here. If you have any questions about the course, please get in touch. Not ready to sign up yet? Join our mailing list to receive news on this and other Clean Learning courses.

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

About Marian Way

A highly skilled facilitator and trainer, Marian, who founded Clean Learning in 2001, has developed and delivered training across the world. She is the author of Clean Approaches for Coaches, co-author, with James Lawley, of Insights in Space and co-author, with Caitlin Walker, of So you want to be… #DramaFree.

Marian is an expert Clean facilitator, an adept modeller, a programme writer and an inspirational trainer. She has a natural ability to model existing structures, find the connections between them and design new ways for people to learn. Marian was a leading innovator within the Weight Watchers organisation, which included developing the “points” strategy, a local idea that went on to become a global innovation. She is a director of both Clean Learning and Training Attention CIC, world leaders in clean applications for corporate, educational and community development. She designs our programmes and workbooks, leads workshops and teaches on all our courses. She’s trained people in Great Britain, Russia, Sweden, Germany, Australia, Japan and the USA. Marian is also a recognised Clean Assessor.