In 2019 I was the successful candidate for a system leadership post in nursing for the West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (WYAAT). Up until this point, I had worked in a variety of nursing roles in cardiology at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust. In my new role I needed to communicate and engage effectively with a wide variety of stakeholders and professionals, to navigate the different structures across organisations and build successful relationships through influence.

Moving into a system leadership role was and still is an evolving learning curve and I sought coaching to help guide my transition and development. Coaching is very personal and can be emotive and so finding the right coach for me was important. I found someone who was an experienced coach from my host organisation, who I had not previously worked with, and did not share the same profession. This meant they didn’t come with any preconceptions or judgements. We had an initial chat, which I now know is the ‘building rapport’ stage of coaching, to see if we could work together, discussed ground rules (contracting), and set initial goals.

One of my earliest goals was to learn how to communicate effectively with a senior executive. This might seem small, but it had a massive impact on my role and development. I had a variety of objectives that we worked through together and the sessions enabled me to explore various scenarios, analyse what was really happening, prioritise what was possible and not dwell on what I could not achieve or what had not previously worked.

Coaching enabled me to navigate the ‘why, how, what, where and when'. I was lucky enough to be able to access coaching at various times in my leadership role, however, looking back I would have benefitted from coaching earlier in my career, to help me make the right choices first time and transition more smoothly from my clinical environment to a role in leadership.

Coaching had such a positive impact on me that when an opportunity to apply for an accredited course to become a qualified coach came up, I jumped at the chance. When I qualify, I will be able to provide coaching to others and my journey will have come full circle, with my first coach becoming my coaching supervisor.

My favourite quote about coaching is: “a coach has some great questions for your answers; a mentor has some great answers for your questions”. There is a right time to access coaching, which only the coachee will know. When you are ready, explore what coaching offers are out there, internally, externally, or across our region, and commit to doing the work. Please feel free to contact WYAAT if you have any questions – WYAATprogramme@nhs.net, or visit My Coaching Network, open to anyone working or volunteering in health and social care across West Yorkshire.