Emma Young, HR Manager at VITEC

I was having issues with confidence and looking to find ways to help deal with strong personalities. 

There has been a few, from working out what ‘my rights’ are in a conversation and realising that the other person no matter who they are, also have the same rights. 

Another was ‘progress not perfection’. I was being so hard on myself to be perfect and do so much in a day, when really any kind of progress is better than none and good is enough at times. So when I feel myself slipping back into old habits, I repeat ‘progress not perfection' and I find this helps me to refocus and celebrate the progress I have made on the variety of tasks, no matter how small. 

Amanda helped me to work out what I needed at each particular session and sometimes it wasn’t connected to the main reason for signing up.

It was great to focus on me as my role is to focus on all employees so to have that time really was beneficial. I found it helped to work things through and perhaps look at things from a different perspective.  

Your honesty and ideas. It’s always great to get honest feedback and perhaps make me think what I was saying about myself to myself wasn’t true. 

When you persuaded me, well gave me the option 😊, that it would be good for my confidence to get feedback from people I work with. No matter how eeky it felt asking for this feedback, it certainly helped me with my confidence when I received it.  I am very appreciative of this as it will continue to help me believe in myself.

Fun – most importantly for me you made it fun. We had a laugh and had great conversations. 

Thank you for it all. 

Insightful, inspiring, eye opening and got me thinking about taking action and not being afraid to try a different way should something not work. 

You start with an area you would like to focus on and then it grows from there, don’t be afraid to try something out of your comfort zone or change the way you phrase things to yourself as this can really change things up for you.

My experience was positive and has really helped me to be kinder to myself and acknowledge my ability in my role. 

I thoroughly enjoyed our sessions, they were always the highlight of my week and I would always come away happy that I had learnt something else about myself or that would help me to see things differently.

You really helped me to see that I was good at my job and not just winging it as it sometimes feels. Through the feedback I will be ever grateful that you gave me a gentle nudge to do this. I really struggled to begin with as it was so uncomfortable but I truly relish that now as the results have definitely given me a boost and helped my confidence. I can see now that I do add value to managers and help them in their role.

Thank you so very much.  

I was in need of help, as I felt my career and leadership ambitions were a pipedream and I was not on the right path. I wanted to understand and learn how I could learn the often-problematic abilities required to persuade and influence people, even those over who I had no direct authority.

Identifying and improving my leadership style by formulating and implementing effective leadership strategies. Sometimes hard work is like a pie eating contest where the prize is more pies. If you don't have all the facts yet, you shouldn't have a strong opinion yet. 

I felt like I had stalled in my career and having an external and non-bias opinion helped. This new perspective made me feel empowered and provided me with tools helping my thoughts around leadership become more natural. It's always worth your time to show you care about others.

Transparency, kindness and compassion. Making me feel I am capable of handling any challenge and the strengths I have. The knowledge share is not something which will last a few weeks or months, this is something which will improve my leadership journey, and have invaluable impact on my long-term success. 

A leadership coach was not just an instructor; they were also a counsellor and motivator - a partner. In your career you need someone to play the devil’s advocate who will be judgement free and a person to  bounce ideas off, and a guide to help navigate situations and communication.  You won't always be a priority to others, and that's why you have to be a priority to yourself. Learn to respect yourself, take care of yourself, and  become your own support system. Your needs matter. Start meeting them. Don't wait for others to choose you. Choose yourself.

Once in a while, we’re given a very rare and special opportunity to connect with someone unique. I would like you to know that I am so sincerely grateful that we had the chance to meet, you are one of the most virtuous and caring people I have ever met. You helped me accept myself and clear doubt which had lived like a monster under the stairs for many years. I used to think I could fix anything in my life if I just tried a little harder or gave it more time. But your help showed me that some things aren't meant to be 'fixed.' Sometimes all you can do is make peace with it and move forward, knowing you were doing the best you could. Kindness like yours can move mountains.