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Executive Coach Profile: Aryanne Oade
In April, I reviewed Starting and Running a Coaching Business: The Complete Guide to Setting Up and Managing a Coaching Practice
which proved to be one of the most popular articles I have written on this site. If you checked out the book, you’ll be delighted to hear about how author Aryanne Oade got started as a life coach.
Name of Business: Oade Associates
Your Name and Age: My name is Aryanne Oade and I am 42 years old.
Tell us about yourself: I live and work from my farm just outside a small village in Yorkshire. I keep a flock of 22 pet sheep and run my business from the farm.
What did you do before training as a coach and how was it making the transition?
- I am a Chartered Psychologist, having become chartered in 1991. At the time I worked for a business psychology consultancy. My role involved designing and facilitating two day professional skills workshops which were held all over the country. I travelled a lot. I thought that some of the managers who attended the workshops needed the time and personalized input that one-to-one work would provide them with if they were to make the changes they needed to make. I wanted to work in depth with one person at a time, providing them with a tailored, individual process which would help them develop the skills, outlook and versatility they’d need to perform more effectively at work. I also thought working one-on-one would be less draining for me than running two day events, which did turn out to the be the case. I left to start my own coaching business in early 1994. The transition was helpful because I could focus on working with clients and building up client relationships instead of handling the politics of organizational life. It was also liberating because I wasn’t drained from running two-day workshops and travelling every week. However, I also remember feeling quite isolated. It took time to build up a network of business contacts and also find a social life away from work.
When did you launch? 4th February 1994.
How did you get started?
I was asked to work one-to-one with an IT professional in an investment bank. She was struggling to build influence in the workplace and was seen as pushy and aggressive. I quickly found that talking about what was not working well for her – as well as what was working well – was ok but not enough. I decided to recreate the very workplace situations she was struggling to handle effectively using professional actors to take the roles of the other characters in the meetings. In the coaching meeting I’d ask my client to handle the role-play exactly as she had in real life when it went wrong for her. If there were two other people present at the real-life meeting we’d work with two actors in the coaching meeting; if there were three people at the real-life meeting, we’d work with three actors. Most often it was one other actor who recreated the dynamics of a one-on-one meeting with my client’s colleague or internal customer. After the role-play I’d carry out a thorough debrief highlighting what she did that worked well for her, what didn’t work well for her and then ask the actor for his/her input. I’d identify what behaviour my client used that – whether she realised it or not – contributed to her losing control of the meeting, appearing less credible than she could have appeared or caused her to lose influence in the meeting; as well as highlighting what behaviour was effective for her and could be repeated by her in the future. I’d coach her on what behaviour to use instead of the ineffective behaviour and we’d re-run the role-play as often as she needed to make sure that she had internalised the new approach, was comfortable with it and could return to work ready to use it in a high-profile, pressurised meeting straight away. I decided to replicate this way of working with every client from then on. I began to mix business psychology and professional acting in every coaching meeting. I’d use the business psychology to help people understand themselves better, learn about their strengths and weaknesses, learn about other people’s different styles and values systems and examine how they handled conflict, how they handled power, how they influenced people and how they lead others and how they responded to other people. Then I would run a series of tailored role-plays chosen by each client to help them refine and develop their leadership, influencing, managing, negotiating, conflict-handling and presentations toolkits.
What research did you do before launching?
I didn’t. I was sure that many managers and leaders would benefit from one-to-one time with a coach, and that many people simply sat through a two-day professional skills workshop, enjoyed it but then returned to work and didn’t do anything differently. I thought that these people would be able to do things differently if they could work confidentially in a one-to-one process that would equip them with the insight, strategies, skills and tactics they needed to be more effective at their roles.
How have you funded the business?
For nearly ten years I worked from my flat in London, turning my second bedroom into an office and meeting with clients at their offices for 2-3 hours at a time. I kept my costs low. I wrote all my own marketing material and didn’t employ any secretarial or administrative staff. At that time my clients were in London or Europe or the US. So I travelled to work with them at their offices. Then I decided that I wanted to spend a whole day or more with one client at a time and that I’d like a country venue at which to work with them. I bought my current premises in October 2002 and moved here permanently the following year. Existing clients travel to work with me, both from abroad and from London, and I have a growing Yorkshire-based business. Client feedback is positive. They like travelling to a country location to work on their professional skills. They like having dedicated time to reflect on their performance and find improvements away from their busy office environments. It works well.
How do you promote your business? What has worked best?
My business comes mainly from repeat and referral business, and from me selling my services to new clients. I have placed one or two advertisements but don’t think that method works well. Choosing a coach is a personal choice and I think word of mouth references and face-to-face contact are most effective. I am now publishing a series of books on how to gain influence, handle politics at work, handle bullying behaviour, work in adversarial relationships and handle clients effectively. The first two of these books The first two of these books – Managing Politics at Work
ISBN 978-0-230-59541-5 and Managing Workplace Bullying
-ISBN 978-0-230-22808-5 are being published by Palgrave Macmillan in September and October 2009.
What has worked well about your business?
I think the fact that the work I do is tailored for each client. I work hard upfront to provide a bespoke process that will provide each client with best value. I also think that my clients like the role-playing aspect of their coaching programme because it equips them with effective skills and approaches to handle challenging situations. Also, I help clients understand the links between their intra-personal world and their inter-personal behaviour. I think for many clients this self-awareness is important because it enables them to realise the range of choices they could have in any given situation, and rather than handle a stressful moment or meeting in one set way, they realise that they could handle it in a number of different ways.
What has been your biggest challenge so far? How have you dealt with it?
My biggest challenge was how to continue to promote my business after moving out of London. After moving to Yorkshire I concentrated on marketing my business in Yorkshire and Lancashire. I attended networking meetings, gave presentations and talks and contacted many potential clients in the area. .
How do you fit in work with the family?
It’s a constant challenge to manage my work, life and farm commitments. Without the help of friends I’d be really stuck.
What advice would you give to someone else wanting to work in this area?
I think that to work as a coach your primary motive needs to be vocational, to help people resolve the issues that you are equipped to help them with. I don’t think it is enough to simply want to make money, work independently or work with people on their development. An effective coach has to know what they can help a client with, and what they can’t help a client with and be prepared to turn away work they are not well placed to carry out. You have to put the client’s welfare first so making your own development a priority is important. You need to upgrade your own coaching skills and knowledge so that you can continue to offer the most professional service you can to your clients. And I think that an effective coach needs to hire a supervisor and commit to a code of ethics to ensure that they handle their boundaries and clients commitments as safely and responsibly as they can. I have written a book entitled Starting and Running a Coaching Business: The Complete Guide to Setting Up and Managing a Coaching Practice in which I discuss all these issues and many more (How To Books ISBN 978-1-84528-332-2 rrp £12.99)
My website link is www.oadeassociates.com
Discount for Family Friendly Working readers: £50 DISCOUNT per coaching meeting
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Executive Coach Profile: Aryanne Oade
In April, I reviewed Starting and Running a Coaching Business: The Complete Guide to Setting Up and Managing a Coaching Practice
Name of Business: Oade Associates
Your Name and Age: My name is Aryanne Oade and I am 42 years old.
Tell us about yourself: I live and work from my farm just outside a small village in Yorkshire. I keep a flock of 22 pet sheep and run my business from the farm.
What did you do before training as a coach and how was it making the transition?
- I am a Chartered Psychologist, having become chartered in 1991. At the time I worked for a business psychology consultancy. My role involved designing and facilitating two day professional skills workshops which were held all over the country. I travelled a lot. I thought that some of the managers who attended the workshops needed the time and personalized input that one-to-one work would provide them with if they were to make the changes they needed to make. I wanted to work in depth with one person at a time, providing them with a tailored, individual process which would help them develop the skills, outlook and versatility they’d need to perform more effectively at work. I also thought working one-on-one would be less draining for me than running two day events, which did turn out to the be the case. I left to start my own coaching business in early 1994. The transition was helpful because I could focus on working with clients and building up client relationships instead of handling the politics of organizational life. It was also liberating because I wasn’t drained from running two-day workshops and travelling every week. However, I also remember feeling quite isolated. It took time to build up a network of business contacts and also find a social life away from work.
When did you launch? 4th February 1994.
How did you get started?
I was asked to work one-to-one with an IT professional in an investment bank. She was struggling to build influence in the workplace and was seen as pushy and aggressive. I quickly found that talking about what was not working well for her – as well as what was working well – was ok but not enough. I decided to recreate the very workplace situations she was struggling to handle effectively using professional actors to take the roles of the other characters in the meetings. In the coaching meeting I’d ask my client to handle the role-play exactly as she had in real life when it went wrong for her. If there were two other people present at the real-life meeting we’d work with two actors in the coaching meeting; if there were three people at the real-life meeting, we’d work with three actors. Most often it was one other actor who recreated the dynamics of a one-on-one meeting with my client’s colleague or internal customer. After the role-play I’d carry out a thorough debrief highlighting what she did that worked well for her, what didn’t work well for her and then ask the actor for his/her input. I’d identify what behaviour my client used that – whether she realised it or not – contributed to her losing control of the meeting, appearing less credible than she could have appeared or caused her to lose influence in the meeting; as well as highlighting what behaviour was effective for her and could be repeated by her in the future. I’d coach her on what behaviour to use instead of the ineffective behaviour and we’d re-run the role-play as often as she needed to make sure that she had internalised the new approach, was comfortable with it and could return to work ready to use it in a high-profile, pressurised meeting straight away. I decided to replicate this way of working with every client from then on. I began to mix business psychology and professional acting in every coaching meeting. I’d use the business psychology to help people understand themselves better, learn about their strengths and weaknesses, learn about other people’s different styles and values systems and examine how they handled conflict, how they handled power, how they influenced people and how they lead others and how they responded to other people. Then I would run a series of tailored role-plays chosen by each client to help them refine and develop their leadership, influencing, managing, negotiating, conflict-handling and presentations toolkits.
What research did you do before launching?
I didn’t. I was sure that many managers and leaders would benefit from one-to-one time with a coach, and that many people simply sat through a two-day professional skills workshop, enjoyed it but then returned to work and didn’t do anything differently. I thought that these people would be able to do things differently if they could work confidentially in a one-to-one process that would equip them with the insight, strategies, skills and tactics they needed to be more effective at their roles.
How have you funded the business?
For nearly ten years I worked from my flat in London, turning my second bedroom into an office and meeting with clients at their offices for 2-3 hours at a time. I kept my costs low. I wrote all my own marketing material and didn’t employ any secretarial or administrative staff. At that time my clients were in London or Europe or the US. So I travelled to work with them at their offices. Then I decided that I wanted to spend a whole day or more with one client at a time and that I’d like a country venue at which to work with them. I bought my current premises in October 2002 and moved here permanently the following year. Existing clients travel to work with me, both from abroad and from London, and I have a growing Yorkshire-based business. Client feedback is positive. They like travelling to a country location to work on their professional skills. They like having dedicated time to reflect on their performance and find improvements away from their busy office environments. It works well.
How do you promote your business? What has worked best?
My business comes mainly from repeat and referral business, and from me selling my services to new clients. I have placed one or two advertisements but don’t think that method works well. Choosing a coach is a personal choice and I think word of mouth references and face-to-face contact are most effective. I am now publishing a series of books on how to gain influence, handle politics at work, handle bullying behaviour, work in adversarial relationships and handle clients effectively. The first two of these books The first two of these books – Managing Politics at Work
What has worked well about your business?
I think the fact that the work I do is tailored for each client. I work hard upfront to provide a bespoke process that will provide each client with best value. I also think that my clients like the role-playing aspect of their coaching programme because it equips them with effective skills and approaches to handle challenging situations. Also, I help clients understand the links between their intra-personal world and their inter-personal behaviour. I think for many clients this self-awareness is important because it enables them to realise the range of choices they could have in any given situation, and rather than handle a stressful moment or meeting in one set way, they realise that they could handle it in a number of different ways.
What has been your biggest challenge so far? How have you dealt with it?
My biggest challenge was how to continue to promote my business after moving out of London. After moving to Yorkshire I concentrated on marketing my business in Yorkshire and Lancashire. I attended networking meetings, gave presentations and talks and contacted many potential clients in the area. .
How do you fit in work with the family?
It’s a constant challenge to manage my work, life and farm commitments. Without the help of friends I’d be really stuck.
What advice would you give to someone else wanting to work in this area?
I think that to work as a coach your primary motive needs to be vocational, to help people resolve the issues that you are equipped to help them with. I don’t think it is enough to simply want to make money, work independently or work with people on their development. An effective coach has to know what they can help a client with, and what they can’t help a client with and be prepared to turn away work they are not well placed to carry out. You have to put the client’s welfare first so making your own development a priority is important. You need to upgrade your own coaching skills and knowledge so that you can continue to offer the most professional service you can to your clients. And I think that an effective coach needs to hire a supervisor and commit to a code of ethics to ensure that they handle their boundaries and clients commitments as safely and responsibly as they can. I have written a book entitled Starting and Running a Coaching Business: The Complete Guide to Setting Up and Managing a Coaching Practice
My website link is www.oadeassociates.com
Discount for Family Friendly Working readers: £50 DISCOUNT per coaching meeting
This entry was posted on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under Mumpreneur Profiles, career coaching, coaching mums. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Leave a Reply
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