Stepping into Coaching

9th February 2023 by Jo Hastie

Three years ago, after a 25 year career mainly in the third sector, Jo Stone made the leap to setting up her own leadership coaching business and is relishing the change. We interview her about the move, the key issues and challenges that her clients need help with and advice for those who are thinking of setting up their own business.

What made you decide to make the move from working in fundraising leadership roles charity side to setting up your own business and coaching?

My background is in working for a range of charities including Friends of the Earth, British Red Cross and Battersea. In 2018, I experienced coaching that involved Insights Discovery; a psychometric tool that helps people understand themselves and their relationships with others through colour energies. I discovered I lead with a Fiery Red energy which means I can be quite impulsive, make a decision and just do it. I loved the coaching and, on the spot, decided to qualify as a coach.

So I quit my job at Battersea to focus my energy into building my business and help transform people’s lives and careers.

Did you make the move gradually? 

At the start I just managed to fit it all in and some of the training took place on weekends. As someone who leads with Fiery Red, I’m capable of taking a lot on at any one time!. After I’d left full-time, Battersea kept me on for one to two days a week to finish off some key projects which helped with the gradual change over.

I continue to do around two days a week fundraising consultancy and three coaching. 

Often, I’ll work with AAW on fundraising consultancy projects and was really happy to be placed by AAW’s Interim team at St George’s Hospital Charity in South West London to help implement the Time for A Change appeal to raise funds to transform children’s services at the hospital.

After my AAW Assignment had finished, St George’s asked me to work with their leadership team and do their insight profiles. In any of my fundraising roles, through osmosis I will talk in the language of Insights Discovery, energies and naturally try and coach people. This bridge in my work with clients moving from consultancy to coaching is common.

Tell us about your Stepping Stones coaching business – what inspired you to be a coach?

Once I had started coaching others, I absolutely fell in love with it; I can start a session with a client exhausted but always finish it energised. 

Most of my clients are in the sector but I also have commercial and non-charity clients. I work with individuals and, increasingly, with leaders and their entire teams.

In my own experience, organisations in the not for profit sector are reluctant to invest in this area, unless a senior decision maker has experienced coaching personally and then of course they get it. If you are a leader, having access to a coach can be transformational. It also makes economic sense as the organisation is then able to actually maximise you as a leader you're more likely to be creative and innovative rather than stuck in the weeds.

But I believe everyone should have a coach, I don't think it should be saved for the most senior leaders in an organisation.

What sorts of challenges the leaders face today that come up in your coaching?

I recently did some market research with around 30 leaders from across different sectors and the really common issues identified were:

·       How to have a challenging conversation when you are managing people and stakeholders.

·       Dealing with emotions in the workplace. Thank goodness that today we are much more conscious of, and sensitive about, mental health and wellbeing – this is quite a generational shift with younger people very comfortable and vocal about how they feel and perhaps older generations needing some guidance on how to handle this.  

·       Challenges around hybrid working: this really ties in with Insights Discovery and Myers Briggs and how people work best in different environments whether you are on the introvert or extravert spectrum.

·       Not having the time of space to be a leader or director; people want to be visionaries and doing amazing things, but they are having to step in to iron out conversations that have gone wrong, barriers that are coming up, etc. Teams need to be empowered and confident. A lot of what my Mastering Leadership Programme is about how you create that environment.

·       The biggest challenge of all is recruitment. One of the fundamental problems is fair pay, but a key issue is flexibility of working. We need to understand that people are all different and you will get so much more from people if you have a menu of working options, rather than a nine to five office base; people can choose what is best for them. That also feeds into diversity and accessibility as well.

What advice would you give for anyone looking to set up their own business?

• Don’t quit your job unless you a have a few months’ savings to rely on.

• Network – you may hate it, but it gets easier. Also network with your peers in the same field.

• Keep connected with your existing network – the first few green shoots for your new business will likely come from them.

• Be brave – it will become second nature to you.

• Understand that we each have our own strategies to deal with things – I am happy to stand in front of an audience and make a speech, but I won’t go to a networking event and mingle. Find what works for you.

• Invest in your own development. I have just spent the last year putting focus into developing my business and marketing strategy to get a better balance between my coaching and consultancy work and my work/home in 2023.

To find out more about Jo’s consultancy and coaching services visit https://www.stepping-stones-coaching.com/.