Reg offers four kinds of coaching:

Coaching for work/life balance and fulfillment
Coaching for transition
Coaching for enhanced professional and personal effectiveness
On-the-job coaching
Coaching graduate students

Coaching for work/life balance and fulfillment

There's an old Dutch saying: the hurrier I go, the behinder I get. For many of us, effectively combining work and life outside work is a complex balancing act. So much to do, so little time. What should get priority? Despite our best intentions, too often work comes first, with negative consequences. It may take a crisis to make these apparent and force a change.

A client asked, "How can I better organize my time and energy?" Initially, coaching addressed ways (which he identified) to work smarter, better plan the use of time. delegate more, and do less. As the process continued, we explored what he cared most about in his life and how these values could be more fully expressed at work. Eventually the client learned to practice integrity-in-the-moment by getting in the habit of asking, "Does this choice lead me toward what I truly value?" As a result, his work performance was enhanced and his home life improved.

Balance is about knowing what you really want and believe in, making decisions and commitments, and sticking with them in the face of pressure. Balance is not a goal to be achieved; it's an ongoing dynamic process. Think of balancing — of riding a bicycle rather than evening-out weights on a scale.

Fulfillment has to do with the kind of life you want, at the deepest level. It's more a matter of being than of having, although things we possess can express a sense of wellbeing. Qualities such as wholeness, harmony and congruence with one's values are commonly associated with fulfillment.

Balance and fulfillment are related. Just as our lives may be imbalanced in some areas, that also may apply to how fulfilled they are (check out Finding Balance in Work/Life). A typical underlying issue is a perceived lack of choice: feeling locked in by circumstances. Coaching aims at widening perspectives and revealing new possibilities.

As your coach, Reg will assist you to gain a new outlook on what may seem a hopeless dilemma, search out other options, and move into action to create a more balanced, fulfilling life for yourself and those closest to you.

Interested in a consultation and possible complementary session? Contact me.

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Coaching for transition

Author William Bridges says, "It isn't the changes that do you in, it's the transitions."

Coaching can be especially helpful at times of major life/work transition, when we have to come to grips with a significant change and make the shift to an unfamiliar situation. Something ends — a job, role or career; an association with colleagues and friends; a relationship with a partner, home or community — and something new begins. Or change comes from within, as in midlife crisis.

A highly stressed, over-functioning program manager re-evaluates the work setting, decides it's toxic, resigns, and lands a job that's a much better fit. An academic struggling with the prospect of early retirement overcomes concerns about loss of money and colleagues, leaves the university, and experiences a satisfying new life. A self-employed professional suffering from burnout gets in touch with what she really wants (and doesn't want) to do while remaining financially secure, and after a period of exploration finds rewarding work. An executive, promoted to a senior position, learns to let go of his former role and embrace the new responsibilities. In each case, coaching helped these individuals identify and face key issues, make desired changes, be fully in the transition, and move on with their lives.

As your coach, Reg will assist you to see the current situation realistically, explore options, develop goals and strategies, and commit to action that will take you past an ending through to a new beginning.

As well as drawing upon other coaches and related professionals for support and referrals, Reg accesses his own life experience with transition, both personal and professional. "Learning edges" in his journey are complexity, adaptability and spirituality.

Interested in a consultation and possible complementary session? Contact me.

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Coaching for enhanced professional and personal effectiveness

Does any of this resonate with your experience?

• Members of a team are having difficulty collaborating. One group wants to focus on practical issues and specifics, another concentrates on the big picture. Some people argue for improving what is and doing things better but generally staying within the status quo, others favour thinking outside the box and doing things differently. Certain members are analytic, impersonal and quick to reach decisions while others are more interactive, people-oriented and inclined to explore options. Various individuals respond differently to uncertainty, complexity and change as well as to time commitments and deadlines. Things often get bogged down, unproductive clashes are frequent, and frustration is the norm.
  
  
• Did you ever ask yourself why these outcomes are so common? Ever wonder why task is Job 1 and relationship goes on the back burner, even though it's well known that successful work groups attend equally to both dimensions? Constructive interpersonal relationships, the ability to handle conflict, and celebrating rather than fearing diversity are keys to team and company success. Ever wish you were better at "reading" people, picking up cues to their behaviour, and knowing where they're coming from? Ever desire a better understanding of yourself in this regard?

A recurring element in all this is understanding personality, yours as well as others'. It's a neglected variable in work; even though we don't leave our personalities at home, "personality conflict" is often blamed when things go awry. If unknown or devalued, personality differences can waste valuable resources, lower productivity, create dissension and frustrate achievement of objectives. When these differences are known and appreciated, mutual respect and trust is fostered among team members. People with dissimilar decision styles can clarify their modes of communication and complement each other for mutual benefit, enhanced performance and greater job satisfaction.

Reg has partnered with professional planner and coach Erika Engel to help planners and allied professionals — individually and in work groups or teams — surface their personality preferences, understand what these mean, and apply this knowledge to everyday practice. Planning and problem solving share with personality type an emphasis on information input and decision making. Habits of mind represented by type preference, therefore, can exert a considerable influence on planning practice, from establishing the team and designing the planning process to devising a course of action, adapting to the unforeseen — and throughout, communicating and collaborating with colleagues and stakeholders. Being aware of these influences and transferring that knowledge to practice enhances professional and personal effectiveness.

Specific coaching and training services offered by Reg and Erika include:

• An introductory workshop on decision style and planning, and/or enhancing collaboration in teams, using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®, where you will be able to identify your personality-type preferences, participate in exercises that deepen your knowledge of type and your appreciation of difference, and examine implications for your work.
  
  
• An array of advanced mini-workshops, clinics and other learning events zeroing in on specific applications to planning: improving interpersonal communication and group dynamics; teambuilding; crafting situationally appropriate planning processes; becoming more effective at making presentations and influencing others; coping with complex change; dealing with conflict and diversity; interacting with publics; managing time, energy and stress; and practicing professional self-care.
  
  
• In-house training events on planning and personality type, geared to your organization's unique needs.
  
  
• Special workshops for planning educators and students.
  
  
• In each instance, follow-up individual and group coaching, on an as-needed basis.

Personality type is like a prism that filters and shapes a person's perceptions, attitudes and behaviours. As type-savvy planners gain a better understanding of themselves and others — how they approach tasks, planning concepts and methods to which they are drawn, ways they tend to express themselves, how they engage with others, how they make decisions — previously hidden strengths become apparent and the practitioner grows in competence. Working with Erika and Reg, two skilled professionals with many years of experience in the planning field, provides an opportunity for you to develop and fulfill this promise.

Interested in a free consultation? Contact me.

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On-the-job coaching

On-the-job or "shadow" coaching is especially relevant if you are working alone, without readily available back-up. Or if you suddenly find yourself in a position for which you're not yet fully qualified. To whom do you turn in these early days and lonely times? Coaching with Reg will accelerate your learning, increase your self-confidence, and give your proficiency that needed boost.

A side benefit of shadow coaching is having someone to communicate with on an as-needed basis. Someone to bounce ideas off of, discuss problems and concerns, and counter the isolation. Someone who brings detached caring, who can be counted on to offer empathic support while also asking powerful questions that invite introspection, trigger insight, stimulate creativity, and open the door to novel solutions.

Interested in a consultation and possible complementary session? Contact me.

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Coaching graduate students

• Are you beginning or well into preparation of your dissertation, thesis, major paper or project?
• Is it presenting a bigger challenge than you imagined? Do you keep putting off really getting into it?
• For most of the work — search, research, writing — are you on your own, isolated from colleagues and mutual encouragement?
• Do you have competing demands on your time and energy, such as TA, RA or other part-time work?
• Are there moments when you wonder whether you'll actually complete your program, fearing yet unable to contemplate failure?
• At the same time, is a part of you determined to get the most out of this unique learning opportunity: freedom to learn, on a self-selected topic that you're passionate about; a chance to make your own cont-ribution to knowledge; and awaiting you at the end, a powerful enduring sense of accomplishment?

Unfortunately, a fair number of doctoral and Master's students don't complete the final stage of their programs. Why do they drop out? Competing priorities command attention, everyday life intrudes, the juggling act becomes too much, needed support is missing at critical points. Others finish, just to get it over with, but leave feeling unfulfilled.

Coaching can help:

• To develop and maintain a clear structure for reaching your goal.
• To keep the learning moving steadily forward and on track.
• To help you deal with problems, get through the stuck patches, sustain your motivation, and remain confident you can do this.
• To fully actualize your creative productivity.
• To get the job done and enable you to feel good about it.

Please note: as your coach, Reg will not provide advice on the substance of your academic work; that remains the responsibility of your supervisor. Reg's role is to enhance your learning process and help bring it to successful, timely and satisfying completion. The coaching is likely to address such general issues as clarifying intent, selecting a topic and supervisor, getting started, being organized and staying focused, setting priorities, coping with unforeseen shifts in direction or method, interacting with your committee and adapting to its expectations, conducting an oral defense — and throughout, navigating through the requirements of graduate work while effectively managing your time alongside other commitments. That includes maintaining a semblance of life balance and practicing self-care.

Coaching may include administration of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®, a widely used instrument that can help you assess your strengths and weaknesses, identify your learning-style preferences, interact more effectively with others (including your supervisor and committee members), build your confidence, and make the most of your study process. Reg has 15 years of experience using the MBTI in his work with graduate students.

Reg's qualifications for grad-student coaching are unique. As a Professor in Environmental Studies at York University for 28 years, he taught, advised and supervised numerous Master's and doctoral students. On the other hand, he easily recalls what it's like to be a student and do a dissertation (OISE/U of T, 1988-95). Early retirement in 1999 opened a new career, as a life/work coach. Completion of the Coaches Training Institute's "Professional Coaching Course" provided a solid framework of concepts, methods and skills along with access to a burgeoning community of coaches. Being a long-time professional planner adds this additional and important capability. Integrity, active listening, respectful communication, generative feedback, insight and intuition, acceptance, empathy and humour characterize Reg's interaction with clients and co-learners. My coaching practice conforms to the ethical guidelines of the International Coach Federation.

The fee for coaching, negotiated upfront, depends in part on your specific needs and how much background work I may have to do. A typical fee is $40 per half-hour for regular sessions, usually weekly or bi-weekly, on the phone and with email back-up, over at least three months. These arrangements are determined in an initial session, preferably face-to-face, and form a Coaching Agreement.

Interested in a consultation and possible complementary session? Contact me.

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