Coach Spotlight: Coach Julie

This week, in our BOLDLY Coach Spotlight, we are delighted to introduce Coach Julie, a seasoned career coach accredited by ICF PCC and a Master Solution Focused Practitioner. With over twenty years of experience in marketing communications spanning various industries, we extend our warmest welcome to Coach Julie. Let's dive into our conversation!

1) What do you enjoy most about calling Singapore home?

The first thing that comes to mind is the safety we experience in this island- nation. I took a visitor to Gardens by the Bay and we stayed for the light show. As we strolled through the Heritage Garden and Dragonfly and Kingfisher Lakes on the way to the train station, she commented that it was amazing for us to be able to walk on our own with no escort necessary.

The safety we experience in this country is probably something many of us take for granted.

2) When you are not coaching or spending time with family, what are your favourite things to do?

My top three favourite things would be learning, creating through cooking, baking, social media post visuals and content and travelling while volunteering for meaningful causes. My learning is usually related to coaching, digital marketing or apps and spiritual matters. Recently I enrolled myself on a programme that taught me how to leverage on AI to create videos and photos.

I also enjoy creating visuals using Canva that make my social media posts more easily digestible for my clients (I hope). I’m now keen to learn how to effectively create a mobile app without the need for coding. And I enjoy travelling with a purpose, volunteering my time to help communities beyond the shores of Singapore.

3) With your background in marketing and project management, what enticed you to transition to career coaching?

The positive feedback I received from clients and peers while giving career advise at a career centre got me thinking to consider pivoting to career coaching. As I explored the possibility of moving into this profession, I became more motivated to learn how to effectively help people in areas of their career be it career advancement or career switching.

Having experienced workplace relationship challenges and burnout while working in several types of organisations including an MNC, start-ups, NGOs, government agencies, SMEs and large local companies as well as leading volunteer teams, I also became motivated to reach out to others to help them manage their workplace relationships and stress levels especially through self-awareness.

4) Can you talk us through your coaching journey so far?

It started off with giving career advise to job seekers. It then spun off to a certification in career coaching and advanced behavioural consulting through DiSC. That gave structure and tools to career-related discussions. I then pursued concurrently the International Coaching Federation credential and the Career Facilitation Programme by Workforce Singapore. I added the Stress Management certification as well to have a better structure on this topic. Over time, I attained the Master Solution Focused Practitioner level which is the approach I use in my coaching sessions.

5) How do you assess the needs of your clients?

At our first session, I ask what their best hopes are for the total number of sessions we have together and how we would measure their desired outcome. Most have a clear idea of what they want to achieve out of these sessions. As I listen to their desired outcome, I inquire about any factors that we should take into consideration while working towards achieving this goal. Additionally, I inquire about any specific timelines they have in mind for achieving their desired goal.

6) What coaching methodologies or approaches do you typically use?

I typically use the solution-focused coaching approach. It’s structured yet creative. It’s targeted. I find my clients making rapid progress towards achieving their desired outcome as the process focuses on helping them define clear and achievable goals. Clients typically leave our sessions with newfound insights, solutions to their challenges, increased self-awareness, or a renewed sense of motivation to progress.

7) Can you describe your experience working with diverse clients?

I find it interesting to hear and work with people from different professions. I’m not an expert in their field. They are. As I listen and see their faces brighten up during our sessions together, I feel fulfilled that a non-expert like me can help these experts figure their way into a solution related to their industry.

8) You've done coaching with high potential female leaders in the past, why do you think coaching is so beneficial for this demographic?

Coaching is beneficial for leaders, high potential leaders and individual contributors as well. The group of high potential female leaders I group coached seemed to face gender bias and stereotypes in their workplace, conflicting thoughts on wanting to excel in their career while at being a supportive daughter, wife and mother, and challenges managing workplace relationships and work demands.

What these sessions provided was a supportive space for them to navigate these challenges. The challenges remained but their self-esteem, self- confidence and motivation were positively impacted. When these are positively impacted, they probably brought a different form of themselves to the team, gave them a different perspective of their work and personal challenges and I feel it also gave them hope.

As a high potential leader, group coaching sessions give you an opportunity to explore options, express yourself and communicate your ideas in a safe place, hear different perspectives, learn to listen actively and respect the views of others. When they come for individual sessions, I feel they are given an opportunity to explore their challenges in a safe space. As they explore their leadership challenges, they discover more about themselves and their team which then translates into managing and communicating with their team more effectively.

They also get an opportunity to explore how to make decisions, factors for consideration, ways to communicate with people and so on. These skills can then help them to navigate their leadership challenges in the future or even as they speak.

9) Can you discuss your approach to helping clients manage stress and burnout?

Typically we explore together their behavioural leaning together, their values and motivated skills. Some clients use tools, some prefer not to. Based on this self-discovery and self-awareness journey, we explore different strategies that could possibly work. For example, a few clients of mine were stressed at work because the nature of their role did not play to their strengths. The way they managed that stress was to change their role within or outside their organisation to something that celebrated their strengths.

10) What are your best hopes for coaching?

My best hope would be that managers and leaders in organisations embrace a coaching culture in their organisations.

Thank you again Coach Julie for joining us in this week's BOLDLY Coach Spotlight! To book a complimentary 30-minute chemistry session with Coach Julie, or to learn more about the services we offer at BOLDLY, visit www.boldly.app or email connect@boldly.app