It was time to stop playing a small game, let go of the safety blanket and step up from Credentialed Practitioner to Professional Coach. In the past 3 months I have set my first 1 year plan and created my very first vision board, attended Advanced Skills Training, completed 100 coaching hours as well as my first knowledge paper.
Patrizia Santoriello
I'm fortunate in that I've always known the world of human behaviour and positive psychology was for me.
When I first enrolled in Undergraduate Psychology I was adamant I wanted to work with children.
It wasn't until I found myself sitting in Human Resource Management, my chosen elective, that I had a moment of deja vu. Motivational theory was once again raised as the topic of discussion and the application of psychology in the corporate world became evident.
A big thank you to The Coaching Institute family – the WOW team, mentors and fellow coaches. It is this community that makes this school like no other learning institute in the world and I am blessed to be a part of it.
I switched from Clinical Psychology to Organisational Psychology and have been fortunate enough to be gathering my skills in training, facilitation, psychometrics, mentoring and coaching since then......
And boy am I a wiz at collecting skills!
I wouldn't call myself an academic by any means but I do love to learn and apply my knowledge all with the intent of one day starting my own business.
I recall arriving at The Coaching Institute headquarters for my Foundations of Coaching Success weekend in April 2015 and sat in the ‘Moon Bear Cafe’. In my journal I wrote my intentions:
Enrich my practice and bring my learnings back to my peers and clients. Continue my own personal and professional development journey. Connect with like minded practitioners. And one day open my own practice.
And so I completed the training and returned back to work with an intention of pouring through the content like any other training.
After all I wasn't here to open my own business. Only people with loads of experience and grey hair go out on their own… Right?
It wasn't until September 2015 I realised there was a component of the assignment I had overlooked.... the topic of getting pro-bono clients. Now what?
So I contacted The Coaching Institute’s WOW team and got my first reality check and kick in the pants.
If I was going to finish my assignment I needed to do the coaching hours and I needed as least two pro-bono clients.
From that point on I made it my mission to do just that. I contacted every friend and family member and asked for volunteers to join the pro-bono pool. The result was 8 coaching clients spread all throughout the country.
I was back on track feeling pretty chuffed with myself and I was getting to serve my clients and apply my learning.
It is when I started my triads and began to realise my style of coaching was still very much exploratory and action orientated. And that conducting a session within a 1 hour time frame proved challenging.
I needed more!! I wasn't sure what I needed but I knew I could do better.
Cue the wisdom of Matt Church once again who talked me through the Critical Alignment model and asked me the crucial question:
"What's your purpose?"
I pulled out my very sophisticated perfectionist strategy and danced around my 'I'm not good enough' story and he wouldn't have any of it.
I see myself continuing to work in the culture and leadership development space but now I'll be doing it for me. Now that I've said yes to me there is nothing that will stop me.
Patrizia Santoriello
Accredited Professional Coach
It was time to stop playing a small game. To let go of the safety blanket and step up from Credentialed Practitioner to Professional Coach where I would get the answers to the questions I was asking.
I signed up in December 2015 and things have moved pretty quickly since then.
In the past 3 months I have set my first 1 year plan and created my very first vision board. I attended Advanced Skills Training, completed 100 coaching hours as well as my first knowledge paper.
I registered my business and domain name ‘Santoriello Consulting’ and set up my business Facebook page, with webpage.
With the guidance and wisdom of Salome Shillack, another student at The Coaching Institute, I got a crash course on online and offline marketing and committed to doing two of each every week.
Online marketing seemed doable, the offline not so much. Words of wisdom from Salome that I keep coming back to,
"stop thinking and feeling about it and just do it."
I've also discovered that after coaching I'm my most creative.
So last week in that moment of flow I recorded my first podcast and intent to keep recording.
I've always been a super organised and structured person but the past 3 months has shown me just how resilient I am.
I've been studying like crazy. Learning and doing sales and marketing. Working full time. Coaching after hours. Preparing my mothers 60th birthday. Doing bridesmaid duties. All whilst planning an awesome holiday to USA.
My television has well and truly become a dust collector!
I've discovered that the steps when chunked down to their simplest form are totally doable and thereafter it's just about consistency.
I see myself continuing to work in the culture and leadership development space but now I'll be doing it for me.
Now that I've said yes to me there is nothing that will stop me.
I might not always be moving as fast as I would like to but I know where I'm headed. As long as I keep doing something every day to get me that step closer I know I will get there.
Patrizia Santoriello
