Blog series by Joann Evans
Joann Evans holds a B.S. in microbiology and chemistry. She is also a certified Paralegal. She has 20 years’ experience in quality assurance, control and engineering in fields such as pharmaceutical, medical device, IVD, biotech and blood banking. This blog series is her journey through being coached and then earning her coaching certification.
I was extremely happy when I located the Center for Coaching Certification and discovered the great value offered by this organization for coaching certification. I am very grateful to have met Cathy Liska who owns this wonderful company and to be able to take the initial coach training course. I will be keeping a journal as I walk through each step of the process and will blog about this learning experience. First, I will have the opportunity to experience what it is like to be coached and then the coach training will begin. I’m excited to take this journey because sometimes determining a path isn’t always clear or easy to do, it can be scary or seem blurred. I have critical decisions to make regarding my career.
I had my first introductory session. I have to say that the thought of going into the process was intimidating. I knew I would have to really think about what to say with the goal to make these sessions and my time with Cathy extremely valuable. The broken road that has been my life is embarrassing and that doesn’t make it easy.
After beginning, Cathy asked me a very broad and open ended question asking me to tell her about me. In that I have been looking for a job for a year, this is a question I am highly prepared for from a professional standpoint. Professionally, I know that I have to keep it to my resume and an elevator speech ready; in this case I knew in my heart that I needed to explore more that may be holding me back. I must find a solution to a serious problem and this means that I can’t hold back this time no matter how humiliated I might feel about a broken path. I guess we all have skeletons in our closet.