Kathleen Johnston, MA offers career coaching services in three main areas:

• Self-Care and Balance
• Career Transition Coaching
  
• Leading and Managing Issues

Coaching for Self-Care and Balance

Self-care is about choices

Let me tell you why I am so passionate about coaching women around self-care and balance.

In 2000 I left my job as a senior executive with a large international organization. I was approaching burnout. I was tired and cranky.  Even worse, one of my favorite coping techniques for managing stress (eating) had allowed me to get fat.

This rude awakening came after a lovely Mexican holiday over Christmas. I looked at the pictures when we got home and said to my husband in horror "Is that really what I look like?" I glared at the puffy cheeked woman staring back at me and said "Okay! That's it!" and I hustled off to Weight Watchers, where over the next 9 months I proceeded to shed 28 lbs.

Are you at that "OKAY! That's it!" point yet?

For some people it's a health crisis that provides the wake up call.

Or the death of a loved one.

Or the sudden realization that you're not having fun anymore.

Does any of this ring a bell for you?  If so, consider investing in career coaching for yourself.  Coaching will help uncover and celebrate the genuine you - personally and professionally.  Coaching can help you:

• Focus on your priorities. Work/life balance is a much talked about concept. It assumes we have a budget for meeting the set amount of demands on our time and energy-family, friends, relationships, community service, etc. However, when we think about "balance" as something we do naturally day after day, then a healthy life balance can emerge from being fully aware of our current priorities and spending our best energy on what matters most. Coaching can help keep behavior aligned with priorities in all aspects of your life.  
• Examine old habits.  A habit is a behavior that we engage in without thinking. Habits that no longer serve you well can be replaced with ones that leave you feeling vital and satisfied. To change habits you need to become intentional and consistent over a 21 day period.   
• Keep perfectionism in check. Many women work much too hard in their attempts to dispel the inaccurate perceptions they hold of their performance compared to others. Perfectionists often fail to delegate, suffer from procrastination and hold themselves hostage to unrealistic standards. Coaching will address these issues and help you overcome those annoying perfectionist habits.   
• Practice daily self-care. The patterns that develop from an ongoing habit of neglecting self-care can be very difficult to break. Coaching will help you examine your current self-care habits and create new ones-based on caring for self first in harmony with caring for others.  
• Control your inner critic. Are you fully aware of your unique gifts? Do you regularly celebrate your successes? Precious energy can be used up worrying about not measuring up or overworking in response to that annoying inner critic. Become comfortable acknowledging and applying your unique competitive advantage. Coaching will help uncover and celebrate the genuine you - personally and professionally.  
• Stop doing too much. Our culture's expectation that women take on the role of caring for others in relationships places an enormous toll on business and professional women with families. It creates a catch-22 situation as women work twice as hard to dispel the workplace stereotype that they are not as dependable as men, lack commitment to their career, and can't or won't work the long hours. That issue, coupled with feeling compelled to work hard on the home front to combat their worry about being perceived as a "good mother", results in their own needs being placed dead last on the list.  
• Make time for the relationships that matter most. Women in demanding leadership roles often find themselves too busy to attend to the special and important relationships in their lives. All social time is used up making business or work contacts. Family and close friends move to the bottom of the list-with connections made on the run or at a superficial level. It feels like there's no real time given to know or be known. Coaching will help you rediscover the relationships that really matter and create a strategy for their rekindling and nurturing.   
• Clarify your vision and strategy. Be clear about what you want and why you want it. When you have a vision, what you want most gets done.

If you'd like to develop the good habits that will keep you happy and healthy for many years to come, coaching can help. Give me a call or email for a complimentary consultation. I'll explain how coaching works, and how I can help you. Then you can decide if it's right for you.

P.S. I've kept my weight off AND learned how to relax and enjoy life!

Career Transition Coaching

Sometimes you just need
to jump in and try it.

Before explaining how career transition coaching can help, let me tell you a quick story about what happened with one of my career coaching clients (some details have been changed to protect confidentiality).

Susan was a senior executive who was highly respected by everyone except her direct supervisor, who was highly critical of her. We began our coaching work when Susan was at the point where she couldn't stand the negativity anymore, was severely stressed, and hated going to work everyday.

She had tried everything she could think of to improve the situation and had concluded that it was time to make a significant change. Based on my expertise in workplace wellness and prevention programs, I helped Susan confirm that she was experiencing a bullying boss. We did a stress assessment and devised strategies for improving her stress resiliency.

We also worked on building up her personal confidence which had been diminished as a result of the negative relationship. At the same time, I helped Susan carry out a successful job search, followed by her resigning and taking a new job.

Susan is delighted with her new job, and is feeling happier and healthier than she has in a long time. She says that the career transition coaching was invaluable in helping her overcome a very difficult work situation and move on to better things. 

Promotions are career transitions as well

A career transition does not necessarily mean leaving the company - promotions are a career transition as well. And it's very normal for an individual to feel a mix of excitement and anxiety when they are promoted.

Whether the promotion is within the same company or to a new company, the person can be feeling quite isolated as they make their way into the new role. They may be thinking:

• Can I really do this job? What if I fail, then what do I do?
• How do I ensure that I don't make any mistakes?
• How do I connect with my team?
• What if I don't have all the knowledge, skills and abilities I need to actually do this job?
• Who do I go to for support or help without looking inept or incompetent?

When dealing with a promotion, having a career coach in your corner can be a significant benefit. We can work on performance anxiety, the tendency to overwork to control outcomes, the delegation dilemma, planning and organizing workload, building a new team, and how to squeeze self-care, work-life balance and personal priorities into this new work reality.

How badly do you want to make a career change?

Are you hiding in your career?

Making a career transition can feel overwhelming. We may think we're too old to train for a new field, or not smart enough to take on a post-secondary program. Or afraid to let go of the financial security in a current job even though we yearn to semi-retire.

Regardless of the false barriers we put in front of ourselves, the truth is when really want something bad enough, we will find a way to do it.

I've made more than one significant career transition in my life, and I can help you do the same. You can read more about my experience and credentials and check out some client feedback here.

Is it time for you to start doing something different?

You've probably heard the saying "If you keep doing the same old things, you'll keep getting the same old things". If it's time for you to start doing something different, please give me a call or email for a complimentary consultation. We'll explore the kind of transition you are facing and whether I'm the right coach to help you. I'll explain how career transition coaching works, and how I can help you. Then you can decide if coaching is right for you.

Because it is possible to have a career you love and enjoy.

Coaching for Leading and Managing

 

The expression "life is lonely at the top" is true for so many women in leadership roles. It can be difficult to find collegial support and real understanding when you are a woman in a leadership role. Or perhaps asking for help is not one of your characteristics.

As a former senior executive I understand the demands facing today's business and professional women. In fact, my personal career journey inspired me to do my Master's thesis on the experiences of high achieving professional women.

If you are a leader feeling under pressure and alone, having someone to talk to away from critical eyes may be just what the doctor ordered.

Is it time for you to get the support you deserve?

If so, please give me a call or email for a complimentary consultation. I'll explain how coaching works, and how I can help. Then you can decide if it's right for you.

Good things will happen from our work together.