Lynne
Brisdon, CPCC, PCC
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| Lynne Brisdon, PCC (R) celebrates at ICF Vancouver Awards Gala with Joni Mar, MCC (L) and Cheryl Stafford, PCC (C) |
May marked a decade of my work as a Business Coach in Self Employment programs
and I got to celebrate by having my contribution recognized as a finalist for 2014 Business Coach of
the Year at the ICF Vancouver Chapter Gala.
I deeply appreciated the honour and the opportunity to
share my story.
When I
started working for a Self-Employment
Program at BCIT back in 1998 I hadn’t even heard about coaching. The government funded program supported people transitioning from unemployment to self-employment and I noticed many had
challenges making the shift. They needed
more help than the training and business advice we provided. Something was missing.
We could teach them what they didn’t know about running a business but they were independent and didn’t always like being told what to do. Sometimes our Business Advisers complained that clients just weren't listening.
I saw an opportunity to contribute and discovered
coaching while seeking out practical methods to guide people through
transition. I started training right
away with CTI and enrolled a few of our participants as practice clients through
my training and certification and saw positive results. Rather than advising, I listened to my clients and we made action plans together. In 2001, I earned my
CPCC and qualified for an ICF credential.
At first, I
kept my Program Coordinator job and started my coaching business Living In Vision Enterprises part-time. Then in 2004 I landed a contract to work as a
Business Adviser with a different SE program and asked if my role could be
Business Coach instead. Using
coaching methods not only supported the knowledge transfer from training to
individualized application, it also advanced the decision making and leadership
skills required to succeed in business.
What’s more,
coaching became a container for building resiliency on the emotional roller
coaster ride through that first year in business. One of the
230 odd yearling business owners I’ve coached is Judith
McLean of Hi-Q Training Systems. She shared her experience of my coaching for
the Business Coach of the Year nomination. At the Gala she talked
about how my customized coaching style worked for mavericks like her.
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| Maverick: an unorthodox or independent minded person synonyms: individualistic, non-conformist, free spirit, original, eccentric North American: an unbranded yearling |
A week before the awards
event Judith had some tough business decisions to make. “Despite all of Lynne's encouragement, wisdom and
faith, I almost gave up this month. Staying in business was getting too
hard. There was way more money going out than coming in. I began to doubt
if anyone would contract my services. Then a week ago, my PC froze, my
lap top seized up and no emails came through my cell phone. I had to
cancel an event booked for seventy people as only one had signed up”.
“Two things kept me
afloat: First, Lynne reminded me how much I had accomplished in one
year. I had pretty slick promotional materials and two associations trusting me
with educational planning.”
“The second: I knew that Lynne was
being recognized as my Business Coach at the Gala and it would be embarrassing
to report that the business had folded.”
So Judith
stuck it out. Her technology got fixed and as synchronicity would have it, ten people
signed up for her inaugural Respectful Workplace workshop plus she got her
first serious fee paying order for mid-June.
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| Lynne with PCRS SE Team: Leslie Martin, Client, Judith McLean and; Linda Lu |
My vision for the next decade is to continue supporting maverick entrepreneurs and emerging business leaders, in the Pacific Self Employment Program and through my company Living In Vision Enterprises.
