Testimonials

Michaela from Green Shoots Coaching is a great coach and fantastic source of advice and help. She has accompanied me all along the way of my career change. She facilitated me finding solutions to my problems and answers to my many questions. Michaela helped me face and address my daemons and build confidence in my own abilities to solve these issues. When I turned to Green Shoots Coaching I was pretty much stuck in a process of knowing that I wanted to change my career and knowing what jobs / type of work I did not want to do. But I was not able to pin down what I actually wanted to do or could do with the skill set and knowledge I had. Michaela helped me translate these skills, knowledge and experience from my previous jobs and employments as a research scientist into current and up-to-date qualities for the present and future, adaptable to various sectors and areas of work. Together we tackled my issues with successful interview strategies and put theory into practice-action. I successfully interviewed for a job in a new environment which I had identified as a potential future area of work and career path.

 

Over the past 6 months I lived through the ups and downs of settling into my new role as a programme manager in the new work environment. I am pleased that I have lasted longer in the post than I had feared sometimes along the way. Recent challenges in my new job have made me seek Green Shoots Coaching and Michaela’s advice once more and as before she has proven an invaluable resource and support. By asking the right questions and providing the right tools at the time and for the problems she has guided me to name the issues and draw up potential solutions. I came up with an Action Plan for the immediate and near future. I feel confident now that I will be able to solve the problems and grow stronger as I go along. Through working with Green Shoots Coaching I have learned valuable skills not only for my professional life but also adaptable skills for everyday life.

 

I can fully and wholeheartedly recommend Michaela and Green Shoots Coaching.

 

 

B O Programme Manager

March 2012

B O Programme Manager

'I landed on Michaela's doorstep at a point in my life where even though I tried hard, I just couldn't reach my goals. My self esteem and sense of self worth where virtually non-existent. Now about a year on, I'm working on the career    path of my choice, having the confidence to make decisions and act on them. I've made improvements in my personal relationships and I confidently work towards a life I want. The sessions with Michaela and the tools she gave me have enabled me to do these things and feel great about them. It is like being on a personal journey with expert guidance. As I continue to work towards my goals I have decided to go for 3-monthly maintenance sessions, it helps me to stay on track.'     

G York

I now realise my gym and Michaela are the perfect combination.  I work out and Michaela keeps me motivated to work out.  Prior to my sessions I diddnt use my membership enough to make it viable, now I do and look forward to it.

KC York (weight loss client

This has made a huge differance in my personal commitment to my weightloss.  I find my class beneficial but it is the coaching sessions that have really kept me on track and helped me understand my relationship with food.  I have some way to go but know that this is helping me in a really positive way.

LK York (Weight loss client)

Michaela's coaching not only helped me with the issue I came to solve (career path) but has provided me more generally with a much more positive outlook on life and belief in my own abilities.  Michaela gave me activities and tools to use which helped me to put my issues in a broader picture.  Each session we explored a differant aspect and by the end of the sessions I was able to take further steps myself.  As aside effect of the coaching I finally managed to take the big step and buy a house.  Now it is up to me to stay positive about myself and my abilities

HA Lecturer

I would have no hesitation recommending Michaela in any capacity as a Personal Coach/Development Consultant. She ensured that my progression (as A Project Manager) in my company was smooth and that I had prepared adequately etc. She was extremely supportive, and I would love to have the opportunity to work with Michaela again.

AG York

“Overall, in my view, Michaela has a proven track record as people manager and coach encompassing a number of core demonstrable skills, including people leadership & development, coaching & mentoring, people management and planning & organising. In my personal experience, Michaela demonstrated a number of strengths whilst she was my Professional Development Manager (PDM) at Aviva UK Life from June 2008 to January 2009 which I have summarised below. Across all these strengths what has impressed me most was that we established a good, positive and forward looking working relationship and rapport very quickly. Supportive – Michaela was extremely supportive from day one. Michaela is a good listener and showed a lot of empathy with the plight of her professionals, which was always such an important aspect of the PDM role. Michaela could always be relied upon to see matters through rather than shirking the responsibility. I was particularly impressed with the way Michaela supported me with my career development aspirations. We had a number of extremely constructive and most useful sessions on this matter which provided me with some clear areas to focus on in order to support my career progression aspirations. Committed – Michaela demonstrated a thorough and dedicated approach to her role against the difficult backdrop of many Professionals to cover and support as well as finding her feet as a PDM, which is in itself, was an evolving discipline. Michaela always went out of her way to complete her PDM activities even during difficult role transition periods. Flexible – Michaela was more than capable of dealing with a wide variety of tasks within her role, from assisting the Professional with their individual performance plans & development planning through to measuring Professional success via the performance management process. At all our 1:1, review and development meetings, Michaela was always happy to adjust the agenda to suit our mutual overriding priorities at the time. Finally, I would most certainly be pleased to find myself working with Michaela again in the future.”

JV Business Analyst York

Michaela encourages discussion and is a good listener resulting in solid facilitation in how to progress and develop. Her listening skills help her to pick facts and ideas from conversation that can be used to drive development. I have, on more than one occasion come away with ideas that, upon reflection have come from myself but have needed Michaela's foresight and intuition to bring out.

Michaela works very hard to get the best out of people.  Her approach of letting people reach conclusions themselves develops ownership by the individual and therefore a better chance of swift progress through ownership. Michaela is enthusiastic, motivated and genuinely interested in seeing people develop and this comes across strongly and consistently in each meeting.

Through her honesty Michaela has nurtured a level of trust that I value and appreciate.  Because of Michaela's integrity I am opening up and being more honest with her about myself, always a good start in any development or acknowledgement of areas to improve upon.

Michaela looks forward asking questions and offers different approaches. She understands that different people are motivated in different ways and that a 'one size fits all' approach used by many people is not as successful and she constantly strives to find the key that to what makes people 'tick'. Always follows up from previous meetings and always asks about progress and how an activity has progressed.

I would like to take this opportunity to show my appreciation for everything Michaela has done for me. It has not been easy and it is not over yet. Michaela has persevered with a difficult situation, and has dealt with it professionally and compassionately at the same time as building a relationship based on trust and I hope mutual respect.  Thank you.

MB Project Manager, York