We have recently been working with Royal Mail, facilitating ILM Level 5 Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring programmes to managers to help them drive their internal coaching delivery and create a culture of coaching within the organisation. We couldn’t resist sharing this feedback from Jim Matthews, an Acute Support Manager from Royal Mail and a brilliant participant from one of our recent programmes:
“When I was offered the chance to take part in the ILM Level 5 Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring programme following a conversation with my manager, I was delighted. However, let me put a bit of context to my position/mindset at the time.
I am a 51 year male who left school with very few qualifications 36 years ago and frankly had not done any serious learning since. You can imagine how daunting it was to enter a room full of people who I did not know and who sounded like they were far more entitled to be there than I was (given their job titles etc.)! However I was determined to show myself and others that I could do this and I had an inner desire to obtain the skills I needed in order to achieve my personal goal of leaving a legacy of helping people be the best they can be.
I attended my first session, which was a half day introduction to the course and the cohort – a sort of try it before you buy it – ensuring that everyone totally understood the course content and what the expectations on us would be. This was brilliant – it allowed us all to meet up face to face and gave a really good programme overview allowing people to make an informed decision on whether it was really for them or not. In short this was the time to decide to stay or to leave (if only Brexit had been this simple, eh?).
This session was then followed by a further five days in the classroom, which I have to say were absolutely amazing. They were so well structured and provided a large amount of time for practical hands-on opportunities for all. It also allowed me to grow in a safe, supervised environment whilst nurturing me to a place where I felt confident to go out on my own and start to put my new skills into practice.
The tutors and facilitators from Azure are amongst the most supportive and inspirational people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Right from the off and throughout my learning journey they were always there when I needed them. Whether it was a phone call for some quick advice or an email requiring some more in depth response, I knew that someone from the team would reply in a timely manner. There have also been ‘check-in’ calls from one of the team during the programme to ensure I am on track and see if I need any further help or guidance.
I’m delighted that I’ve now achieved the qualification – it is a huge achievement for me! I would like to thank Azure for everything they have done along the way to help me get to this place in my development and I look forward to working with them in the future as part of my continued professional development. There is a saying that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. Clearly Azure don’t believe this to be true because that is exactly what they have facilitated for me and I will always be grateful to them for that.”
If you would like to enquire about any of our programmes, please click here.
April 2019
