Jeanine Bailey and Marie Quigley

Co-founders of Empower World

Marie: Hello and welcome to the podcast. Delighted to be with you. My name's Marie Quigley and I'm with Jeanine Bailey. Great to be here with you this morning. We have been talking about some of the work we've been doing outside of kind of our day job of running our business and being coaches who coach in organizations and also that one to one work we do. We've been looking at the amount of work we've been doing this year in a volunteering capacity. I know myself, there's been lots of volunteering I've done. And same for you on the other side of the world, Jeanine. And we thought it would be interesting if we talked about this to get curious about how this can support us as coaches when we do volunteering work, but most importantly, how it can support our profession and the people we're working with to understand what coaching is and expand their own awareness. 


Jeanine: Yes. Thank you for introducing this, Marie. And, yeah, it's been interesting, hasn't it, to reflect upon what we've been doing in the past and potentially not even this year, the past year, going back a year or two, going back even more years to start to realize, yes, there's been a lot of volunteer work that we've done over the years. And what we've noticed is that it's created a beautiful win win win win win outcome for ourselves, for the people that we serve. And, of course, the community that potentially benefits from the volunteer work that we do. And I'm thinking of the future generations, as well as the beautiful ripple effect of what we do. And it can bring so much joy and gifts to us, and of course, it also comes with its challenges and with its potential areas of, wow, what's the right thing to do here? So, it's an interesting topic and also a beautiful place that we as coaches can develop ourselves at the same time by giving back. 


Marie: Absolutely. And I recall a lot of people will ask us questions. How did you start off? How did you get your first contract? How did you get your first client? That's often on the mind of new coaches as they're starting their career. And for both of us, it meant giving back first. So, I mean, if I speak about my own, the first ever thing I did was a group coaching gift to four women I knew, and that was gifted to them in a volunteering capacity to support them, but also to test out my skills and support me, to have the courage to expand my own awareness and do my own self-reflection. So, I started to learn about what I love doing and what I didn't love doing. That was the very first thing. So, gifting back to a community was the way I started. And I know for both of us, Jeanine, especially when we came together in Qatar, we did a lot of voluntary talks, a lot of voluntary events for organizations, kind of teaching them about what coaching was. And it was gifting our time and gifting our expertise. And as you said, it has paid back in so many beautiful ways, creating great relationships, partnerships, and then going on to get paid work, which wasn't the intention originally. It was really about teaching of our beautiful Qatar at the time, what coaching was. 


Jeanine: Yes, it really was. And like you Marie my own personal experience at the beginning of my coaching journey, it did include volunteering, being part of networks that created seminars for. And just by doing that, created a beautiful opportunity with one of the major organizations in Qatar. So, it was the gift that, again, as you say, Marie it came from an intention of serving and supporting others and without. Putting out there, I want something back and the universe to come back with again, that beautiful gift of work. And so, it's something that you and I have both been doing ever since we've been in this coaching world, this profession of coaching. It's valuing what we do really is valuing what we do. And it's also allocating and I know well, I don't put up a certain percentage of the time that I allocate, and I'm sure you don't either. But it's just being aware of. How much do we volunteer and how much is part of our what we do as a profession? So, but I believe it's something that will continue to do throughout our years as a coach, which will probably be to my last breath, I'm guessing, in some shape or form. But and over the years of roles, volunteering has stepped into more professional roles of working with the ICF, taking on major roles with the International Coach Federation, which is has been an incredible experience and again expanded networks across the globe. The globe feels even though we're in Covid-19 times, we're not traveling yet. At the same time, I feel like my world has shrunk in terms of having all these amazing connections in Canada, in the US and Europe. In Asia. Yeah, my world feels like it's so easy to zoom across to the various parts of the world to do the work that we do, you know. 


Marie: And before we came on air, we were talking about that balance of volunteering from a heart centered space where you really want to give a gift, the community, but also that part where people start to see you and start to see your work and the balance of having your voice in this volunteering work. How much of your voice is here? How much are you promoting yourself or not promoting yourself and for others? I know. I'm speaking on both on behalf of both of us here. But I know this is true of us. That is a fine line. We are business owners, so when we are in our professional volunteering capacity, we don't want to infiltrate and bring our business to the forefront of that capacity. That has to, for us sit at the back of it. It's the giving back to the community, no matter who your audience is, that matters to us most, so you might see somebody who volunteers, who's constantly promoting their own business. So, for us, there's a fine line about how we do this ethically as coaches who have an ethical part of our work that we're constantly thinking about. 


Jeanine: Yes, it really is a fine line, and often those lines aren't or those boundaries aren't clear. And so, it will be up to the individual as to how much they bring of themselves that their practice or not, so and it's finding what feels right for ourselves, what we feel, comfortable with. And certainly, in the ICF role that I’ve been in, I've definitely. Back to facilitate the role that I'm in versus bringing my business. I don't think anyone would know about my business in Australasia. I think they would know about my role and perhaps have heard my name, but they wouldn't know Empower World anything about Empower World. And of course, I trust that if anyone wants to find out more, they will do their work if they want to. And I totally I'm not again in my role, I'm not expecting anything to come back. And I'm just very grateful for all of the wonderful coaches that I've met in my capacity that I trust will actually be lifelong friends and colleagues. So, I'm really, truly grateful for that. 


Marie: And so, it might be useful for listeners to think about the work we have done, in a voluntary capacity so that they can think about where they might like to go. So, if I can say yes, I've done demos around the globe for many, many, many ICF chapters and not just ICF chapters of the other coaching community chapters as well. So, I believe that demoing our work is what new coaches really get a lot of benefit from, it's not that my work is perfect in any way, shape or form, but I think that when people hear another coach, it gives them confidence, it gives them ideas. So that demoing is definitely part of my volunteering. I also work with an organization to offer complimentary coaching for those in war torn areas of the world. And since returning to the UK, I've also been part of an amazing project five that supports NHS workers in the UK. So, I give my time to coach those frontline workers and I also give my time to supervise the coaches who are working with those supervisors. And if I can support people by sharing some knowledge that I have, then I welcome the speaking events that I do voluntarily to share my knowledge and experience. How about you, Jeanine? 


Jeanine: Well, actually, you and I have both been involved in some volunteer supervision, work, coaching, supervision, work in India with the outbreak of Covid-19. Last year, we were invited to be part of a program to advise coaches based in India. And we did that for several months, so that was a great initiative that one of our study colleagues created who is based in India. So that was a wonderful piece of work. So, with the International Coach Federation, as I've mentioned, as the coaching pillar sorry, the pillar head for coaching excellence, which has been a big role and has involved putting together a month-long summit last year, which went every working day, three about three sessions every day. So that was a great piece of work. We brought in such amazing coaches and supervisors into that that summit. So, I'm really proud of the work that I did as a team, as a whole team. And it was a little work. So, there's knowing that there's also been the Climate Coaching Alliance, which was founded by three amazing women who I met through the supervision work that we have done Marie our program and also through that coaching staff, that Climate Coaching Alliance. So that's coaching Climate Alliance dot org. There has been a number of 24-hour conversations. And so, I've been involved in hosting and facilitating and participating in conversations. And I'm now part of a smaller group in Australasia with a view of setting up a coaching climate alliance based in Australia. So, there are pods that are based across the world. So, if you're interested in this, please do have a look at that website, Climate Coaching Alliance dot org, because they are doing wonderful work. I've also been volunteering for Damien Goldbug's program, so supervising the trials and supervision TRANCED again, another beautiful way to support coaches and the coaching profession. And I think this and of course, our own work we've been giving back to our Empower world community through networking events, but also providing coaching supervision, coaching sessions as well. So, I'm sure there's more. But the other ones that I can think of right now off the top my head. And I have to say, each and every one of those things that I've been part of, it's given me great joy and purpose to do those, because, again, it's connected to our profession, it's supporting our profession to be the best it can be. And, you know, we're all I truly believe we're all connected. We're all one. So, let's work together to create a better world, because this world at the moment is clearly going through many challenges. And I believe when we connect and grow together, we're going to make a better world. We're going to make a difference. 


Marie: Thank you for sharing that, Jeanine and coaches, as you're listening to this, the communities that you live in, perhaps there is something you can do that really as Jeanine talks about the climate change, you can see how passionate she is. That's something that really matters to her. That's why she's got involved in it. If there's something in your community that you're passionate about, you can go out and reach out to those parts of the community and set up something that doesn't always have to be waiting for somebody to invite you to come in. You can take the step to move in. I'm thinking about some of the coaches I know that do voluntary work in prisons or in hospitals or in children's organizations and actually animal shelters. I know a coach who supports the people that work in animal shelters. So, there's so many things that you could do that you're interested in, that you're passionate about to support the community that you work in, to work and live in, to understand what coaching is. Get to know you, get to know your work, spread your good message in many ways and really make a difference in your little part of the world. So, as you know, Jeanine and I are really aligned to the ICF and there are many ICF chapters, communities around the globe reach out to them, get involved in them. There's also the EMCC chapters, again, a lot of them in Europe, but also spreading around the globe. That's there’s AOC I think the association of coaching those communities again in the UK and around the globe. So, reach out, do some research, get curious and see how you can use your skills, your techniques, your passion to support the world to become a better place. One conversation at a time. 


Jeanine: Yes, I totally agree Marie. And, you know, and international coaching week that just took place, there's another it doesn't have to be in special coaching week. But being a part of it once again demonstrates how people are hungry for knowledge and coaching support. So, there is so many opportunities. And again, mental health awareness or mental health support is really needed. I really, truly believe that now is the time to really be able to spread your gifts, be able to, again, create a better world. And like you, I I've also had the pleasure of doing demonstrations in different chapters, being involved in different chapters across the globe to support them. So, yeah, reach out to those Chapters. Again, looking for four volunteers who bring another perspective. So, if you have something that's unusual, quirky, a great story to tell. Reach out. So that the last webinar that I got involved in was with the ICF Pune Chapter. And so just sharing my story about the indigenous work that I've been doing really touched people's hearts. So. Yeah, spread, your love, spread, your story, your skills, and, yeah, it can make a difference. So, thank you for sharing a story. Thank you for listening. And please do share any thoughts or ideas that come up with us. We'd be delighted to hear from you and anything else that you'd like to share before we finish up Marie. 


Marie: On a final note, you don't have to be an experienced coach to volunteer your time. You can be a coach in training. You can be just starting out in the world of coaching. It's a great way to connect with other people in the coaching world. Sometimes coaching can be a very lonely profession, especially now that we're at home doing this work online. We aren't meeting a lot of people and you can expand your network very quickly by being part of this volunteering community that so many you have so much access to. So, if it's something that calls you, just do it. You don't have to have that stamp of approval that you're a certified coach. Reach out. It will be one of the most rewarding things that you can do. 


Jeanine: And I just to add to that, Marie, I think that is a really great point and I'm thinking of one of the volunteers and ICF Australasia. She joined our summit team and she was not a credential coach. She had done the training, but she wasn't credentialed. She took a leadership role to project manage the summit. And she did a brilliant job. And I and people saw that so many people saw what she was capable of and really respected and appreciated her hugely. So, I really do believe that is going to support her network and her work going forward. She's not credentialed, but at the time she wasn't. So, you can do powerful things without having that step, so to speak. So, coaches, thank you again for listening. And we look forward to tuning in next time. We hope this was of value. And again, we look forward to being connected with you again in the future.


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