Toward inspiration or a different approach
In my own career, I often turned to coaching myself. The common thread running through these conversations: sorting out my thoughts by firing a lot of questions at me. Each time, new possibilities open up because of these conversations. I feel like I keep on taking steps to grow by taking action. One of those conversations was actually more about my private life than about work. The coach paid much attention to my feelings and made room for them. Something I found hard to do. That’s how she held a mirror to me and helped me appreciate it. It made something unconscious, conscious. I learned to no longer ignore that strong gut feeling, and can now make decisions more easily, with a clear mind.
By the way, my very first real ‘boss’ was my best coach. I still call her my ‘professional mom’. Every conversation with her is inspiring, even the informal ones. Each time, I can get to work afterwards feeling excited and full of ideas. That’s what I call seasoned coaching!
With my coachees, I love to work in an accessible way: finding out what’s going on, poking around a bit together, allowing what is there, and being somewhat naively curious about all possible approaches, solutions, and growth. When things are difficult for the coachee, I am there too. Giving someone feedback and seeing how it touches them, that’s what I enjoy. Because that’s when you notice that a whole range of possibilities is opening up for the coachee.
No-frills conversations
In my career, everything went smoothly for quite some time. A nice trajectory with interesting offers, successful job …
A support and push at the same time
After 5 years of working, I reached out to a coach through VDAB. I was stuck. I felt reluctant to go to work …
Supporter of people
Some years ago, I turned to career guidance with Captain & Stoker, because I was curious about what I still wanted to achieve professionally. I had a fun job …
Working with what the coachee brings to the table
Some years ago, I turned to career coaching myself, initially not to change jobs – I enjoyed working as a coordinator of a crisis team …
Peeling back the layers with care
During the first few years of my career, I found myself navigating rather blindly. I did my best, very much so, but I lacked feedback or a mirror. I kept going and worked in teams …
Our professional facilitator
Birte Kooken is our final team member. As a professional facilitator and coach, she helps us brainstorm about the direction in which we cycle, our approach, and …
Daring to leap, with enthusiasm!
Coaching is my second career. Prior to that, I was a physicist and worked in marketing for a publicly traded American company. I enjoyed my job immensely…
Pausing Together to Move Forward
I am a trained psychologist, and my career began as a trainer and facilitator in areas such as assertiveness, competency development, communication skills, leadership, …
Empathetic, powerful, and with a touch of humor
With a background in social work and a long-term tenure at VDAB – where my passion laid in guiding job seekers – I eventually found myself in the world of coaching …
Learning to Balance in Life
The coaching bug got to me when I completed the Inspiring Coaching course and discovered the value of coaching firsthand as a coachee. Truly remarkable things …
