“I’m much more confident, productive, happier and fulfilled”
Case study: Paddy Hanrahan
Director at a UK Charity
About me:
My name is Paddy Hanrahan. I am a director at a UK charity that helps organisations in health and care achieve more through volunteers and partnerships with the voluntary sector.
This is my 3rd charity I’ve helped to create and grow, driven by my passion to achieve large-scale social change. Prior to that I spent 13 years in a top global IT consultancy, exiting at partner level to do something more rewarding for myself and the world.
THE CHALLENGE:
Having come through the worst of Covid, and in the middle of dealing with some long-standing mental health issues, I felt a little lost.
I had always been successful with work, and confident of where I was going and of the journey I was on. But at the point I reached out to Tomas I was looking for a coach that could help me with self-discovery, which would in turn help me assess where I stood on my career journey.
THE GOAL:
My goals, when we started our coaching together, were:
1. How do I achieve the greatest social impact with my career
2. Help with growing my confidence & resilience
3. How can I fulfill my potential – and know am on the right path to do so
THE JOURNEY:
There were three major insights from my journey with Tomas…
1) Tomas had the right advice and the right tools to help me explore and discover the answers myself. He had some superb coaching exercises that kept me very busy during the periods between our sessions. I didn’t expect this, but it was perfect for me – it gave me the time and focus to explore issues, ideas, and solutions, by myself.
2) He brought together my personal and work worlds. Unlike other coaches I’ve had, Tomas and I discussed a lot of things that were less to do with work, and much more about me – such as past experiences, personality traits, and fears. This was key for me: I had always subconsciously kept my personal and work lives separate. They were two different people. But over the course of our time together, those two people became one – and I realised how much happier and more comfortable I was with myself when I could be myself at all times – for work and for life.
3) We started off talking about confidence as a goal in early sessions, and by the end (and still today) I feel far more confident. But that came from Tomas helping me get closer to myself – by better understanding my values, my goals and what drives me, what I have achieved, and why I do what I do.
Fundamentally by our last session, my goals were wrapped into one: fulfilling my potential.
Not as a director, or a CEO, or whatever role – but as a person.
The Result:
The key result is that the coaching got me back on track.
It restored my faith and confidence that I am on the right path, and by that I mean it’s MY path. I left the coaching feeling that all I had done with my early career and then moving into the charity sector was of value, leading me to where I as a person want to go – in terms of helping others and achieving large-scale social change.
Today I am much happier, more confident, and more productive in my role at my charity. The coaching, along with my work around my mental health, has meant I am far happier in myself and I love every day of life – including work – which I see as part of life and an extension of myself (rather than something separate).
I also feel more resilient – I have a far better perception of my situation and do not waste time ruminating on whether past decisions were right.
The Experience:
As with the best coaches, Tomas is a great listener and best of all a great questioner.
He always seemed to have the right question to take the conversation where it needed to go, and crucially to let me discover the answer myself.
He’s fun to work with, the coaching calls and exercises were never dull, and I think he enjoyed working with someone who is driven by achieving social change.
Is it time to start your journey?
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