Jenny King, Chartered Psychologist & Executive Coach

Jenny is a coach specialising in the healthcare sector, whose work with surgeons, physicians and GPs helps individuals and teams to improve performance and care for patients. In this conversation, she shares her insights on coaching as a practice that has “grown up” in recent decades and the benefits of trying something different to uncover new opportunities in your career.

You started your career in occupational psychology/consultancy and over the years your focus has evolved into coaching; what drew you to this type of work?

The same thing that drew me to a career in psychology : a fascination with people – what motivates them, their personalities, the influences on their behaviour, and wanting to help and support people in their professional lives. Originally I was more interested in assessing people’s personalities and behaviour, to help individuals understand themselves better, and to be better leaders of others. I wanted to leave the coaching to others. But as a transition out of full time consultancy, I enrolled in the Ashridge (Hult) Executive Coaching programme, and it opened my eyes to how powerful a good coaching relationship can be in helping someone to change and develop.

How has the world of Executive Coaching changed over the years?

In the last couple of decades, Executive Coaching has transformed from an activity that more or less anyone could claim to be able to do, without any formal training or qualification, to a highly skilled professional activity for which there are several formally recognised accreditation programmes. Companies who employ coaches, whether internally or externally, now generally insist on coaches being properly accredited by a recognised body such as the International Coaching Federation or the European Mentoring and Coaching Council. Several major Business Schools offer Executive Coaching programmes. Business coaching is recognised as a process that is not only beneficial but even essential for most senior managers and leaders. In short, coaching has “grown up.”

What makes your work meaningful to you?

The work is meaningful because it gives me the opportunity to develop a strong working partnership with an individual where they bring real-time problems and dilemmas from their work, and share them with me, as their coach, in a way that they probably don’t do with anyone else. It is a highly privileged position to be in; and with that comes a great responsibility to do my best for my clients. It is meaningful because I am helping people who are in jobs which are themselves meaningful and important – specifically healthcare, which is the area in which I specialise. If my coaching can in any way contribute to improving the care of patients, that means the world to me.

What kinds of challenges can coaching help to solve?

Coaching can help with such a wide variety of challenges; but I focus particularly on the challenges of navigating working relationships. So many people – in fact all of my clients – grapple with difficult relationships and even conflict at work. Helping leaders and managers to communicate, influence and generally relate more effectively are areas where coaching has so much to offer. Coaching can provide practical strategies and alternative approaches, as well as a safe space for coachees to offload some of these interpersonal difficulties that can distract them from performing at their best. Coaching is also about helping people to improve their performance and results; or helping them through periods of change such as career transitions. Coaching, in essence, is about helping someone to change – in whatever area or context they or their organisation feels is important.

Thinking about your career to date, what stands out?

What stands out for me is the immense feeling of privilege working with so many talented doctors over more than 30 years. Gaining the trust of surgeons, physicians, GPs – people I have admired all my life – being able to train, develop and coach them – all of those encounters have meant something special to me. The highlight of my career was when I worked with an NHS organisation that was set up specifically to assess and advise doctors whose performance was causing concern, and whose careers were at risk. Many of those doctors were helped to get back on track, largely as a result of the work we did, as a team, and in which I was deeply involved.

What advice can you offer people feeling stuck in their career and wondering what to do next?

People who are stuck in their career often benefit from working with a skilled professional who can help them to stand back and see their career from a fresh perspective, recognise what have been the highlights and lowlights, their strengths and weaknesses, what gives them joy and what switches them off. Mapping all of this can clarify what really matters and from there, it helps to start conversations with a variety of people in different areas that may be of interest – not having fixed ideas but being open to all sorts of possibilities and being willing to take a few risks. I could never have anticipated, when I left University, how my career would turn out. I had to be willing to be pushed outside my comfort zone – and when I was, this is where the real opportunities arose. I try to remember the old saying “If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got”. Be willing to try something different!