Benefits of coaching: Hayley Lamb, founder of Positive Ewe

EPISODE NOTES In this episode, Claire talks with Hayley Lamb: Founder of Positive Ewe, personal and professional coach and educational leader. Hayley previously taught English in Thailand and, after completing her PGCE in the UK, went on to teach in Dubai and Egypt. During her time working in a huge international school, with 80 classes just in the primary sector, Hayley became Deputy Head and had a leading role in the wellbeing and coaching of staff. Hayley was instrumental in setting up a brand-new school from ‘the ground up’: working with architects to design indoor and outdoor spaces and cites this as her proudest career achievement to date. In 2019, Hayley returned to the UK to set up ‘Positive Ewe’. She works with students and young people, leads sessions for schools and is a personal and professional coach for individuals.   KEY TAKEAWAYS Invest in time to think on a deeper levelWhilst it can be quick and easy to think about things on a ‘surface level’, people don’t generally give the time needed to consider things more deeply. Teachers invest the time needed to complete work activities - such as marking books and putting up displays - but they won’t necessarily invest that time in themselves. In coaching, the coach only needs to ask a few questions and often the person comes up with a solution themselves. It doesn’t always involve a lot of ‘deep digging’ and, with questioning, it’s finding that time and getting used to thinking on a different level. Our labels: how useful are they? We carry a range of labels such as ‘successful leader’, ‘top of the class’, ‘bright’ or ‘driven’. These labels are either given to us, from our childhood or workplace, or we give them to ourselves. If we try and adhere to too many labels, or our circumstances change that prohibit maintaining all those labels, then we need to consider whether these labels actually serve us. Your values can change - for example, when having a family - and it isn’t always possible to continue as we have done before. Hayley discusses how she would like to make coaching compulsory for anyone who has had a child. Continuing to live our lives in accordance with our old values can become very challenging. We need to stop and reflect. Focus less on the desired outcome and acknowledge the effortRather than being very focused on an end result, for example a score to be achieved in a test or a specific level to reach, recognise and process the effort made. Results don’t just happen. Favourable or otherwise, look from a more internal perspective and acknowledge what you did, or didn’t do, for that result to come about. Take comfort from knowing that you tried your best and put in a lot of effort rather than putting yourself under pressure to achieve a certain outcome.   BEST MOMENTS “A lot of the time it’s our inner self-talk as well that’s holding us back or telling us that we can’t do something, or we shouldn’t think in a certain way.” “Naturally, we do compare ourselves. We’ve got this sort of thing of we should be doing this at this point in our lives, or I should be doing this as a teacher. You know – work/life balance – ‘I should be doing this’, and it’s really not helpful.” “Listen to yourself. Listen to your body. Listen to your mind. If something doesn’t feel right, follow the scent of it, go with it, talk about it. Very often, mental health problems arise when someone’s become quite a closed book or keeps going.” “Be true to yourself and your values. Try something new. By that, I mean so many people are either stuck in their ways or stuck in their thinking. The saying ‘can’t see the wood for the trees’, it’s because you’re not necessarily looking for it, or you’re not used to looking for it.” “When something happens, or you’re thinking or feeling in a particular way, take a step back and think, ‘What lens have I got on today? Have I got a positive lens on? Have I got a brooding lens on? Have I got a catastrophic lens on?’” “A lot of the time we will give ourselves a label: ‘an outstanding teacher’. That’s a really good label to use as an example. So, if you’ve got the label of ‘you’re an outstanding teacher’, then you have to conform to that label at all times. So, at night time, … your label of ‘you’re an outstanding teacher’ holds you back and stops you from actually living your life. Because you’re an ‘outstanding teacher’ you’ve got to mark these books and they’ve got to be perfect because you can’t be anything but this ‘outstanding teacher’.” “Encourage [children] to process all the effort they’ve put in. I didn’t just do well in GCSEs because I was naturally clever because of my ‘label’. I did well because I was really studious, I went to school most days, I did all my homework, I revised… It didn’t just happen. It happened because of all of the legwork that had been put in and all of the effort.” “They say to fulfil your wellbeing you should be continuously learning or have that feeling of learning. It could be to read a book, but why not mix things up a little bit? It doesn’t have to be learning around your job. It can be learning in anything; anything that might bring you joy.”   VALUABLE RESOURCES Positive Ewe website: https://positiveewe.com/ Positive Eve on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/positiveewe Positive Ewe on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PositiveEwe Hayley Lamb on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayleylamb/ Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/ Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/ Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/ LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/   ABOUT THE HOST 'My mother is a teacher. I will never be a teacher.' - Claire Riley Claire arrived at the end of her performing arts degree with no firm plans to move into the entertainment industry. A fully funded secondary teaching course seemed like the perfect way to stall for a year on deciding what to do with her life. Turns out, teaching was her thing.  Three years in a challenging secondary school - check. Two years in primary schools with over 90% EAL children - check. Eight years doing day-to-day supply across 4-18 - check. If there's one thing she learnt, it was how to identity the best ideas from every school in terms of resources and use that knowledge to create something that would work for teachers far and wide. In 2013, Classroom Secrets was born. Claire had seen other resource sites and wanted to add something to the market that she felt was missing. More choice + More quality = Balance. Claire is a self-proclaimed personal development junkie and is always looking for ways to learn and improve. It's usually centred around business, her new-found passion. In 2019, Claire launched The Teachers' Podcast that hits the charts on launch and is listed in the top 200 educational podcasts most weeks. The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.