True Coaching Stories

True coaching stories from Cindy Tonkin’s experience as a corporate coach.

Executives use coaching to lead and motivate, and to improve personal effectiveness. Here are some true stories from Cindy’s coaching experience. The names and industries have been changed.

If you would prefer to see graphs and tables, we have them too, as well as testimonials for Cindy’s work.

To protect client confidentiality names and roles have been changed. Contact Cindy for satisfied referees.

Click here to book a time that suits you in Cindy’s diary

Coaching to lead and motivate

• Di had been in jobs before where she’d worked herself almost to burnout. Her coaching sessions served to blow off steam before she got to that point. Over a period of several months, we worked on time management, organisational priorities, the best ways of approaching an impending conference, delegating, creating management systems, and her own career ambitions.
• Whenever Stu gave Ellen direct feedback about errors or inconsistencies in her reporting, she would zone out. She consistently made the same errors, because she didn’t seem to even hear the feedback from him. A single coaching session on motivational style meant Stu could talk with her about the issues in a way she could hear it, and Ellen knew what to change.
• Cath and Anna had recruited team members before. Sometimes they worked well. Sometimes it was a disaster. Coaching sessions based on the personality styles and filters of the successful staff allowed them to create a set of questions to ask potential candidates, so they could filter in the thinking styles they required for the job. And it made them more clearly define what they needed in a staff member.

Coaching to improve personal effectiveness:

• Amber’s colleagues kept asking her “Are you OK?”. She hated her job, found her boss difficult and was thinking about resigning. A coaching session focusing on what energised her at work, what made her life difficult, and how she could add to her repertoire for managing up meant that two weeks after her coaching session she was energised, understood her boss’ limitations and character, and became enthusiastic about the life her job allowed her to live outside work. In addition, she was getting through more work than she ever had.
• David’s boss thought he was the right person in the wrong job. While he was engaging and clever, and he got many commendations from customers, his paperwork was always behind. He waived more customer fees for lateness than anyone else (because he often lost their forms and sent them out late), and he needed propping up emotionally more often than anyone else. After 3 sessions, where he was coached on “remembering to remember” David had begun to pick up his memory, and had gained enough confidence to apply for another job internally which better matched his skill set .
• Alicia’s concern was that Brian, her gun salesman, was a little too aggressive. He had more technical knowledge of their complicated financial product than anyone else. He could structure excellent deals which met customer needs as well as making a decent profit for the company. But Brian’s clients found him arrogant. After a few coaching sessions on the structure of rapport and how different people process, Alicia received 3 customer calls asking what she’d done to make Brian so much easier to work with!

Cindy Tonkin’s Coaching Track Record

Cindy Tonkin’s corporate coaching clients include:

• Leadership program for the Cancer Council of Victoria
• Management and Leadership coaching Commonwealth Bank Research and Analytics
• Performance improvement and morale boosting small group and individual coaching, Toyota Financial Services
• Individual high-potential staff performance issues at Deutsche Bank and at Toyota Financial Services, Pfizer Australia
• Presentation feedback for senior managers in a high-profile multi-national utility as they geared up to present to the management team of the company taking them over
• Eliminating life-long presentation nerves for senior managers in several banks and a few other blue-chips.

Cindy has a broader consulting and training background which enriches her coaching sessions. Read about her background and clients. You can also see testimonials, and get an idea of the top themes which return across sessions.

or call Cindy on +61 412 135 426!