Comeback Coach Podcast
Comeback Coach Podcast – Laura’s Story (Episode 7)
You’ve been furloughed for five months then made redundant from a job you love. That’s what happened to Laura, Jessica’s guest on episode 7 of Comeback Coach. In this COACH episode (Jessica also hosts ‘COMEBACK’ episodes – find out more here) coaching psychologist and developer of Comeback Community™, Jessica Chivers, works with Laura Gelder-Robertson, an incredibly smart innovation strategist who’s now looking to rekindle her own innovation consultancy in the wake of unemployment. She’s a mother of two young children and married to a man with a new big job of his own. Jessica and Laura are talking at a point when Laura feels there’s a lot to do and that she hasn’t quite got the focus she’d like.
Check out snippets from the episode in the sidebar. You can listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on our website.
Rock, Pebbles & Sand
In the conversation Laura referred to the ‘rock, pebbles, sand’ article we sent in one of our Talent Keeping newsletters. It’s about how to find focus and make sure the strategic stuff gets done in your role as well as the smaller, operational pieces. You can find that article here on our main company website.
Laura used that analogy in the coaching session and she did some great doodles as she was talking, which is the reason for this post. They were too good not to share!
The Big Thing That Emerged From Coaching
Laura’s desire to do more work in the climate change space was the big thing that emerged from the coaching conversation.
Laura mentioned her friend, Rachel Skinner, the first female President of the Institute of Civil Engineers, and her leadership around getting to net zero carbon emissions. If you’re curious, you can watch Rachel’s inaugural speech to members of the ICE here. (Scroll to 15:40 for a film Rachel made which includes commentary from Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Amber Rudd, the mayor of Stockholm and the Rt Honourable Lord Deben – Chairman of the Committee on Climate Change).
What Happened After The Coaching Session?
Jessica caught up with Laura in March, four months after their conversation, in November 2020.
Laura’s note to Jessica:
When we spoke, I used the analogy of the ‘blizzard’ and needing to find my way back to a renewed sense of Purpose and focusing on Sustainability within my innovation practise.
How have I got on? Well, second lockdown stalled me slightly, as I repurposed to play ‘Mum / terrible Supply-Home-School-Teacher” to my two kids, but… I realised I needed to fill a gap in my knowledge around how to transform organisations towards Net Zero.
I know how to reimagine Business Models, but not in the profound way that Climate Change will force businesses to reduce emissions over the coming decade and towards 2050. That’s a whole different ball game, and it’s an urgent need. So, I’m studying Business Management: Towards Net Zero at Cambridge University for 8 weeks. That will give me a deep dive into the implications of reducing emissions across every area of an organisation, its Supply Chain, Transport Infrastructure, how government policy will increasingly play a part, and risk mitigation of the effects of Climate Change will need planning for and designing for. It’s a steep learning curve. It’s both fascinating and frightening in terms of the scale of change we will all face, but I can’t think of a problem more worth solving.
One of Laura’s mentors wanted some thoughts on why she’s studying the CISL (Cambridge Institute in Sustainable Leadership)’s Climate Change Business Course and she created a short paper. You can read it here.
Final Word From Jessica
It was an absolute pleasure to work with Laura and to hear what’s happened since fills me with joy. As I said at the end of the episode “I feel so humbled to have listened to her thoughts. After 16 years of doing what I do as a coach I still love it and feel privileged to be let in on people’s thinking. I think coaching is such a fantastic tool for making sense of what’s on your mind and finding a way forward.”