Letting Go of Expertise: How Vulnerability Makes You a Better Coach — with Cath Longhurst

About the Cath Longhurst:Cath is a leadership coach and facilitator with 20 years’ experience of running a social enterprise/charity and more than 4 years’ experience working with senior leaders in a wide range of organisations. Her business, Cath Longhurst Consulting Ltd, runs  leadership coaching for senior leaders. managers and teams and supports leadership teams and boards with strategy and change management. She specialises in working with organisations with a social purpose. Cath’s approach helps leaders to find their own internal expertise, develop grounded confidence and gain insights into how their own behaviours and emotions impact on their work with others. Her experience of leading a charity and working with a wide range of people, combined with her coaching training and development, means she brings a blend of practical business acumen, combined with an ability to connect with and support others. Some of her key coaching influences include the work of Brene Brown, Susan David, Nancy Kline and Oliver Burkeman. Cah is an Accredited Executive Coach through the Association for Coaching. She is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Portsmouth her work in the community and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Portsmouth business community. Alongside her passion for seeing people grow and develop, Cath is a lover of the outdoors including being an all-round sea swimmer, walker and sailor.About the episode:In this episode of the Courageous Coach podcast, Melissa and Cath explore the journey of courageous coaching, focusing on Cath's transition from a secure job to becoming a coach. They discuss the importance of connection, vulnerability, and trust in coaching, as well as the impact of courageous actions on personal growth. Cath shares her experiences working with diverse clients and emphasizes the significance of helping clients discover their own expertise. In this conversation, Melissa and Cath explore the themes of trust, self-compassion, personal development, and the importance of values in coaching. They discuss how understanding trust has helped them connect better with themselves and others, the journey of personal growth, and the challenges of living into one's values. The conversation emphasizes the discomfort that often accompanies courage and the necessity of embracing life's messiness as part of the human experience.Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction to Courageous Coaching05:55 - Diverse Coaching Experiences12:02 - Vulnerability in Coaching17:52 - The Impact of Courage on Personal Growth25:21 - The Journey of Personal Development30:31 - The Challenge of Living into Our Values36:04 - Embracing the Messiness of LifeYou can find out more about the work I do to help coaches be more courageous with their clients, their business and their lives by:Visiting my website - https://www.melissahague.com/courageous-coachesConnect with me on LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/melissa-hagueSign up to my mailing list here - https://mailinglistsignup.melissahague.com/landing-page-8347Or, If you’d like chat about all thing’s courage, then you can book a chat with me here - https://calendly.com/melissahague/let-s-talk