Issue link: http://publications.winnipegfreepress.com/i/1120507
35 If you're thinking about making a move, or putting your dreams into motion, Geraldine De Braune, Cate Friesen and Kerri Twigg each have a different approach, and they share a common goal — to help you put your plan into action. As an executive coach, De Braune offers one- on-one sessions through her company, GDB Coaching & Consulting. She's also an associate coach with Padraig Coaching & Consulting and with U.S.-based coach and author Steph Jagger. Twigg is a career coach and job search strategist who helps people find and hone their personal stories to "find their awesome" — and then use those stories to land ideal work. "The biggest thing that holds people back is playing it too safe. Somewhere along the way people were taught they had to be perfect in order to land work. It's not true. Trying to be perfect stops people from moving forward," says Twigg. Friesen, formerly a CBC producer and documentary filmmaker, founded The Story Source to help clients discover the stories they need to tell to connect with customers, investors and other stakeholders. "I'm passionate about connections. That's probably something that all three of us have in common, as well," says Friesen. "I think that most positive change, right from personal to our business and world, happens because we make strong connections. I've witnessed and experienced that story is an incredible way to do that." Friesen helps clients articulate a story about why they are passionate about their business, what's unique about it, and what special qualities they possess that keep customers coming back. She says people base decisions on emotion as well as logic. When you tell a personal story it sticks and moves others to action. Twigg helps clients get clarity on what makes them unique in their sector, and then get the word out. "Career stories are really about knowing what you're good at, where you love to do that work and some marketing techniques," she says. "I help people know and tell it." De Braune helps clients address obstacles that hold them back from achieving their full potential. "I act as a thinking partner. I bring thought- provoking questions to the table to help clients reflect more deeply about what they want and how to achieve it," she says. While her clients are business leaders, managers, entrepreneurs and women from many walks of life, they often have similar barriers — feeling stuck, a lack of confidence, self-criticism and limiting beliefs about their own capabilities. Many are simply overwhelmed and need help to identify and discard the debris cluttering up their head-space to move forward successfully. Coaching helped De Braune level up in her own life. She discovered it when she asked a friend who was working with a coach to explain how it worked. "The best way she could describe it to me was that it changed her internal dialogue. I said, 'Sign me up.' " Twigg says a lot of people land jobs, stay in them, and wake up 15 years later asking, "Who am I? Why am I doing this work?" "We go through a process of getting career clarity so they understand what difference they are trying to make in the world. At some point it becomes more about how you feel at work, than the salary." Not only are they passionate about doing this work with clients, they also support each other; the trio share in a "community of practice," as colleagues, friends and associates who champion one another in life and business. ❚ KERRI TWIGG / GERALDINE DE BRAUNE / CATE FRIESEN To learn more, visit De Braune, Friesen and Twigg online at www.gdbcoaching.ca, www.thestorysource.ca and www.career-stories.com. you, your story and your career THREE PERSPECTIVES ON LEVELING UP AND TAKING ACTION