Ever since she was a child, working in her father’s clothes shop in Derbyshire and standing on a box to see over the counter, Jenny Bird has spent her life being interested in people.

She drew upon the principles of communication honed during those formative years as she blossomed into one of the United Kingdom’s very first master coaches, going on to co-author renowned coaching titles such as The Art of Coaching: A Handbook of Tips and Tools, and How to Work with People... and Enjoy It!

In this episode of The Coach’s Journey Podcast, Jenny describes the experience of leaving community education and training to be a coach at the turn of the century, when stacks of materials were posted across the Atlantic and she joined conference calls with coach trainers located all over the world.

Throughout her training and her early forays into coaching at global corporations and in the NHS, Jenny surveyed the landscape of personal and development for those who do things differently, describing her “joy for sparkly new things”.

By consistently forging relationships with innovators and brilliant thinkers throughout the field, Jenny has enriched her career. She shares invaluable wisdom accumulated across her career through her books and in her role as co-founder of Coach Continuum, which provides CPD, networking and supervision to help coaches flourish.

Jenny and host Joey Owen also talk about:

The benefits of being a risk taker

How to barter your way to getting what you want

Partnering generously and being paid what you are worth

How to tend to your LinkedIn garden

Bringing poetry and creativity into coaching to cut through to the emotion

Jenny also shares some invaluable advice to new coaches, outlining the mindset, behaviours and conditions that form the essential foundations of a successful business.