For the love of work
I help women in their 30s and 40s working in New Zealand's public sector progress their career — without having to change their job.
Through 1:1 coaching, I help you find out whether your current role has real scope to be reshaped, and then make that happen — building the growth and job satisfaction you're after.
My blog, LinkedIn posts, and newsletter share the thinking behind this work along the way.
Because good work, and work you feel good about, really matters.
What I do
Why people choose Firefly Coaching & Training
I’m a bit different to other coaches – I specialised in helping women in their 30s and 40s who work in the New Zealand public sector. They’re so committed to achieving real impact, despite the day-to-day stressors working in this important sector, and sometimes at the expense of their health and life outside work. But they’re also driven to grow their careers, and these days, with promotion round pauses, hiring freezes and a constrained job market, it’s hard to do that.
I help by working with you to diagnose whether your role has scope to be crafted slightly differently, reshaped to let you do more of what you like doing, opportunities to stretch your capability and be challenged, and minimise the parts that leave you uninspired.
But to do this, you need to feel on top of your workload rather than overwhelmed and on the way to burnout, and the mental energy to think about and achieve the positive changes that will grow your current job and career. So I help you reduce your work stress, and get better attention and focus too.
Relaxed, but evidence-based
I have a warm, encouraging and relaxed approach, and bring in the psychology, neuroscience and behavioural science evidence base to bear on my coaching as much as possible.
My mission
To enable motivated women in their 30s and 40s who work in the public sector to progress their careers and feel the buzz of feeling great in their jobs. I’m convinced that all of us can have fulfilling work that brings us – rather than robs us – of energy, and that growing your capability at work and progressing your career is possible, even when moving up or moving out’s not an option.
Questions people ask
What's the difference between coaching and training?
Training is about learning a specific skill, or set of skills, on a particular topic. The trainer brings the content to be covered for the client or clients to learn and action after the course has finished. The content is the same in each course and is not generally tailored to the client or clients. After a Firefly Coaching & Training course, you’ll have a new tool or set of tools in your work toolbox, to make work feel easier and help you make more progress at work.
Coaching is about considering and coming to new understandings about how you approach things in relation to what you want to achieve. The client brings the content (a challenging work issue, for example) and the coach helps the client to think through and around the issue. Coaching sessions are highly personalised to the individual client taking the session, and because of this, clients can receive a feeling of support from their coach. After a Firefly Coaching & Training coaching session, you’ll be more self-aware, understand your work situation and your thinking and feelings about it better, and be able to take action to achieve how you’d like to at work.
Coaching and training are not mutually exclusive and each gives you different experiences and benefits. If you’re not sure which is the best option to start with, please don’t hesitate to get in touch! I’m at marie-louise@fireflycoaching.nz and am very happy to have a chat to help you decide.
Who is this coaching and training for?
Firefly Coaching & Training specialises in the world of work - it's a big part of our lives, so good work matters! My mission is to help motivated women in their 30s and 40s who work in the public sector progress their careers, even when it's not possible to move up or easy to get the job you'd like in another organisation.
My clients tend to like learning and growing, have a strong public service orientation and want to make an impact through their work. Much like myself!
You might be still early in your career and new to coaching and training. Or, you might have several years of experience, and have had training or coaching before.
If you’re not sure if Firefly Coaching & Training is right for you, please email me at marie-louise@fireflycoaching.nz. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have.
What will it be like?
Coaching is one-on-one, and also starts with some time spent getting to know each other. Then we will talk about what work-related situation or issue brings the client to coaching, before exploring it more deeply together through conversation. Or, coaching may be delivered around a pre-determined topic, leading to more of a workshop feel. Either way, the aim of a coaching session or series of sessions is to increase the client’s understanding of their situation, their thoughts and feelings about it, and how they might best be able to respond to achieve the outcome they’d like.
Training typically starts with some time spent getting to know each other, the agenda for the training, and the intended learning outcomes, before continuing into the main learning-oriented parts of the course. There will usually be a little time spent at the end on reflection on the training, and what learning stood out most for the client or clients.
Firefly Coaching & Training sessions are mostly one-on-one, but some may be for small groups.
How are courses and coaching delivered?
All Firefly Coaching & Training sessions are held online, and a Google Meet link will be sent to clients at least 24 hours before the course or session is due to start. You will need your own laptop with camera, internet connection, and ideally, a quiet place to sit, so you can really focus on your training or coaching and get the most out of it.
How long do courses and sessions last ?
The intended duration of training courses will always be advertised along with the course outline on the Services page of the Firefly Coaching & Training website.
Coaching sessions typically last 60 minutes, but again, they may be shorter or longer than this, depending on whether they centre around a pre-determined topic, or are completely personalised to the client.
Coaching is also be offered in packages of two or more sessions. This allows for our conversation together to go deeper than just the superficial details, and provides more time for co-designing possible responses to the work issue or situation you have brought to coaching.
How much does it cost?
The cost of each training course or coaching package will always be advertised alongside the other details of the offering on the Services page of the Firefly Coaching & Training website.
Do I have to prepare or do homework?
You don't have to, but in the case of coaching, doing some thinking before your first session and the thought and behavioural experiments I suggest in between sessions, will really help you succeed in achieving your goal.
I wrote a blog post on how to get the most out of coaching - find it here.
Will you tell anyone what we talked about?
No – the discussions that happen as part of training and coaching stay confidential.
How do I book?
Each training course or coaching offering on the Services page on the Firefly Coaching & Training website has a 'Contact me to book’ button to click. This will make it easy to email me to express your interest in booking. Then we’ll have a conversation just to check the training or coaching is a good fit for you, or so you can get further information to help you decide between different options. It’s important to me that the course or session you choose is really valuable and can make a real difference for you and how you experience your work!
You can also email me directly at marie-louise@fireflycoaching.nz.
Sound good? Not sure?
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