My career with CAF:helping colleagues develop through coaching

Why do you enjoy coaching at CAF?

For me, coaching is about supporting others in their decisions; providing them with a sounding board and an opportunity to move forward. We have incredibly talented and passionate individuals at CAF, and our support can really help them to unlock their full potential.

Coaching also gives me the chance to understand more about our organisation and make the connections that can help our clients, which helps me in my job.

I was very fortunate to be trained up as a level 5 coach and am now part of a cohort of internal, accredited coaches able to work with anyone at CAF who would like some coaching.

What skills have you passed on to the people you've coached? 

Coaching is more about people unlocking their own mindset and skills than me passing on technical abilities or specific skills. It’s been great to see individuals develop – both over the short- and long-term.

What's next for your own coaching skills?  

I’d like to understand more about the psychological elements behind success set out in the Growth Mindset work of Carol Dweck – and how we can benefit from it - as well as Angela’s Duckworth’s work on perseverance in Grit. I really believe that these long-term skills underpin the success we have here, and across the charity sector.

The problems our clients are trying to solve don’t have easy fixes, which means we all need to understand how to plan for the more difficult times, as well as for success. Both can be equally challenging!

Why do you work for a charity?

Put simply – to make a difference. It may sound trite but, as a team, we see hundreds of charitable organisations each year doing invaluable work. Some are well-known and some less so; but for individuals and the communities they serve, they’re changing the world.

When CAF Bank supports them with banking or lending - or by simply understanding their challenges - we help them to make a real impact on communities. I’m incredibly proud that our lending product helps twice – once for the clients we assist to build their capacity and once by providing income to support our work. It’s a good reason to get to the office.

PS: If you’re ever in doubt about what we do, and why it’s important, watch the last minute of our film about CAF Bank, featuring my colleague Sean Taylor, two young adults and a disco ball.

How would you describe our company culture?

We aspire to our values of Trust, Support, Flexibility and Dedication. I’ve seen these in abundance from colleagues, and we make sure to celebrate them on our recognition wall and at our away days.

When we’re at our best, we’re a massive force for good, and that can be seen in everything we do at CAF.

You can discover more about our values and what we do by getting to know us.