Interview with Melanie Kearsey – Career Coach, Australia

Interview with ICA Coach, Melanie Kearsey
(Career Coach, Australia)

Recent ICA grad, Melanie Kearsey of MK Coaching leverages her Human Resources and career development experience for powerful coaching results. She and Merci talks about how she came to coaching.

Full Transcription

Merci: Hi, everyone and welcome to another “Day in the Life of a Coach.” I’m Merci Miglino and with me today, is Melanie Kearsey, all the way from Australia. Well, I guess, same time in New York, it’s all the way for her, it’s right where she is. So welcome, Melanie.

Melanie: Hi, Merci, thank you. Nice to be here chatting to you.

Merci: Oh, yes, and I have an opportunity to congratulate Melanie. She is indeed a recent graduate of International Coach Academy. And well, she comes to us, [woo-ooh] she comes to us, wow, with some interesting HR and a career direction strategy background. And so my first question is, Melanie, what brought you to coaching?

Melanie: Well, Merci, as you said, my background in HR and I think, I always gravitated to HR because I want to help people. I always found that people use to come to me for advice and then, as soon as what would look, I could tell you it’s been a while and then I realized that there was this thing called coaching. And yeah, I find this to guide in different causes and the ICA coach resonated with me and I thought this is it, this is my calling, this is what I want to do.

Merci: Great. It seems like, of natural fit with Human Resources because coaching is about potentializing people. Did you see that?

Melanie: Yes.

Merci: I’m wondering how you saw it, these two come together once you took coach training?

Melanie: Absolutely, I think from my exposure to the performance management process in HR, we really get an insight into what motivates individuals. I was always intrigued by what are the law including doing influenced our motivation. So it wasn’t that a lot for me and I found out that in HR, I was offering advice and consultation and what I learned through coaching is that the call as the experts and to abandon that sense of being an adviser. So I think I misguided stepping into a chart which now feels like the right fit in coaching, yeah.

Merci: Yeah. Well, it’s so interesting that we build on whatever experience brings us to coaching because it’s all in there as they say. So, given your background, have you chosen a Coaching Niche?

Melanie: Well, by giving whatever, I need to saw that perhaps career coaching was a good avenue for me. I have experienced with recruitment so, certainly in terms of helping people prepare resumes and coaching them to identify what their strengths are, to help them just prepare themselves for the jobs taking courses. So I found that career coaching was quite a good alignment with it, and you know, just the presence of helping them uncover exactly the strengths to what they want, and what they what and what they want to be, so it’s not like a good fit.

Merci: It sounds like this. So your company is MK Coaching?

Melanie: That’s right.

Merci: Okay.

Melanie: So, I do coaching and I’m also customized with best training as well.

Merci: Wow, great. I love the way coaching lets you combine some other interest and background to sort of, I mean, I’m somebody who likes to do a little bit of everything and so it really is ideal, or so many things that it relates to and, boy, you’re showing up just like that.

Melanie: Yeah, absolutely. Now, fantastic, I can make a beautiful life, joys in life all fit together, so it’s working well.

Merci: Yeah, beautiful and beautifully said, “Joys fit together”. So, okay, my next question has to do with – at ICA, we do several assessments, it’s part of our coach training. We develop our coaching model, we create a power tool for coaching and we do a little research. Tell me a little bit about what you learned in your assessments for us.

Melanie: Well, certainly from the prices of developing the power tool, I really was able to look at empowering versus powering because empowering versus – just empowering perspectives. So my power tool was motivation versus in inspiration. So helping people look at their motivations, they’re doing things whether it was coming from a “Should or a ‘want?”

Merci: Right.

Melanie: Yeah, and I think helping people identify the difference between motivations, inspirations, so something that calls you, and propels you rather than something that compels you to take actions. So when I’ve been working with client, I can see I like helping them to see whether they’ve driven from a disorder that’s I guess pure in nature whether they really want it or would did they feel I should be pursuing it. So, the power tool was really good for me to synthesize those thoughts. My coaching model is about focus. So I’m looking at it from my point of view, I’m focusing on what you want as opposed to what you don’t want. I think a lot of people they articulate their goals, they expressed them in language that isn’t always leaning towards what they want. It’s find a way from what they don’t want. So the simple act of focusing on what is the desired state and holding to that, to find that vision. So that’s my coaching model. And my coaching research paper was about coaching presence in a pair of coaching presence. And I certainly found in my client coaching sessions that if you weren’t really present, if you didn’t even [inaudible] the power and the impact of the coaching sessions is very diminished so, I find that in myself if I was out there thinking, if I was in my head too much, I wasn’t really present with the client, and then it was very detrimental to myself in the core, so if I make coaching with something I kind of really had to develop, and I just think that’s of utmost importance.

Merci: Wow, I love that, Melanie, I have to say because I think that for me was challenging, too. It involves like really being present just saying now being mindful in a minute, staying out of your head, you know, not finishing clients’ thought even if it’s not out loud. So what a great piece of research to really find out…

Melanie: Yes.

Merci: What it takes and I’ve been coaching 15 years and I still practice it. I still you know, have to really being in and it gets easier, that’s for sure, but you’re right, it’s very powerful when you’re doing it. Okay.

Melanie: Yes, yes.

Merci: Wow, okay.

Melanie: And I think [inaudible] 0:06:55.2 in there and realizing that the clients need power realization to me, so I’m not mentoring advise, I’m not mentoring poverties or suggestions about to help facilitate a process of awareness. So to do that, you have to be fully present and never bored with the client, so, yeah.

Merci: Absolutely, great work. Thanks. So, my final question, if you could tell the world anything about coaching what would you tell them?

Melanie: It’s the most rewarding, beautiful experience when you can help somebody uncover their strengths, you can help somebody make a shift or a movement when they’re feeling that they’re blocked. It’s just a beautiful way to help somebody without, advising them, you know, within that processes of awareness. And that can lead to such enduring transformation for people. That’s just so rewarding, it’s beautiful, I love it.

Merci: Yeah, [laughing] She loves it. I do too. Well, thanks for spending these few moments with us in Day in the Life of a Coach and I’m sure you will have much success or much continued success, so thanks for joining us, Melanie.

Melanie: Thank you, it’s been my pleasure. Thank you, Merci. Bye, everyone!

About Melanie

MK Life Coaching
Career Transition/Outplacement Services
Geelong , Australia

After 14 years working within multinational organisations, and completing a degree in Business Management and Human Resources, it was a company merger that prompted Melanie to make big changes in her life. Her background in Human Resources, People Development and Performance Management familiarized her with the field of motivational psychology and her fascination with what made people tick lead her to coaching.

Melanie also felt driven by a desire to help people see their potential and realise their dreams.

Melanie promptly investigated the next chapter of her life, the dream of becoming a professional Coach.  She enrolled in the International Coaching Academy to become a Certified Professional Coach and make her dreams a reality.