Through her career in HR, Ashlee Thackeray thought she knew how to support people. Then she found TCI and a whole new level of being able to serve others (and herself.)
Before she joined The Coaching Institute in early 2020, Ashlee Thackeray had “lost direction,” she says. “And when I lost direction, I really lost my sense of purpose and that cascaded into all areas of my life.”
Ashlee had tied her identity to her work, and “when that started losing certainty I got really confused about thought, ‘Who am I, where am I going what’s my purpose?’ she says.
“And I started looking at The Coaching Institute for a couple of different reasons.”
One line of interest was professional for the human resources expert, but "personally I was really looking for some direction and looking into research into coaches," she says. Ashlee did her “due diligence”, looking at credentials and finding a common theme among coaches she respected of having studied at TCI.
“They were highly regarded individuals who were recommended to me and the biggest thing that really happened to me was I started to explore my values,” she says.
“I wasn’t really aware that’s what I needed to do. The first process I went on was exploring what’s important to me and that was the first step.
“It completely transformed my life and gave me a sense of purpose and direction, and then I started laying down the building blocks around my identity and how I’m responding to the relationships in my life.”
Ashlee says her personal transformation is “the biggest part” of her TCI journey, but “I’ve also found so much clarity around this incredible abundance in this career that I’ve found because of The Coaching Institute.”
“What The Coaching Institute teaches it lives to the next level. You are constantly seeing it in play and I want to deliver something with that much value, that much experience, that much everything. It’s so motivating for me and I get to enjoy it from a personal perspective."
How has coaching helped you get clear on what you want?
It’s amazing. So really what I went through unpacking all of this, I work in HR so I’ve always been drawn to what I understood was helping people but there are limitations around that in terms of an organisational environment, and I didn’t feel I was equipped to have the kind of conversations I wanted to.
What are you excited about now you have clarity and direction?
Yeah, I think the joy is in the fact there is really no limit. That’s truthfully how I see it and at the moment I’m working on one-on-one clients, looking at developing online material but I’ve also done a lot of volunteer work historically through HR, getting people ready through that next transitional phase of their career which is funny because I’m doing that now, I’m doing materials to support young adults in self esteem and things like that. I am so excited, I just want to do it all so quickly. I keep thinking of new ideas. I love that abundance of new opportunity where you can support people.
What would you say to someone considering joining our amazing community?
Look, honestly it’s the best thing that I’ve done for myself and that impacts everyone around me as well. Do it—it’s incredible, even if it was just for you and your own development you will absolutely grow from this experience, this entire world and avenue of experiences waiting for you. It’s been amazing for me.
Ashlee Thackeray is a strategic diversity and inclusion specialist and 2019 FYA Social Pioneer whose background in education equality includes running award-winning gender equality programs, designing international youth empowerment initiatives and engaging the next generation as a One Young World Australian Ambassador.
We have your back! How lockdown means business as usual for TCI