The 3 Questions that Bring Architects to Coaching

and 3 ways we keep the conversations going....

I started Surf Life Executive Coaching with one mission: to help creative leaders transition to a life and business filled with purpose, choice and impact in service to their values, the well-being of humanity and our planet. Three years into my coaching practice, I began to attract a community of curious  and talented architects and designers. They had big visions for their leadership and career, but they were burnt out, discouraged, anxious and unsure of the path ahead.  They wanted to see if there was a better way forward to achieve personal and professional success and fulfillment.  Just as they were designing innovative spaces in the tangible world, they wanted to design their work and their leadership in alignment with their values and purpose.  They wanted to get clear on the legacy they wished to leave in the world as a technical creative.
 
In the 9 years I’ve been coaching architects and designers, these have been the three driving questions they are trying to figure out:

 1. Where am I going and how can I get there?

An architect I coached was laid off from her senior corporate position. She was trying to figure out what her next step was going to be.  With a little nudge from her husband, she began her coaching journey.  In the process, she got clear on what she really wanted, which was to pivot to interior design. She also got clear she wanted to do it on her own terms by starting her own firm.  And that’s exactly what she did.  She successfully started her own design firm which she has been running for eight years with design projects all over the world.  

2. How can I get my confidence back?

Another architect I coached had undiagnosed ADHD throughout her career.  She really struggled to function in a corporate architecture setting because of the high pressure and constant deadlines required of corporate life.  She transitioned out of corporate to start her own firm.  She was also able to get a proper diagnosis and treatment to manage her ADHD. But she lost so much confidence during her corporate tenure that she struggled to find the confidence to run her firm.  She turned to executive coaching where she spent a year doing the internal leadership work needed to grow her confidence, implement creative systems that work for her in her practice, and learn strategies of managing and getting the best out of her people. As a result, she was able to start to attract the types of projects that truly resonated with her, in addition to growing her firm’s revenues.    

3. How do I feel better?

Another talented designer and architect took the plunge and started his own firm.  Barely three years in, he was run down, agitated, lacked any work life balance, and felt constant anxiety about the business.  Moreover, he would run the business on adrenaline and dopamine rushes versus growing the practice in a steady and consistent way.  This took him to coaching.  He spent a year developing internal emotional resilience and learned how to better self-regulate through the ups and downs of firm leadership. He learned how to manage staff with realistic expectations.  He also developed a creative vision for a life of running his architecture firm which included teaching architecture and traveling the world with his family.  He’s currently planning to spend his next summer with his family in Spain!  Before coaching he could not even dream this was a possibility. 

Though faced with different challenges, these architecture leaders all relied on core foundational coaching processes to overcome their challenges to attain clarity, confidence and calmness in their leadership and life.  They clarified and made decisions based on their values.  They clarified their purpose and what they stand for as architects. They articulated and shared their design philosophy and better integrated it into their practices.  They met the many internal voices that were constantly dialoguing within – from the voice of doubt that kept sabotaging their dreams, to the voice of confidence and competence that said “damn. I nailed that design.”  Most importantly, they developed a clear vision for who they wanted to BE in the future as a technical creative – what I like to call their Future Architect Self.  

Coaching specific to architects and designers seeking answers to the questions that drive their careers works!  The testimonials speak for themselves.
 
Interested in being part of leadership conversations with other inspiring architects and designers to figure out a better way forward to professional and personal fulfillment? See how to get involved with Surf Life below!  

1. Surf Life for Architects and Designers: Conversations on Leadership and Life (Linkedin group)

Surf Life for Architects and Designers: Conversations on Leadership and Life is my new Linkedin community just for architects and designers to explore how to use your creativity in service to designing a leadership and life that speaks not only to your head, but to your heart.  I invite you to join in the conversation here!

2. Surf Life Foundations for Architects and Designers: Online Coaching Program

Spending the past nine years working with talented architects and designers like these and getting results is what inspired the creation of Surf Life Foundations for Architects and Designers.  This is an online course designed to give architects and designers an easy way to start getting leadership coaching and to tackle answers to their professional leadership and life challenges. 

The online course consists of five foundational comprehensive modules delivered over five emails, allowing architects to delve into important topics such as identifying their values, connecting with their inner leadership voice, managing their inner critic, gaining clarity on their purpose, and meeting their Future Architect Self.  Now, any architect or designer interested in growing their leadership can access these tools and begin their leadership coaching journey.

3. Surf Life Executive Leadership Coaching for Architects and Designers

1:1 Executive Leadership Coaching with Surf Life is a program designed to provide in-depth, transformational coaching to help leaders in architecture and design unlock their potential so they can operate with more clarity, confidence and calmness.

The program includes 1:1 coaching, an interactive toolkit of coaching exercises and practical management tools to empower architects and designers in building their leadership skills, and powerful guided visualizations.  It also includes neuroscientific explanations of coaching exercises, so even the most skeptical leaders understand not only what they are doing in leadership but why they are doing it.  Leaders who have completed this program are 3 times more likely to meet their business and transition goals based on this system.  

Visit Surf Life Executive Coaching for Architects and Designers to join in on the conversations!