Grace Graham (MInstLM)

14 March 2011

As community services manager at Comet Nursery School and Children's Centre in the London borough of Hackney, there's little time for Grace Graham to enjoy finger-painting or story telling with her mini clients.

Her demanding role keeps her busy with leading and managing a team; liaising with the Primary Care Trust's health team, family support team and psychologists; planning services; and taking charge of outreach and managing budgets.

And now she's completed the ILM level 5 certificate in coaching and mentoring in management, she can add new skills and responsibilities to the mix.

The qualification has taught her how to coach and mentor aspiring leaders, as well as coach people through change.

After spotting the ILM course details in the training catalogue at work one day, Grace, along with staff from other children's centres in Hackney, went to study off-site one day a week for five weeks. "As well as coaching practice to complete, we had a reflective log and a learning log to fill in, plus an assignment to hand in two months later," she says.

The result is that Grace can coach and mentor staff effectively: "I enjoy helping move people forward. One colleague in particular felt 'stuck' in his role. He was facing uncertainty, and didn't know how to make work effective or enjoyable. After spending a few sessions together he managed to get some clarity. He's still in the same role within the borough but has now moved to being self-employed and feels in more control of his situation."

Coaching team members can keep people motivated and feeling involved in planning. It's also a way to remind staff of key skills in a non-critical, more collaborative way.

"Key issues we might discuss include time-keeping, dealing with conflict and how to deal with a child's, or parent's, challenging behaviour," says Grace. "We're always focused on solutions instead of problems, and if someone has an idea on how things can be improved they'll share it and we'll take it forward together. After all, we all have the same aim – to give the children in our borough a great, stimulating and nurturing experience."

Completing the level 5 qualification has also equipped her to carry out leadership training for staff in their first management position. It's an aspect of her job she loves. "I have a special empathy for new and aspiring leaders," she says. "I remember what it was like starting out in my first leadership role – I got it wrong so many times."

Grace has also found that the course has had a major impact on her own performance. "Doing level 5 has given me a clarity at work I'd never had before. Not only am I now less ruled by emotion but feel far more in control. Compared to many others around me, my stress levels have plummeted."

"I'm now more able to organise and prioritise tasks, especially when it comes to starting a new project. I'd never really been able to plan ahead, but my ILM qualification has taught me the key. I'll continuously question why I'm doing what I'm doing, what the benefit of doing it is, what the benefit of not doing it is, and what the goal is. And that can be applied to anything, from new baby massage classes we're looking to run, or my objectives for that day – even things outside work."

Her new qualification hasn't just brought her full ILM membership – it may even lead to a new career. "I do coaching, mentoring and training as part of my current role, but when other departments in other boroughs started asking me to help I decided to offer my services on a consultancy basis. Now, as Impact Coaching and Consultancy, I specialise in coaching and mentoring those who are new to leadership and management. I love my current role, but eventually I'd like to move into consultancy full-time."