About Gillian Walter

Qualified, accredited Mentor Coach, Coaching Supervisor and assessor for the International Coaching Federation (ICF)

Gillian Walter - Coach, coaching supervisor in ZurichI’m an experienced Master Certified Coach helping people to successfully navigate and develop through change and uncertainty. This can range from career transition to confidently moving beyond limiting beliefs and old behaviour patterns to confidently clarifying purpose and creating a new life vision.

Originally English, I have been living and working on Lake Zürich Switzerland for 20+ years and am experienced working with individuals, groups and teams privately and for large organisations. I am a learn-oholic, so I offer a wide array of ever-growing coaching principles and modalities to my sessions. I am qualified and accredited as a Mentor Coach, Coaching Supervisor and assessor for the International Coaching Federation (ICF) meaning that much of my work is supporting other coaches through their own accreditation process and throughout their continued professional development.

Before becoming a coach, I trained as an artist, teacher, department head and interpreter for the deaf. I help clients feel at ease as they explore new perspectives and solutions and coach the whole person as an authentic individual. Creativity is my passion. I am an established and published author of the Choir of Brave Voices book series, and my life purpose is to help others find, develop, and bring the power of their own, unique brave voice confidently into the world. I provide a safe place to widen your perspective and awareness, both of yourself and others.

Supervision and Mentoring for Coaches

I offer both private 1:1 and group Supervision and Mentoring sessions, so whether you are looking to gain or renew accreditation or regular continued professional development (CPD), I have an offering for you.

Private sessions are always available, but if you are looking for a group dynamic and the many lenses and perspectives this can offer, then choose from one of the following or get in touch and we can chat about what would serve your needs best.

Mentoring and Supervision groups are starting all the time.

Mentoring groups cover:
Teams Coaching (ACTC), International Coaching Federation (ICF) accreditations, and Preparation for the CKA (Coach Knowledge Assessment) exam.

Supervision groups cover all areas of professional coaching development. Choose from: Team Coaching-, Creative Reflection-, mixed Coaching Supervision Groups.

If you strive to be a better coach, get in touch!

Why work with me?

I am creatively intuitive. Does this mean you have to be creative? No!

Most of my coaching clients are scientists, mathematicians, engineers – people whose life is generally spent up in their heads. Simply put, the brain functions best when creative and analytical elements activate and ‘complete’ each other. Coaching with me integrates the whole person to discover new, innovative perspectives and solutions that rational thought processes alone just can’t achieve.

I help you to understand and utilize the positive power in old defense mechanisms

Defense mechanisms look after us like well-meaning, over-protective bodyguards. They use our core strengths to keep us safely still in our comfort zones rather than taking a potentially risky step. Coaching with me provides safe and actional alternative realities by widening perspectives and awareness of ourselves and others.

I make the ‘tough stuff’ easier to work with and learn from

Creative perspectives are less likely to trigger stress responses, less likely to alert any old defense mechanisms, and therefore far more likely to offer new insights to help you move beyond your unique kind of block and forward to solutions.

I provide a safe, solution-focused space for clear thinking

I often hear, “My situation is way too complex and there’s no time for coaching.” Coaching with me provides the time and space to step back, breathe, view the situation from new perspectives, and process thoughts clearly. Experience the power of clear head space plus a strategic thinking partner and you won’t go back to old, hamster-wheel think-think-thinking.

I show you how to practice mental fitness and grow resilience

My clients often struggle with the challenges of overwhelm through change and transitioning. Together, we practice Emotional Intelligence (or EQ), paying attention to mental fitness techniques that, in turn, help my clients stay focused, resourced, authentically confident and clear-thinking, all of which are distinguishing characteristics of successful leaders and anyone living happy, healthy lives.

I provide a light-hearted and humourful relational approach

My methods are creative and caring. Our relationship is paramount to our work together and I am available throughout our coaching journey together, not just during our session hours. I will be your friend, confident, sparring partner, honest mirror, and unwavering champion. Prepare to laugh and feel understood alongside being challenged and held accountable. We cannot step back and look honestly and deeply into what it is you need unless we trust each other and feel comfortable with the coaching process.

Frequently Asked Questions

Therapy works backwards in order to discover what trauma or issue in your past life is affecting your behavior today. Therapy is mostly talking things through and remembering details of past problems.

Coaching takes you from today and looks forwards towards your vision and goals for what you want in life. We work positively on strengths, talents, beliefs, habits and ways we can move forwards to your goal and beyond. The coaching process is dynamic. You will be expected to work and carryout the action steps you say you are going to undertake. You will try new things, new ways of thinking and perhaps step out of your comfort zone (with all the support you need). You will actively evaluate the learning opportunities that come from your actions and use this information to design next steps. You will take responsibility for your own success and actively work towards achieving it.

Coaching is completely confidential. It involves creating a trusting and supportive partnership. It uses powerful techniques that encourage and support you to:
  • Stop the reactive hamster wheel,
  • Re-think and reevaluate situations from different perspectives,
  • Increase awareness of situations and yourself
  • Set, clarify and maintain goal focus
  • Recognise new possibilities, new opportunities and new resources
  • Notice what is holding us back; blind-spots, barriers, old habits, negative beliefs

The first important thing to consider is that we meet and ‘feel’ if we have the right chemistry for a successful and productive partnership before coaching begins. We need to be open and honest with each other in this very first session.

If we feel we could work well together, my Coaching Agreement suggests a minimal, initial coaching period of 3 months. The reason for this being the scientifically proven amount of time we need to discover, change and reset old, negative habits, ideas and behaviours into supporting ones that bring us success and happiness.

Some people come for coaching to work on one specific, short-term goal. Others choose to work see where the journey takes them. Some leadership clients enjoy the regular support of an honest and trusted sparring partner. Some know exactly what they want and work towards their goal. Some spend more time deciding and defining what their vision and goal might be.

Everyone is different.

You are free to finish coaching any time you want to.

We generally look briefly at what has happened since last session and the learning opportunities you experienced.

You set the agenda for the session (what you want to achieve in the time)

You decide what success would look like & what you want to take away the session with you.

We explore what elements are important to you, what success will look like, what it will bring you, what the opportunities represent etc.

We work together to discover options, strategies, resources, support systems, overcome possible obstacles and gain clarity and confidence.

You summarise the session; what has been said and what insights have come up and transfer this learning into possible action steps to help transition to the next step on the way to your bigger goal..

You choose and clarify small, achievable and positive action steps, make sure the necessary resources are in place and look at commitment, motivation and accountability and how to keep these elements supporting us between session.

I ask for session feedback and you have the opportunity to readjust the coaching experience to improve and tailor future sessions to be the best and most productive they can be for you.

You can think of me as rather like a taxi driver. You set the destination and I get you there safely, happy and confident, regardless of diversions, roadblocks or holes in the road!

So what can you expect from a coaching session?

There are a number of different coaching styles and options:

Face to face coaching

Some of us simply prefer face-to-face coaching interaction. We feel more comfortable being able to ‘feel’ non-verbal communication such as hand gestures, facial expressions, eye contact and the closer relationship with another person.  Working with the written results in front of you can really help some people to get clarity.

Of course, your location and timetable can limit your coaching session options. Travel time and costs are also a consideration with face-to-face coaching.

How it works:
We sit and work together to discover options, solutions and action steps for moving forward positively.

You choose action steps and we ensure you have the best tools to work with and succeed.

We decide on a deadline for the tasks to be completed by.

We evaluate what happened and what was learned from your experience at the next meeting.

I send all your notes to you electronically

Video coaching

Some of us enjoy the convenience and personal aspects of video call coaching. This kind of coaching offers another real-time, face-to-face coaching option.

We can use whatever face to face calling option is best for you, FaceTime, WhatsApp or Skype. Skype also offers the option of sharing files and notes from screen to screen in real-time, sharing a screen and being able to connect with the full range of communication (body language, tone, gestures etc).

Video coaching works very well from any geographical location or time zone, is flexible and can be fitted into any timetable. We can connect instantly and we will have a live feed of each other.

I would still recommend meeting up in person to connect from time to time, but relationships can and do still develop very well using only video discussions.

How it works:
We see each other via a live video link and work together to discover options, solutions and action steps for moving forward positively. You will see all the notes on the whiteboard as we work.

You choose action steps and we ensure you have the best tools to work with and succeed.

We decide on a deadline for the tasks to be completed by.

We evaluate what happened and what was learned from your experience at the next meeting.

I send all your notes to you electronically

Telephone coaching

Some people are happier when they don’t have to travel far, don’t have to get dressed up, don’t have to leave the office or home (or tidy it up!) for a coaching visit. Some people also feel that they can be more open and honest when they aren’t looking at the person they are speaking to.

Very few people don’t have a mobile phone to hand these days, making telephone coaching incredibly convenient, flexible and practical.

I would still recommend meeting up in person initially to connect but relationships can and do still develop very well using only video discussions.

How it works:
We speak to each other over telephone and work together to discover options, solutions and action steps for moving forward positively.

You choose action steps and we ensure you have the best tools to work with and succeed.

We decide on a deadline for the tasks to be completed by.

We evaluate what happened and what was learned from your experience at the next meeting.

I send all your notes to you electronically

I listen, challenge, support and guide my clients to move forwards positively towards their goals. It doesn’t matter to me which form of communication we use; it can also be a mixture, the most important aspect is which method is right for you?

Consider these statements:
If you can answer yes to most of them, then coaching is right for you!

I am accredited by the following professional bodies and standards