Getting to Know FlexCoach Mia Elliott

FlexCareers is passionate about supporting our employer partners and our community to be the best that they can be.  We offer a range of training and coaching services in areas such as career transition and outplacement, parental leave, return to work, managing flexibly, interview skills, leadership and management, positive psychology, and diversity & inclusion – to name a few. In this series, we meet Mia Elliott.

Tell us about your career history?

I have spent 15 years working with individuals and organisations to help them identify and achieve their objectives. I have worked across multiple industries, in some of Australia’s largest companies and I specialise in transformational change.

Over the last seven years, I have worked to integrate my family and work life, I’ve experienced the challenges associated with this but I’ve also been rewarded for my efforts when I see how much I have been able to contribute to organisations and individuals.

What was your motivation to become a coach?

I have always loved helping people achieve their potential.

Once I joined the workforce, I saw how effective leaders were skilled at unlocking their team members potential through the application of coaching. I actually worked on a project that was changing the way that sales leaders led their teams – we implemented a sales coaching approach to move from a “tell the individual what and how to do it” approach to a “support the individual to find the answer by asking them the right question and focusing on their strengths.” This was a great project to be involved in as it gave me an opportunity to coach the sales leaders on how to be great coaches. The benefits of the project were amazing, the sales teams felt more empowered – engagement scores went up, they were able to convert more leads and achieve higher revenue. This provided me with an example of the tangible benefits of using coaching in the workforce.

Since then, I have used coaching effectively with students studying their Masters degrees in business and economics who were moving into new roles or advancing their careers. People transitioning in the workplace into leadership roles, my own team members in their day to day roles and executives leading transformational change.

I’ve started my own coaching business to be able to focus on the things I love most, helping people to achieve their goals.

Do you have any particular areas of coaching expertise?

I am experienced in coaching people who are looking to make a career transition (new industry, new careers, expanded roles etc.), mothers returning to the workforce after a period of leave, I also coach executives leading change in their organisations.

What do you love most about coaching?

I love helping people identify the things that are really important to them and achieve their goals.

How do you define success?

Success for me personally is when I am flourishing, I’m exercising, eating well, meditating, spending time with my family and friends and helping my clients.

For my clients, I am successful when I am helping them identify their future state and help them unlock their internal resources so they can move towards their desired future.

What is your vision for women in the workplace?

My vision is that we never have to use the term “women in the workplace”. We are all capable and competent people, we all have our unique strengths and talents that can be leveraged to create successful organisations. I want people to be able to identify the strengths in others and help one another to create great outcomes – regardless of gender, ethnicity, family situation, age etc.

How do you define ‘flexibility’?

Flexibility allows people to integrate their work into their lives – this can be in many different forms. Flexibility allows people to apply their skills and expertise in the workplace whilst still maintaining a commitment to those things that are important outside the workplace be it – family, study, health and fitness, passion projects etc.  I’m a firm believer that flexibility increases productivity and engagement in the workplace.

About Mia Elliott

Mia is a passionate coach and facilitator who loves supporting people to transform their thinking and behaviour so they can achieve their goals. Having worked across a range of industries including financial services, IT, health and aged care, higher education and telecommunications, Mia has demonstrated her capacity to coach people at all levels of an organisation through complex organisational change. Mia has a unique ability to empathise and provide support for the individual whilst challenging them to grow and expand their own capabilities.

Mia believes we all have the potential to succeed and makes it her priority to ‘support the individual to find the answer by focusing on their strengths and asking them the right questions.’ 

FlexCareers offers a free 30-minute introductory meeting with our FlexCoaches, to help you establish if coaching is right for you. You can contact Mia through FlexCareers here.