http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/ The latest Blog feeds from www.fireflycoaching.nz en-us Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:10 +1200 Rocketspark http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/post/167949/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-coaching-a-guide-for-coaching-success/ When I had coaching several years ago, to deal – I hoped – with a lack of confidence in a new, more senior work role, I didn’t really know what to expect. I enjoyed the sessions, but by the end of the third one, I had the awful realisation that I was wasting the coach’s time. I was so busy that my attention wasn’t always fully focused on my coach and our conversation, and between sessions, I didn’t reflect on what we’d discussed enough to ensure each session built on the previous o... Mon, 27 Jul 2026 10:05:25 +1200 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/#post167949 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/post/167769/cant-move-up-how-to-progress-your-career-anyway/ It’s easy for women in their 30s and 40s to feel stuck in the public sector at the moment. You have years of relevant experience, a relevant tertiary education qualification or even qualifications plural, and the respect of those you work with. But if the more senior job you had your eye on was cut, and advertised jobs at the level you want to move to are few and far between, what’s the solution? How do you progress your career without promotion?The current environment in New Zealand public ... Mon, 20 Jul 2026 15:59:18 +1200 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/#post167769 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/post/167468/is-coaching-right-for-you-answers-to-questions-women-ask-before-starting/ You’ve been in your role a few months or even years. It’s going fine, and you like working in the public sector, but you want it to feel more than just “fine”. For your work to feel easier and less like pushing boulders uphill. To be able to adjust or change your work so it’s more meaningful, without changing job or organisation. To have more energy at work.Work in the New Zealand public sector can definitely be challenging. There are lots of options for gaining support and helping you... Tue, 14 Jul 2026 13:36:46 +1200 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/#post167468 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/post/167200/the-5-hidden-work-stressors-draining-public-sector-professionals/ Five months after I started, excited at what could be a great role for me with leaders I got on well with, my manager resigned and left. It was the first of multiple resignations in my team, due to uncertainty about what would happen in the restructure.It didn't end up sinking, as it happens, the team or the organisation, but staff had to sit with low-level, always-there uncertainty for about nine months as a result of the 'reshaping'.What I've come to realise is that this kind of job insecurity... Mon, 06 Jul 2026 15:20:18 +1200 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/#post167200 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/post/166953/a-simple-weekly-reset-for-work-for-public-sector-professionals-feeling-snowed-under/ You know how there are times where you end up at the end of your day with only one thing achieved? Or, maybe worse, five different things, all started and none finished? Yip, me too. That's work.What about when you have a whole week like that? It can be pretty disheartening. And in the New Zealand public sector, particularly at the moment, needing to do vastly more with fewer people almost guarantees this. It's frustrating, some of your motivation for work will ebb, and you might feel like pulli... Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:02:07 +1200 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/#post166953 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/post/166594/why-burnout-looks-different-for-women-in-the-public-sector/ Burnout has had a lot of air-time over the last couple of years. Whether that's in the press, on social media, in TED Talks. You may even know someone who's been through burnout, or been through it yourself.But much of what's out there about burnout treats it as an experience that's the same for everyone, with the same causes, and solutions that work the same for everyone. That's not accurate. As one immediate example, work by prominent burnout researchers Maslach and Leiter suggests that burnou... Mon, 22 Jun 2026 15:46:14 +1200 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/#post166594 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/post/166358/from-surviving-to-thriving-what-career-wellbeing-looks-like/ "So how's work?", your friend asks. "Good", you say, "really good". But as you walk away from your coffee date, you're wondering if that was really accurate.It's Wednesday afternoon, and the day's been OK. You've attended a couple of meetings, you've checked and replied to lots of emails, you've got tasks in your calendar that you've been working on.  Which is fine, right? You've been productive, and you're productive like this most days. But you also have a nagging feeling that it's n... Mon, 15 Jun 2026 13:23:41 +1200 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/#post166358 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/post/166009/why-public-sector-people-are-my-people/ Most coaches will work with any client. In this blog post, I'm going out on a limb! I've made a deliberate choice to specialise. As well as having a particular interest with solving work-related challenges, I specifically love helping people who work in the public sector, especially women.I’ve worked in different parts of the New Zealand public sector over 20 years – four Government departments, three universities, and two Crown entities… which means that working in the public sector is w... Mon, 08 Jun 2026 14:30:21 +1200 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/#post166009 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/post/165535/recalibrating-work-the-most-helpful-books-ive-read-this-year/ Whether we like it or not, work keeps changing. Whether it's the tasks we have to complete in our role, or the different aspects of our work environment. Or it might even be us that's changed - maybe we had a child or got them off to school, or we decided to study again to enter a new profession, or our work now has to fit with caring for a mum or dad who's not doing so great.And as long as work, our work environment and we keep changing, we have to keep adjusting and reinventing ourselves, and ... Thu, 28 May 2026 10:20:39 +1200 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/#post165535 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/post/165295/self-confidence-at-work-quiet-your-chatter-and-push-off-from-hard-moments/ Let me share with you, if I may, a blow-by-blow account of the highs and lows of my self-confidence at work last week. I could probably draw it as a graph. It would look like a rollercoaster.Monday, blessedly, went without a hitch. The rollercoaster started on Tuesday. I happily embarked on my usual start-of-the-day admin stack. (I was feeling good. I'd had a great sleep and the before-school routine was fight-free.) Email - fine. Calendar - all still do-able. Website inbox - no replies needed. ... Fri, 22 May 2026 13:25:42 +1200 http://www.fireflycoaching.nz/blog/#post165295