Natalie Moore works as a Performance Coach with tails.com. She has been in this role for around 9 months. Before that, she had a journey to find something she loved and enjoyed getting her teeth into. From roles she loved to situations she loathed, it’s been a journey to get here.
She has always wanted to help, educate and empower others. For a really long time, it felt like teaching was the only place that would work, but now she has realized there are so many ways to ‘teach’ and help others grow.
Tell us about your life before the venture/ leading up to your venture?
I worked in the social sector. Followed by finance for social work. Moved to Housing Benefit. All within local authority (council). Then I went to the university, and part-time roles in between. I really struggled at times. Ended up not completing it, now realized was partially down to undiagnosed ADHD (recently been diagnosed).
Tell us something about your organization. What is it about and how is it helpful for people?
We are an online dog food company. We create tailored dog food, which can be tailored to a dog’s dietary needs and can sometimes help with some health needs, such as specific diets for diabetes, weight gain/loss, arthritis, etc.
In my role, I support individuals within the team to really dig deep and achieve their goals. I also work with their Team Leads to give them the tools to continue helping their teams once they’ve left coaching.
In terms of my team (the Customer Experience Learning and Development Team), we’re here to support the CX team. To help them with training, upkeep of that training, providing quality assurance of customer contact & feedback on that, supporting them in being their best selves at work and aiding them in hitting their targets in a way that is achievable for them.
We’ve implemented a number of new systems (including Lessonly) which helps the team access training and refreshers whenever they need to. It also allows us to monitor training to make sure everyone has everything they need and that we’re supporting them to the best of our ability. We offer various outlets to ensure the team is supported in the best way possible, coaching included.
We’ve also recently launched an internal podcast to give advice, recommendations, updates, some fun stories and guidance in a more modern, easy-to-digest way. Outside of work I’ve also recently launched my own podcast (which is still very much in its infancy) to the same, but with larger life aspects that aren’t directly work-related.
What has been the response of the consumers towards your venture?
When we started the coaching role at tails.com, there had never been anything like it within the company. It was brand new, unexplored territory.
We created the role to help a team who were struggling, in quite a negative spot and feeling like they couldn’t achieve their goals. We were mid-lockdown, at the height of covid and the mental health crisis was really at its peak.
Initially, there were little to no sign-ups directly from TLs. I think in the beginning they weren’t sure what was offered in coaching, what the payoff would be and if it would have a significant impact on their teams/agents. However, over time this has changed as we’ve seen results time and again.
We’ve seen TLs reach out for help and support when they’re hitting a wall with an agent. I personally feel that the consensus has changed from ‘it’s something on offer’ to ‘something that is required’
I’ve now created a full learning pathway for TLs, to provide them with coaching skills and some practical tips and steps that have helped me in the past.
How has your life changed because of your venture?
I’m now more actively looking inwards. How can I improve myself? How can I offer my best self to my role? I’ve always been someone who values positive mental health. Having studied both counseling and psychology, I really feel that working on your mental health is something everyone should take the time to do, as soon and often as they can. However, at times, that can be hard, it can slip and before you know it, we’re back in self down and depression. This is something I’ve always struggled with, so to be the best support I can be to others, I continually work on that.
I often hear the analogy, “you can’t pour from an empty cup“. And I feel that very much applies to my role. I give a lot of myself to other people each week, from advice to support to discussing difficult personal situations. And it’s not possible to do that if I don’t have a solid base of support for myself – from myself.
I’ve actively sought out ways to improve my mental health and my life since starting this role.
I’ve also been very lucky to – for the first time ever – be able to bring my whole, authentic self to work. The good, the difficult, the weird, the loud and the sometimes downright confusing lol I work with a wonderful team who accept one another as the weird, funny people we are.
Give a motivational message for the audience/women who are reading this.
I heard a quote recently (I think from the YouTube channel Struthless maybe), “Your worth is not your work“.
That really spoke to me. I tend to wrap up my worth as a person in how productive and ‘good’ I am at work/outside of home.
Sometimes we need to step back and realize that KPIs, targets, etc don’t reflect how worthy you are of a nice life, a happy home, a happy mind or being satisfied with where you are.
