Jonathan Bossenger

One of the things that I discovered when I joined Automatic is that we have this amazing professional development benefit, and this covers a wide variety of things. There are courses and learn ups you can take within the company, you can expense books and learning courses. But the one thing that really, really worked or impacted, or benefited, or has benefited me over the last few years is our coaching benefit.

So coaching is something that I had never experienced before. But at Automattic, you are able to access up to, I think it’s 12 coaching sessions with a professional coach every year. And I have found this process of coaching to be transformative. It has helped me unlock things about myself that I didn’t even know were there, that have helped me become a better person, a better colleague, a better employee, a better husband, a better father. 

And I was against the idea of taking up coaching when I joined the company. It was only during a company town hall where our CEO, Matt was asked the question, if you could give opticians one piece of advice, what would you give them?

And he said, look into the coaching benefit, that I even tried it out. But it has been really, really amazing. I was able to choose my coach from a group of coaches. I was able to have a short interview with two or three of them to help finalize who I wanted to work with. I found somebody who gets me, who understands me, who gives me pictures and stories and ideas based on who I am so that I understand them better. He knows that I partake in jiu-jitsu, so he often will give me examples in a jiu-jitsu, context that just helps clarify whatever we’re dealing with or whatever we’re working on. So it’s a really amazing benefit.

So if you’re an Automatttican and you’re watching this and you haven’t taken up the coaching, I highly recommend you check it out. If you don’t work at, don’t work at Automatic, and you’re on the fence about whether or not you should consider professional coaching, I would recommend it. And if you’re working at a company that is looking for benefits to supply to their staff, consider coaching. 

It really makes a difference.