About Clearfire Coaching

Purpose

Clearfire Coaching inspires and supports people, teams and organisations to do their best work, grow and thrive with clarity and inspiration.

What is Clearfire?

The name Clearfire was born of a quote I read in the coaching book Bring out their Best: “Motivation is lighting a fire underneath someone. Inspiration is lighting the fire within.”

I believe that being clear about and open to what drives us – our inner fire – is the best foundation for thriving, as individuals and organisations. Inspiration accelerates our progress, strengthens us to face challenges and sharpens our perception of opportunities.

The logo represents bringing together clarity of mind with our inner fire, and the path they create that takes us into the world.

Jodi Steel — Founder

• Coach
• Mentor
• Change Agent

Ethos

Over more than 30 years, I’ve been fortunate to have worked in and with a range of organisations from corporate to Defence, academia and retail. (Read more about my experience)

Quite often, I was part of a minority in the workplace: largely because of my gender, and sometimes because of my qualifications or experience when I’ve made a career change. Being in a minority has presented opportunities, benefits and challenges! One of the benefits has been that I’ve had a little more freedom to step back and observe workplaces and organisational culture through a different lens – to see how it works for a broad range of people, not only those who fit the dominant paradigm, and how it impacts on organisational performance. This perspective uncovered for me an abiding interest in workplace culture – in particular, what impacts on organisational performance and success.

I learned early on that developing others is both a responsibility and a privilege of leadership, to the benefit of both the organisation and the individual. Since then I’ve had a multitude of opportunities to learn – especially in relation to leadership, collaboration and formal and informal change programs.

I’ve established and been part of positive and learning cultures where people are trusted and enabled to bring and do their best, regardless of their role, their personality type, age or gender. I’ve seen these cultures boost engagement, responsiveness, performance and client relationships, and enable achievements beyond organisational expectations.

On the flip side, I’ve also experienced how workplace cultures can shut down creativity and engagement, inadvertently rewarding behaviours that are counter to their stated objectives. I’ve seen how groupthink, internal competition and a disproportionate focus on preservation of position and reputation harm organisations’ abilities to respond to their customers and their competitive environment.

In the midst of disruptive change and significant global challenges, narrow ways of thinking and working are proving inadequate. To succeed, we need to bring a diversity of skills, experiences and ideas to bear, and we need to observe, reflect, learn and adapt. Shared purpose, supported by positive, learning, inclusive cultures are the best foundations I’ve found for making that happen. Helping individuals and organisations to achieve this is Clearfire’s mission.

Inspire your work!