Fundamental premise of Life Coaching.
“Every Person has the Potential & the Resourcefulness within himself/herself to achieve anything that they set their eyes upon”
“If we all did the things, we are capable of doing, we would astound ourselves”-Thomas. A. Edison
But why doesn’t it happen? Any guesses??
“The most important question a person can ask is, ‘Is the Universe a friendly place?”-Albert Einstein
If the answer to this question is “Yes” then the person will build bridges & if the answer is “No” the person will build walls.
The way we see ourselves & the rest of the world has a huge impact on what we would attempt to achieve, our response to it & the choices that we make.
This is where a coach comes in handy as he/she can open the coachee to different possibilities by overcoming their limiting beliefs. This is my fundamental role as a coach.
I would like to cite a few of my experiences where the coachee got an insight to their limiting beliefs & they got on to a direction with more confidence & positivity.
One of the the biggest job of a coach (from my perspective) is to be able to create an environment (Safety net) that is nonjudgmental where the coachee feels fully comfortable to express himself/herself freely.
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- In one coaching assignment my coachee (female) came with an objective to become a team manager (a role in her current organization). She had a less than favorable opinion about her manager & the hierarchy upwards. In fact, she was also advised to pursue opportunities outside the organization.
- During our initial conversation, she realized that what she really wanted was to become a woman role model. (Team manager role was just a manifestation of that desire/intention). She got clarity on the attributes of the woman role model that she was aspiring to be. She became aware of the strengths that she had which would support her to achieve this & also became aware of the areas of improvement. As a coach, I had to show her the mirror & enable her to look at the problem from an outside-in perspective. (keeping herself out of the problem area & looking at it from a 3rd person view).
- She realized that she was too harsh on herself & was taking the feedback as criticism. She started focusing on what she could do differently to showcase her work better than expecting things from other stakeholders.
- She willingly took the feedback & worked on the improvement areas. She was at more peace with herself. She could spend her energies on the right things. She felt more satisfied. Her relationships with other stakeholders improved. She got an opportunity to apply for an internal job posting for a higher role with people responsibilities that she was looking at. She was very confident during the interview (without any biases) & she also got selected for the role.
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- In one of my engagements, I was coaching a person who is a self-made man. Had a troubled childhood, losing his parents at an early age but his granny made a man out of him. This coachee along with his professional career has also been running an NGO of his own. He came with the objective of becoming a social entrepreneur. He had a lot of good ideas but was struggling to convert the ideas into realizable products.
- Because of his upbringing & his experiences he believed that he needs to do everything on his own. During our discussions, he was able to disassociate himself with the problem statement, he was able to take himself out of the frame of the problem & look at it from a third person’s view who is not in the problem. He could arrive at some solutions.
- In fact, he has got admission into a reputed organization that imparts entrepreneurship training to a select few candidates who work in the field of social service. He is now on the journey of being technically equipped in the process of converting ideas into products.
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- In another instance my coachee who was getting into a first-time leadership role was struggling with influencing & delegating abilities. She started with a goal of becoming an empathetic leader but during sessions, she became clear of the attributes that she was looking at herself to display as a leader. During the sessions, she became aware that it was her fear of acceptance, fear of the reaction that was stopping her from expressing herself fully. During her coaching journey, she applied her learnings & she feels quite comfortable expressing herself in front of her team & also while delegating. She has also learned the art of self-coaching for smaller issues. She is very confident & in the direction of becoming a great leader.
One of the best compliments that I have received from one of my coachee is that he feels he is talking to his Granny (The person he was very close to) & he can openly share all the challenges with me.
As a coach, I have always believed that it’s about small things. If we can set the basic things right which could be 5% of the change inducement has the potential to create a 95% impact in the lives of the coaches
For me as a coach, the most fulfilling part is to see who the coachee becomes in this journey apart from achieving his/her goal.
Personally, I have also evolved & discovered my blind spots as a result of interactions with my coachee’s.
Need a supporting hand? Feel free to call.
Take Care & Stay Safe
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