“I am so grateful for the support and the amazing foundation this support has given me over the years enabling me to gain confidence within myself and my practice. I know I would not be doing what I am doing if I had not had the encouragement and reassurance that you offered from the bottom of my heart – Thank you!
This is a testimonial I received a couple of weeks ago from a fellow coach Caroline whom I supported many years ago when she was a fledgling coach. She is now soaring off into areas I don’t know enough about, so from now on she will be supported by other people and that is fine too. As a coach, or coach supervisor, we are only there for the time a coachee needs that support and of course the coachee does all of the work, not me!
This testimonial arrived at exactly the right time as I have been trying to think of a way to explain what I do for people who may not have been coached before. With this coachee, I have covered many roles and from memory, but in no particular order, we covered the following ground.
Giving confidence and supporting Caroline to be a coach. It is a big jump going from training to be a coach to actually charging people for your coaching skills.
Helping Caroline to focus on what she wanted to do going forward. This took a number of guises over the years which gave Caroline superb experience for where she is now.
As coach supervisor or, as she calls it, a coach’s coach, where sessions can be quite complex. You are seeing somebody’s client through the eyes of the coach. You need to use all of your senses and experience to give your coach pointers, so they can be an even better coach in the future.
Whether I am a coach, coach supervisor or a Samaritan, the main attribute for people is acute listening which goes deeper than just the words. If the conversation is on the telephone, intonation is a really telling factor. Silence also gives the coachee the opportunity to reflect and give greater consideration to understand where they stand now. Listening takes a different form virtually or (even better) face to face where body language gives very strong clues on how a person is thinking. In the present abnormal circumstances, I am doing quite a lot of walking coaching from my house which works very well. It has something to do with walking side by side, with nature providing its own metaphors.
By this acute listening we, as coaches, pose questions which normally a coachee will not ask of themselves. When we ask a question, which gets stunned silence, it often creates the hair on the back of your neck to rise. You know you have hit a mark which can make a big difference to the coachee and their future. It is when a coaching conversation makes a real difference to the coachee that I, as the coach, get a real buzz out of what I do.
Remember it is the coachee that does all the work, the coach purely is a catalyst for the coachee to change or find their own way through. This is true of any type of coaching whether it be in my focused areas of career, leadership or executive, retirement or business coaching or Caroline’s shown below.
Hopefully this gives you an idea of why I enjoy what I do. I am a practical coach, who will challenge if necessary, to ensure the coachee moves forward with their thinking. If you know anybody I can be of support to, please send them my details.
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