Be A Better Coach – Go Beyond. Part 2 of 4
Going beyond with clients is a selfless action, easier said than done.
When achieved, we are rewarded with highly potent interactions that create breakthrough experiences for both coach and client. Clients engage with us in a coaching partnership to pursue something important and valuable, something that is elusive without the benefit of our trusting and exploratory dialogue.
Remember this, and we are more confident and at ease to surrender our ego’s view of what serves. Resist the temptation to share our experience in response to a client’s request, “tell me what you think…” Choose instead to contribute to the exchange by inviting the client to tap into and express his or her full potential.
In this way, the exchange is a generative experience that allows a new idea to originate, creative expression of that idea to surface, an insight for learning or an impassioned resolve for action to be declared.
We transcend identity, role, and expectations by being more attentive to the spontaneous moment. To achieve this, the most important relationship to cultivate is the one with ourselves. Centering practices connect us with unconditional self-love so that we are fully in a relationship with another person.
We transcend the need to get something from another in order to experience our wholeness. We embody and model the capacity to be free and at choice about our relationship with life at any moment. These qualities are being sovereign, an inner stance from which we choose purposefully based upon who we truly are at our core, our essence. Sovereign choices support acting with integrity to what we value most. An antidote to other peoples’ opinions, living sovereign allows us to experience freedom and response-agility.
To transcend means to examine what lies beyond the ordinary range of perception. Clients seek what lies beyond their everyday knowledge or experience in order to discover more useful possibilities to address a current opportunity or challenge.
We are exposed to many different clients and situations which tempt us to believe we know what is both happening and going to happen for a client.
When we choose to go beyond our experience and perceive each client’s moment from unconditional curiosity, we demonstrate the greatest respect and honor for the client. Just as expertise is the enemy of learning, our judgment no matter how well intentioned is the enemy of unconditional curiosity, offered for the benefit of client learning and choice.
About the Author:
Janet M. Harvey, ICF Master Certified Coach, Certified Mentor Coach, Accredited Coaching Supervisor, ICF Global Past President, and ICF Foundation Board President, has 30 years of experience as both a corporate and entrepreneurial business executive. An early adopter for creating a coach-centered workplace, Janet has worked with global organizations and teams of leaders within to establish a generative, resilient and high-performance culture through a coaching approach to leading and managing success. Janet Harvey brings her executive and entrepreneurial experience as CEO for inviteCHANGE, leaders in sustainable excellence through a signature transformative coaching and learning process for people, processes and systems. Clients and audiences around the globe speak of Janet as bold, curious, provocative, challenging, yet respectful and compassionate in her leadership roles.
The Expert Series is brought to you by choice Magazine as part of our ongoing efforts to bring opportunities for learning and growth to the coaching community. Delivered in four parts every two weeks, each series covers useful topics for business development and coaching insights, serving the needs of leaders in all areas and walks of life. Archived copies of the previous series can be found here.
