Where are your limits? I have always believed that most people are basically capable of most things, but not many are able to or even want to push themselves to discover those limits.
Sometimes it takes other people to see in us what we cannot. A skilled coach is trained to see those potentials that lie dormant within, and identify the gaps that if addressed would be the gateway to new undiscovered abilities.
If you have never experienced great coaching it might be difficult to see what might emerge from it – you might feel that you have reached your limits and are operating at maximum capacity. I can guarantee you are not.
“But I don’t need therapy” – let me be clear – coaching is not therapy, and it is certainly not entertainment. It is hard work, for both client and coach. The rewards are considerable though – my clients consistently feed back about their increased confidence, awareness of self and others, new ways of thinking more strategically and an enhanced ability to act deliberately and intentionally rather than reactively.
So what can you expect from your coach that might give you these things?
Visibility of your blind spots – what shows up in the coaching room shows up everywhere – being more aware of the things you cannot usually see means you can influence how you come across and alter how you think/feel. This means that you can avoid making the misjudgements that often plague us because of our limited vision, and start to take more control over your behaviour and effectiveness.
Having a confidant – someone to be totally open with and talk through your inner thinking and feelings about situations. This is the basic act of making conscious what is often unconscious – when you talk you are listening to your own words and reprocessing them to generate new awareness – plus the added dimension of the coach adding their perspective. Once the unconscious is conscious you have more options and choices over how you act.
Reframe your thinking – we are all limited by our own perspectives, your coach will help you look at things from different perspectives and this helps to see new options and possibilities. Over time you will discover that your perspective broadens and you learn to have a much broader frame of thinking.
Confidence – coaches have wide exposure to different situations and experiences – they can both help you feel more confident because you have considered every angle, but also a coach will help convey confidence – they are your ‘partners in crime’.
Can a coach really do this? No, but together with your coach you can co-create these outcomes – it is what happens when you both open up to each other that releases the magic.
I would suggest that these four enhancements to your leadership would make it worth the effort of doing the hard yards with a coach, and would help you raise your limits.
What do you think?