Coaching Tip: Self-awareness Keeps Us Transparent

Originally Submitted on 12/3/2001.

Introduction

Awareness of where we are now can help us to keep ourselves transparent, so that our own issues do not impinge on our clients' agendas.

The Coaching Tip

Coaching is one of very few professions in which it is important that the professional maintain transparency. By this it is meant that the coach's agenda must not in any way be allowed to affect the agenda of the client. The word transparent derives from the fact that window-glass, if it is not totally transparent, affects and sometimes distorts the way we see things. Similarly, if the coach does not bring transparency to the coaching session, if s/he is being influenced by personal issues from the past or present, it may affect the way s/he perceives the client's situation, and the way that the coaching proceeds.

It is important, therefore, that we maintain vigilance when client issues seem uncannily similar to our own, or to situations through which we have passed previously. If we become suddenly aware of a visceral reaction, if the gut tightens, or the jaw clenches, or memories start to surge as the client talks, then any of these symptoms, or many others, are a warning. Step back! Be aware! The client's situation is not yours. It is important to create a separation in your mind between the two, so that you can focus solely on the client's agenda, not on your own.

Being self-aware enables us to maintain a moat between what is going on within us, and what is needed to best coach the client.

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About the Submitter

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