As a values driven human, I have always tried to practice reciprocal learning. They say knowledge is power, but I think that is all it is – it only becomes wisdom once we share it with another person, and we look at it from another perspective.
I would once have said that I had ‘coached’ all my life; in primary school I remember coaching a fellow student in the art of personal hygiene so they hopefully would stop getting bullied; as a teenager I coached a friend experiencing discrimination to stand in their own power and in my professional life it was my responsibility to coach the future leaders of my profession.
On reflection, it was only when I started my International Coaching Federation (ICF) level 1 (associate (ACC)) coach training with Bailey Balfour that I began to understand that the skills I had accumulated over my 50+ years were, in reality, just a mix of kindness and problem solving. I had been interested and lucky.
Completing my ACC was a revelation! Learning about the core competencies and how they are set within an ethical framework that governs how I should coach, for me, shifted the context in which I saw it – think have a go hero evolving to a registered professional.
In ACC, I learned how to use tools and frameworks to raise awareness and identify actions to remedy problem centred issues. It gave me structure and purpose. It was amazing but I was way too curious at this level, which often left me feeling that I wasn’t really getting it right – a kind of ‘there has got to be more to it than the TGROW model!’
My next emersion was in ICF level 2 (Professional coach training (PCC)). It blew my mind! All of the ‘there has to be more to it…’ faded away – I was home. PCC coaching shifts focus from problem-based outcomes to a person-based approach. It has taught me how to, and the importance of, using all 5 senses when coaching my clients. In practising in this way, I enhanced my ability to listen and respond in the moment. Coaching at this level is not transactional; it is an intimate dance between two partners that, while it is based on a clear contract, journeys to unexpected places of discovery.
It is magical and rewarding because it is achieved through skill and conscious intent rather than process and luck. It requires introspection and self-development underpinned by ethical practice. It changes lives, and it forges courage to change your future.