It has taken a long journey to get to this point where just before graduation, I am writing my 27th blog to reflect back on this journey. This journey started more than a year ago with a sense of purpose and mission – to create a better world, to impact lives, to create a ripple effect that propagates through the actions of my coachees, and to transmit a ray of positive energy that radiates through darkness and despair, and through the lens of my coachees, to light up the world.
I had the honour to learn from Coach Mel, Coach Wendy, Coach Colin and other coaches in my cohort. I have been told I stay present and practise active listening in my coaching sessions. My coachees feel that they are being listened to and that I am curious about them. I give them a safe space to express themselves without judgment. I match their style and move in sync with them during coaching sessions.
However, old habits are difficult to correct. Perhaps due to my consulting background and my experience as a mentor at work, I tend to ask ‘leading’ questions that encourages certain answers from a coachee and I often jump into rescue mode for my coachee. I need to practise asking open ended questions that encourages a coachee to find their answers and map their own path.
‘Evokes Awareness’ is an area where I need to further develop as my coaching sessions tend to be transactional rather than transformational. I want to be able to inspire my coachees into taking action to amplify the impact beyond the people I coach. Another area where I need to work on is ‘Facilitates Client Growth’, especially partnering with my coachee to design goals, actions and accountabilities for them.
As Coach Mel suggested, I need to coach people outside of work on subjects that I am not familiar with so that I ask exploratory questions and avoid directing the coachee to a certain outcome. I also need to wait for the right moment to interject and resist the temptation to jump in before my coachee finishes.
Overall, I learned valuable lessons and I look forward to more opportunities to hone my skills as a life transforming coach.
