Now we get to the real crux of the matter. How do we to coach purely, versus simply obtaining coaching hours and an advanced credential? What is the shift we are required to make so we can offer pure coaching, remembering that pure coaching has universal application, no matter where or with whom we practise?
Coaching Presence is the key to offering pure coaching. This is where we are fully conscious and are able to create a spontaneous relationship with our client. We are open, flexible and most importantly confident. We trust ourselves, our clients and the coaching relationship. We are open to not knowing. Not only do we have to be willing to not know, we must be willing to allow the client not to know. Our curiosity about who the client is and what the client wants must supersede our need to discern the solution, or to be a great coach, or to be right.
Here, the coach is responsible for the process and the client is responsible for the content and the results. Yet many coaches still believe they are responsible for the results . This is the coach’s ego getting in the way and moving from true relating back into the safer, more familiar modality of informing. That is, from relating to interrogating so that we can provide a solution.
Q: What does it take to offer pure coaching?
A: A decision to evolve that takes courage.
Now is the time to retire our past careers and make a decision to offer only pure coaching. Not consulting, facilitating, psychology, counselling, training, teaching, or whatever other related modality in which you have experience, which is familiar and safe. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Moving from doing coaching to being a coach takes time and courage.
Pure coaching has universal application. Culture, place and time dissolve. It is my sincere hope that this article inspires you to: trust yourself; trust your clients; and trust the coaching process . Coach the human, not the culture.
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