An edgy truth that may challenge you on the path to success as a Coach
In this episode we continue our Real Coaching Revolution Series and start to craft a new understanding of what real coaching is. With this deeper awareness you will be able to create coaching relationships that match what people expect from YOU as a coach… AND THRIVE financially as a Professional Coach.
A few key points from this Podcast
The Connected Age Coach
The Industrial Age was all about the Transaction. The Connected Age is all about the relationship. I think it is fascinating to see how we somehow turned coaching – an archetypal relationship – into a sequence of transactions; evidence that the environment always wins! Our mission now is to make coaching relational again… if we do, we will THRIVE.
The Origins of Coaching
Coaching comes from the fields of athletics and performance art. For some reason in the early days of Life Coaching we put a lot of effort into distancing ourselves from these roots. To THRIVE as coaches we need to return to our roots AND use all of the new tools available to us in the Connected Age.
Athletics is about winning contests.
(Business is about winning contests)
Performance Art is about winning hearts (the hearts of the audience members)
(Leadership is about winning hearts)
There is a third origin of coaching which is the personal quest. There is always a guide of some kind in a quest story. The guide is a coach. A personal quest is about winning your own heart by living into your purpose.
My ALL-IN Experiences
In the audio I share about my long term relationships with Coach Manny and Thomas Leonard, two highly acclaimed coaches. This is where I learned what ALL-IN Coaching is all about.
The Pursuit of Winning
This is a BIG point… the pursuit of winning is integral to coaching. That means, if you take winning out of the equation, it is NOT coaching anymore. You need to settle into this awareness and find a way to reconcile it into your way of being a coach. If it is not about winning – contests, hearts or your own heart – it is not coaching anymore.
The big challenge with the pursuit of winning is that it brings up memories of losing, which can be painful; especially if you are playing to win hearts! The ability to hold in your BEING the celebration of winning and the pain of losing is a part of the deep growth required to be a great coach.
There are many, many awesome ways of being of service to others that don’t involve winning. If you just can’t get your heart and mind into winning, be an adviser, or a mentor or a consultant.
Allergic to Winning?
If you are allergic to winning, it is understandable! In the Industrial Age winning took an ugly turn with concepts like: win at all costs, crush the competition and failure is not an option. There may be some healing for you to do around bad experiences of winning or losing where you were treated badly. If you truly want to coach, then this is a path you must walk, AND you don’t have to walk alone. Find a great coach to support you!