Even Coaches Need Coaching

Today I met with a friend that I began knowing as a professional networking contact over three years ago. After our discussion, I realized that some people have a gift for listening to others so well that they help you communicate your frustrations and come up with action items to work on your issues, not because you asked for help or even intended to ask for it, but because they heard you and were thoughtful enough to offer ideas to get you thinking about how to work on your issues.

About an hour after our talk, I was feeling uplifted and I realized that is what makes a great coach (and leader) -- being empathetic and wiling to share knowledge and life experience to improve someone else's thinking about their own life -- a coach's role is not to solve problems for others.

As a professional consultant/coach and trainer, my goal is to help others to see what they don't see, to understand how to change and do things differently for the betterment of their lives, careers, teams, etc. But I don't always think to follow my own advice when I am struggling -- to listen to someone else's perspective to help me change my thinking pattern. Today I am thankful for receiving coaching that helped me...even though I didn't intentionally seek it...I will make a point of seeking coaching for a perspective that I can use to change mine...