Come Blog With Me Day 4

So I’ve finished the coaching course – did I mention that before? And I’m thoroughly enjoying doing Lotte’s blogging challenge. It’s getting me blogging again after being “on a break”.

And now I know it all.  “All the things” as Lotte might say. Ooh first world blogging worries – do I need to link to Lotte’s blog now? Well no, because you, my precious reader will probably get so caught up in reading her AWESOME blog posts that I won’t see you again. So google Lotte Lane later if you must 🙂

Anyway, I need to do my 20 paid hours and pay the certification fee and do the written work, and coach a coach mentor.  But apart from that I expected to know it all.

And did I mention that I thought self awareness would be oozing from every pore.

Errr no!

I coached someone the other day. Of course I was nervous, but it went quite well, and it wasn’t long before I was picking out some limiting beliefs to work on. Then he told me something upsetting his boss had said to him.  Well, I was incensed at the injustice of it all. How could this harridan treat a fellow human being like this. Judgemental, me? No.  Not after a 9 month coaching course and umpteen years of contemplating my navel.

Well yes actually.

Had I got a secret camera trained on my client’s place of work? No.

Was I taking into account all the circumstances surrounding this altercation? Well no. I only had the information that my client was willing to share with me at that moment, seen entirely from his perspective and through the cloudy lens of his world view, emotional state at the time etc, etc.

Have I been in a similar situation myself that might cloud my judgement a teensy bit? Well yes.

Every coaching session is a lesson learned for both coach and client.

We need to be honest with someone if we feel we’ve been in a blind spot whilst coaching them.

But from many hours of being coached myself I know for sure that being truly listened to is a gift.  And we are all way better at seeing where the other person is tripping up than they are themselves. Our biggest blind spot is in seeing ourselves objectively.

We are all human and our work won’t be done until we are sitting on a cloud in the sky strumming a harp. But hopefully there’ll be another little angel there to listen to your woes and overcome her own blind spots enough to help you get over yours.