Coaching isn’t a new phenomenon that appeared out of thin air approximately 20-30 years ago. What has, is an understanding of how coaching can be formally used to fit into our culture of living in a just-in time mode. We attach a different value to how we use our time based on our circumstances and compensation received.
Living and working in a just-in-time culture has to a certain degree shifted our need unknowingly from looking into the future, as we spend approximately 95% of our time reacting and making decisions for the challenges relating to right now. Coaching works because we crave the space to think about our future and that is what makes us unique and differentiates us from an animal. Planning time to meet with a coach is giving back to you control of your time in how you want to use it. Being in a session with a coach will give you an opportunity to explore the pressures and stresses of the challenge at hand, and how to handle the future now. You’re strategizing! Through the session, you will derive the necessary insights that you can turn into positive action because you’ve been able to vocalise and see both the big picture and the detail from different perspectives. And by the time you have completed the session you will hopefully have a sense of peace, clarity, focus or intention of how to move forward on your terms.
Coaching is a conversation, and you might think I can have this conversation with my friend, or my peers, or my boss, or even my spouse. And most likely we do have segments of these conversations with them, however, how many of them do you give them permission to help you work through it? When you decide to work with a coach, you are telling the coach that you are committed to working through the challenge, to take ownership of those areas which you do have control over, and to choose to make the appropriate changes for things to happen.
“To be coached, or not to be coached, that is the question?” only you will know if partnering with a coach will help significantly offset the immediate costs.
