The Role of the Coach & Client

First and foremost, a coach serves as a facilitator to guide you to your own solutions.

My assumption is that you already have the wisdom, creativity and resources within you to navigate life's questions and challenges. If I can put you in touch with your inner guidance, real and lasting change is possible because it flows organically from your ideas and honors your timing and process.

Radical thought, eh? You are your own guru.

As the client, you are the one who drives the relationship. You bring the topic you want to work on to each session. This simple act reinforces your responsibility for what you create in life and your sense of confidence in getting there. You also tell me how I can best support you. I customize my work and skills to meet your agenda. Not the other way around.

Here are some other roles that come to mind when I think of myself as a coach:

Archaeologist:
At the start of coaching, we do some work to heighten awareness of your values, gifts, dreams and desires. Often in the course of life, these essential parts of ourselves get lost, silenced or forgotten. So sometimes a little digging is needed to unearth your buried treasure. My role here is to ask you provocative questions.

Mirror:
I listen objectively and reflect back patterns I hear in your language, your emotions and your behaviors. Very few of us have someone who will listen to us in a space of unconditional support and acceptance. This combination of listening and reflecting without judgment allows you to cultivate eye-opening measures of self-awareness.

Tuning Fork:
In each and every session, I help you become aware of where you are at choice in your life so that you can align your decisions with your values and goals. This is the key to moving forward with a sense of purpose and fulfillment. I help you stay in tune with what you say matters most to you until this way of thinking and being is ingrained and you can stand on your own, continuing to make powerful choices for yourself.

Cheerleader:
I believe in celebrating what's going right in your life, rather than focusing on what's not. People come to coaching with a desire for some form of change, and my experience is that the more supportive and nurturing the environment is, the faster you'll manifest results. What we focus on expands. Why not focus on what's working?