Trust the Process

Posted on July 31, 2018 by Winsor Jenkins, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.

In the process of coaching your clients, you are not expected to go into the process with answers for the client(s). As a coach, this means you are not there to perform! Stay open to learning about your clients’ needs and trust the process.

When I went through my coaching training at the Hudson Institute of Coaching, a critical learning was to understand (and develop) “self as coach.” That means we are charged with understanding our own “internal landscape” in order to understand and help a client. Described as “leading from behind” by Hudson, your challenge as coach is to avoid getting ahead of the client, i.e., leading from ahead!

For many of us who enter the coaching profession, the temptation to “lead from ahead” shows up in telling and solving your client’s concerns or issues. For me, this was my initial challenge since I got paid big money to provide answers to problems that surfaced while working inside a corporation as a senior leader. That was the expectation others believed…and the barometer used to determine how I added value. So, a big part of my learning and transition as an external coach was to understand how to “lead from behind” and trust the process.

This journey to hone one’s “inner theater” is a never-ending challenge to grow as a coach and serve your clients’ needs.