Yesterday was the winter solstice. From now on, each day gets longer. This is wonderful news, especially for those of us who were born and raised in much sunnier lands. Knowing that the worst of the dark season is over fills me with energy in the same way that coaching does.
For me, coaching is a way of enabling someone else to harness unfulfilled potential. Coaching is a powerful process to see new directions at the perceived “end of the road”, to create new approaches to the perceived “unsolvable problem” or to build better relationships with perceived “difficult team members”. Since many of us have, at some point, found ourselves at the “end of the road”, facing an “unsolvable problem” and doing our best to make a team perform at is finest despite a “difficult team member”, it is easy see why coaching is becoming increasingly popular in Finland. For valuable talent, it is a cost effective way to support professional development in a very tailored way.
While the benefits of coaching are easily understood, choosing the right coach seems to be the main challenge. This brings me to a short story that happened about 10 years ago when my husband (Lutheran) and I (Catholic) were getting married. My beloved husband wanted to have a Catholic wedding despite my warning that it could be a challenging endeavor. The first step was to be prepared for the marriage by a priest. Because we live in Finland, the Lutheran priest of our local church was the most accessible priest. My Mother asked if there were any Catholic priests in Finland that could do the “priestly preparation”. I responded that I felt more comfortable being prepared by a priest who is married and understands the joys and challenges of marriage and how intricate that bundle could be. My Mother was silent and then agreed to my idea. In much the same way, in business coaching, it seems to me that people being coached get the most benefit from coaches with business experience. Is it really so? I have asked many coaching colleagues this question and the opinions are varied. We did agree that the success of the coaching relationship depends a lot on the chemistry between coach and coachee and the credibility the coachee has in the coach, much like I found a happily married Lutheran priest credible to help me prepare for my own marriage.
With the holidays around the corner, I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season and a New Year filled with harnessed potential.
