Have you ever vented or processed a problem with a friend only to be met with suggestions or “you know what you should do…” kind of statements? And found yourself walking away from that conversation knowing your friend was well intentioned yet feeling it hadn’t been helpful?
If that sounds familiar at all, stick around, because we’re going to be talking all about coaching and how coaching provides a very different, life-giving type of processing space.

I imagine everyone has experience the type of situation described just now. A time when you’ve reached out to a friend or family member or even mentor for help processing through something and ended up feeling like it wasn’t at all the help you were looking for or needed; perhaps without even know how to articulate what would actually have been helpful.
Or maybe you’ve vented or processed a difficult situation or decision with someone who listened and was very empathetic yet ultimately not that helpful either. It’s great to be listened to and understood yet if that’s where it ends how has that helped you make a decision or move forward in a helpful way?

This is where coaching comes in and is extremely beneficial. Because all of us here, we’re living our lives, and trying to do the best we can. We all have a variety of relationships and roles to fulfill in our own lives; friend, family member, boss, employee, co-worker, spouse, etc. And each of these different roles come with their own set of expectations; ways that we need to show up, interact and be present. Which is a good thing! We all have a variety of needs that will best be filled by a variety of people through many different types of relationships. Yet in general none of these relationships are shaped to show up in your life the way a coach is trained and prepared to show up within a person’s life.
The term “coach” or “coaching” has been thrown around increasingly over the last number of years and people can definitely mean different things when they talk about coaching. As coaching was taught to me, how I now teach it and firmly believe in it, a coach doesn’t need to be an expert with special knowledge in whatever area you’re trying to move forward in. Because a coach listens deeply and non-judgmentally, asks powerful questions to help you dig deeper and articulate what you know and what you may need to find out more about. A coach will ask you questions to guide you through setting goals that are important to you and then continue to walk with you asking questions and giving you space to process so you’re able to find the clarity and courage to move forward towards your goals.

That sounds pretty awesome, right?

In actuality it’s a very rare experience for any of us to feel completely listened to and heard. It’s rare to have a completely safe space to process out loud difficult situations or to set goals and process through how to start working towards them. It’s rare to have true, regular accountability with someone asking you how you’re doing on commitments you’ve made to yourself.

The rarity of these kinds of relationships, coupled with how life-giving and beneficial it sounded, is what initially drew me to coaching in the first place.

I was first introduced to the idea of coaching close to 15 years ago towards the end of my time in seminary. And I loved the concept of a safe place to set goals and process how to move forward. Several years later I was finally in a place where I could receive some coaching and be trained as a coach as well; I’ve been involved with coaching ever since then both receiving coaching and coaching others. And engaging in additional training as a coach and more recently I’ve transitioned into providing some coach training alongside the person who initially trained me…

Coaching has allowed me to be more intentional in my job,