Coaching is for Cheaters

A prospective coaching client once emailed me to tell me that she felt lazy about finding her potential through coaching, and she was worried she wouldn’t become engaged. When I read that I knew that we were a perfect match.

Why? Because she confirmed in her email what I had observed in our initial meeting — this is someone with a high degree of self-awareness that is ready to take the next step in her leadership growth. She just has a self-limiting inner voice that says she should be able to do it alone, and my mission in life is to provide a counterpoint to self-limiting inner voices.

It’s not uncommon for leaders to feel like my potential client — that hiring a coach is somehow a lazy or frivolous indulgence. Which I find kind of funny — we associate coaches with athletic endeavours, where they very obviously challenge their “clients” to work harder and become more effective at their “job”. The idea of a professional (or even a decent amateur) athlete without at least one coach is unthinkable. Coaches teach you how to use the rules to your advantage, not how to break them.

But leaders, whose actions and decisions impact the lives and livelihoods of others, are supposed to just sort of magically know how to be the best version of themselves. The idea of engaging a collaborator with experience and expertise in the field seems like cheating — you’re supposed to just sacrifice and suffer through, right?

The reality is that a coach holds you accountable to your growth while helping you navigate the day-to-day challenges of being a leader. That’s our whole job — to advocate for and support the person you want to become.

Working with a coach is the opposite of “cheating” — it’s a commitment to the work of developing your leadership strength, the same way hiring a personal trainer is a commitment to developing your physical strength, or hiring a counsellor is a commitment to developing your psychological strength. It’s an investment in yourself, and a way to ensure that something vitally important doesn’t slip through the cracks.

And that fear of not becoming engaged? That’s how you know you’re on the right track. One of the most impactful lessons I’ve learned from my coach is that fear, doubt, and distraction are the strongest when you are about to have a breakthrough.

Feeling ready for a breakthrough? (Or terrified of one?) Visit www.RingmasterConsulting.com/Coaching to see if we’d be a good fit.