I was at a conference in Europe donating some time to coach attendees when I was mercilessly chastised by a new coach for being 5 minutes late to her appointment time. The coach went on to further anoint me with how MCC's are supposed to set an example for perfection. What I did was spend the agreed time with her, listening the entire 30 minutes to a diatribe that was rather personal.
No further details are needed but it was rather unpleasant.
Why do I relate this story? Well, we coaches (regardless of credential or time in the profession) have moments when we mess up or demonstrate we are not perfect. Those unpleasant moments show up when we least want them around.
How does a coach handle stress, a missed appointment, trouble with travel, etc. without hurting the coach-client relationship or agreements of a contract?
You no doubt have had these occasions as have I. There are many words and actions to take (becoming centered, clearing the clearing, deep breathing, exercise, truthful postponement of the session, and so on). What matters is that you and I know when we must ... must ... acknowledge these moments of life and deal with them effectively.
Denial is still a river in Egypt and not too helpful when professional choices must be made.
Generally, I do not care to use words like 'must', 'should', 'ought' ... words with morality taints to them and directives (we all dislike those). Here it's essential to step forth, recognize the situation, deal with it and move on. I like 'essential' a bit more.
Keep Calm and Carry On.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment