I will do a lot of things with you in a coaching session: listening, setting goals, uncovering blind spots, asking curious questions, etc. But one thing that I won’t do as a coach, is to tell you what I would do if I were you.
One of my clients came to me because he was puzzled by his future career direction.
- “My seniors are telling me I should focus on the product management path. But I just don’t relate to it. I don’t think I want it and I don’t know why I should listen to them. I really want to figure out what I want to do”.
- Then he asked me: “What do you think I should do?”
- I said: “How does my opinion matter? If you cannot relate to people who know you and work in your domain, why would you trust me?”
I get similar questions a lot – what would you do? It can be disappointing that I cannot give you an instant cure-all medicine. Unlike a trainer/consultant/mentor, a coach does not necessarily have the subject matter expertise or more experience than you. The value-add of a coach is not to share his/her personal approach, but to develop your self-trust and your decision-making capability. Every person is unique. You have your own wishes, learning style, and decision-making criteria that I cannot replicate. Instead of having the instant gratification of ‘getting an answer’, you will do deep reflection, research, experimentation, and potentially many other forms of homework to find your true answer. It might take more time and effort, but I really like one of my clients’ insights: in the end, it is such a liberating process to find my own answer.
I want to help you to connect with your inner self and to explore who you are. Let’s give it a try?