After being an HR professional with more than 10 years of experience in executive search, I had to take a break from my active career due to motherhood. All these years, I could feel a vacuum/unfulfilled space
within me, wherein I wanted to do something for myself which keeps me constructively engage. Life gave many opportunities to go back to search industry, however that was never my inner calling. It took me 7 years to get a clarity about WHAT is that thing I need to do, which is fulfilling and allows me to connect to my deeper self. I don’t know when, where or how I started dwelling with the idea of COACHING. During this lockdown, finally I was able to make up my mind to do this certification of ‘The Art and Science of Coaching’ from Erickson International.
I feel coaching is an individual’s own journey of self- discovery and self -awareness and deeply very personal. Post this, comes ACCEPTANCE of yourself and from there you embark on a journey of being a better version of yourself. The metaphor which comes to my mind when I hear the word ‘coaching’ is the brook. These two lines resonate in my ears from ‘The Brook‘ a poem written by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever…
A brook keeps flowing and passing through different places enabling agriculture and civilizations to grow and prosper near its banks, however this never stops it from continuing its own journey to become a river and finally meeting with the sea/ocean. It is detached and has no expectation. Likewise, in our journey as a coach, we come across many coachees and while coaching them in a detached way and being conscious of the learnings from these experiences, helps us in edging the finer aspects of our authentic self, polishes us as a coach and finally becoming our best version.
Many a times people tend to confuse coaching with counseling or mentoring. In coaching, you do not take on the other person’s problem on yourself but allow them to explore and come up with solutions themselves. Also its not a one size fit all solution or a quick fix.
The art of listening, holding the space for the coachee , being non-judgmental , accepting everyone the way they are and believing that every person has all the resources within , might appear to be simple but extremely difficult to be aligned to our core values. The challenge lies there and there itself lies the opportunity to work on ourselves to being a better human being.
Every journey begins with the first step and I am happy that my journey as a Coach has begun. I have had few coach – coachee sessions, but I strongly felt that these interactions are empowering both the individuals and enabling them in their respective journey. The precious time during these sessions allows the coachee to more deeply explore different routes to reach to their goals and to consider options for effective action. The coaching conversations can heighten performance, empowering individuals to successfully achieve the outcomes they are working towards.
In the end I would like to say I am happy that I have embarked on this beautiful journey and it has begun!
