Why a Coach Gets Coaching

In my coaching training, they taught that every coach should have a coach. They gave several reasons, and I'm sure I nodded as they spoke.

In the years since then, I have engaged various coaches. Sometimes I have called on a coach to help me clarify my thinking and determine a course of action. And, sometimes because I had something important to accomplish and wanted a coach's support.

Every time, with every coach, I have taken bigger, better steps than I would have done alone. The "step" may have been reaching a broader or deeper perspective, or recognizing a belief that was limiting my potential, or accomplishing larger goals sooner than I thought possible.

For me, then, the best reason for a coach to have a coach is to gain the benefits of coaching. Doh!

Then there are reasons like furthering my own personal and spiritual growth (How can I ask a client to grow if I am not actively growing myself?), witnessing the art of coaching as practiced by others, and supporting the coaching profession.

I have discovered yet one more reason.

Experiencing coaching as a client keeps me in touch with the joy of having a coach. By that, I don't mean that having coaching is always fun; rather, it can be very challenging to witness my self-limiting habits and to change my life-long beliefs. The joy comes from walking this sometimes-challenging path within a relationship of unconditional support, in which the other person fully adopts the agenda of my Best Self.

It can be profound, truly beyond words. And, it fuels my passion for coaching, for offering that unconditional support to others' Best Selves.