In talking to fellow coaches who’ve worked with a few clients for over 7 years, a few common patterns emerged about how coaching continues to benefit the client and those around them. Some observations below.
After 6-18 months with their coach, clients often wonder what to do once they’ve resolved their main blockers. They’re now better at putting out fires and have reclaimed time they would have otherwise spent putting them out. Essentially, they’ve met their initial goals.
They wonder, “what could coaching help me with now?”
In the next 6-18 months, they start developing a fire fighting system by creating clear processes, delegating tasks efficiently, hiring the right people for the work, and reorganizing their teams in a way that would help them fight fires better and more quickly. And in a way that doesn’t depend on or require their leadership. Essentially, their teams become more self-sufficient.
They wonder again, “what could coaching help me with now?”
Having gradually and practically switched from a remedial to a creative mindset, they begin scaling themselves and their tested processes.
In another 6-18 months, they develop a fire alert system that supports everyone in the organization in knowing how to fight and prevent fires. They generate adaptive guidelines, nimble processes, and first principles that can apply both locally and globally. People who have never been coached benefit from these vectoring artifacts that give them ownership and autonomy, maximizing teams, divisions, and the whole organization. Essentially, their company is optimized and resilient.
All through a single person engaged in coaching.
The wondering lessens, and ultimately the client goes from a remedial to a creative to a catalytic mindset.
One, I’d argue, that goes beyond the individual and organizational into the community and the world. They begin not only creating their future with less effort and time, they do so for those around them too. Things seem simpler when they’re there. Everyone gets things done with greater joy and less stress.
Struggles continue to show up for them, perhaps even larger and more wicked in nature, and they continue to show up for those struggles. In fact, “being present” takes on new meaning – simply showing up again and again. They become more centered because of all the inside and outside work they’ve done over the years. They acknowledge their place in the process of life, and their modeling is clearly visible to others. They are clear notes being played.
Pause and think whether you’ve encountered someone like this in your life. Likely you have.
I’ve seen this happen time and again in my clients, and it’s beautiful to witness.
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