Coach of the Month – July 2016 – Coaching Q & A « Executive and Life Coaching Courses and Information

We are very proud of our community of professional coaches at Positive Success Group. All our coaches enrich the diverse community with their unique set of skills, knowledge and passion. Every month we invite one coach to share their knowledge and tips so you can benefit from their experience and find inspiration from their activities. Make the most of this brilliant resource network and connect with our professional coaches.

In July, we are delighted to introduce the next Coach of the Month – Eimear Crehan. We asked Eimear to answer 3 questions about her main lessons learnt since qualifying with the Coaching Diploma, her fulfillment gained and her predictions for her clients goals.

Take a look at our Coach of the Month – July 2016 Coaching Q & A

PSG: Since qualifying, what are the top 3 lessons you have learnt that support your growth as a coach:

Eimear

Trust the awkward

This can be worded in many ways – its proper title might be ‘trust the process’ – but for me, in growing as a coach I have learned to call it ‘trusting the awkward’. Trusting that the time where the silence seems to be crying out to be filled is really the time where creativity is growing and thoughts are finding their own feet. That space is there for your client to find their way, to have space, to think. Perhaps one of the reasons your client is getting coaching is because they often can’t find that space for creativity and thoughts to grow. This is the space where that can happen. As we are learning to be coaches, we might experience the need to fill spaces, have answers, give feedback – but to allow that space is vital. Trust the awkward, let it be there, soon it doesn’t feel awkward any more, it just feels right.

Find your gratitude

A massive thing that I have realised is that I am extremely lucky. I have a genuine interest in people, in personal development, in the world becoming a better place, in finding a way. I am the person who works in facilitating change. My work is authentic and I live courageously – what a wonderful way to be! I want to continue learning and to keep paying attention – and the fact that I genuinely feel this way makes me feel very lucky and grateful. My gratitude for my life inspires me and does wonders for my work. I feel like finding what we are grateful for has a chain reaction – it blossoms our lives into abundance. What are you grateful for?

Find your niche

Stop trying to be great at everything and find where you can excel. There is a massive danger in the trap of trying to be perfect, trying to be everything to everyone. What are the areas that you work best in? Where is your niche? Mine is in creativity. As a creativity coach, I am always interested in my clients – I am present, I am on it, I am 100% engaged. If I was to take work in another area of coaching that wasn’t my passion, I would do a good job and I am sure I would have some level of personal satisfaction, but I wouldn’t be reaching my potential or helping my client to reach theirs. My niche is in creativity coaching, it is where I am the best coach I can be. What does it look like? It’s the place where you shine, where you are in flow, where hours go by and you don’t notice, where it all feels very natural. This has the potential to be your niche area – grab it, excel at it, learn all you can about it and be the best coach you can be.

PSG: To – date, as a coach, what has brought you the most fulfillment?

Eimear

The development of my group creativity coaching programs and my coaching based choral work is what has brought me the most fulfillment. I really enjoy having groups come together and seeing that while people and groups may be different each time, the core process that people go through with coaching and personal development is mostly the same and it is magical. It’s wonderful to watch groups learn from each other, watch friendships develop, be witness to lightbulb moments, to see people achieve their dreams, work on their life goals, experience new things. It feels like a very lucky and privileged position to be in and I am extremely grateful to get to work in an area like this. I feel blessed.

PSG: What do you foresee as the main reasons for clients needing to set courageous goals?

Eimear

I think the main reason that clients need to set courageous goals is because we need to be courageous so we can push through our fears and live a wholehearted life. Courage is a trait that is developed by being courageous, by acting on those brave desires we have, stepping outside our comfort zone and pushing ourselves in to new territory. As a creativity coach, my clients are often scared of being seen and being heard, of being judged, of ‘not being good enough’. Like so many of us, they are scared and they are living in fear. This fear is holding them back from achieving their true potential, but it is only in embracing these fears and facing them with courage that we move through them. As Susan Jeffers points out, ‘Pushing through fear is less frightening than living with the bigger underlying fear that comes from a feeling of helplessness’. Our clients need to set courageous goals in order to push through their fears and see the possibility of living a wholehearted life where they are doing the things they want to do without fear in the way. Once this process starts, courage becomes the norm and fear becomes an indicator that you feel alive and there is something here that is important to you and worth pushing through for.