What Happens When People Get the Right Kind of Support?

Coaching can be remarkable in its ability to facilitate growth and transformation. I don’t think one coaching session will change your life. But steady work with a reliable and conscientious coach can help people make meaningful changes in how they see themselves, understand their challenges, and move forward.

Here is what I’ve seen happen when people get the right kind of support.

They start to see themselves differently

When someone listens to us deeply and reflects back what they hear, we may start to see ourselves differently from what is running on that old script in our head.

Maybe who and what we desire to be is how we are actually showing up - in our workplace, community, or family. Many people I work with discover that they are already much closer to what they aspire to be than they thought.

In this case, the support of the coach is careful listening, reflection, and encouragement that help the client see themselves with more clarity and generosity.

Their thinking becomes less tangled

Having a dedicated thought partner helps untangle our thinking. A coach can help you break problems down into smaller, more manageable pieces.

Situations that seemed overwhelming may begin to feel less so when we talk about what is going on with someone who brings an outside, and perhaps more objective, perspective. A coach may challenge the way you see and think about things, and help you work through them step by step.

Suddenly, you may begin to see a way forward. You can identify the steps you need to take. You have a plan for how to tackle what previously seemed insurmountable. What a relief!

In this case, the right kind of support is asking good questions and being a reliable, creative thought partner.

The relationship itself creates possibility

I think that most of what happens in coaching is due to the relationship a coach creates with their client. It is the safe and encouraging nature of a good coaching relationship that helps people transform.

Coaching is different from therapy. It is usually more focused on helping you clarify your goals, strengthen your ability to respond, and move forward. The objective of a coach is to help you access your own capacity. Their primary assumption is that people already have many of the answers to the problems and issues they bring to coaching.

The coach’s job is to create an environment and an ongoing conversation that help surface those solutions, while increasing your confidence and problem-solving capabilities.

The right kind of support puts you and your concerns front and center. It creates a warm and trustworthy relationship where you feel respected, supported, and able to act.

Coaches are not idle listeners. They practice an active discipline of listening and inquiry developed over years of training and experience.

So what happens when someone gets the right kind of support?

Of course, nobody can promise that your life will be all sorted out. But here is what I have witnessed: people often begin to feel more empowered and capable of taking on the changes or challenges they face.

Things become clearer and more manageable. You may have a plan. You may feel less alone. And you may begin to recognize that you already have more wisdom and capacity within you than you realized.