We know #ExecutiveCoaching can help us fix blind spots, improve work-life balance, land a promotion, learn something new, and gain competitive advantage for our companies. While these are all excellent motivations, I would like to share three of my own personal reasons for engaging a coach:
1. Improve one’s self-awareness. I recently took a self-awareness assessment and was very surprised at the outcome, scoring low on both the internal and external self-awareness measures. (I figured I would least know myself by this point in my life–I’m not a spring chicken after all!) With so much remaining opportunity to see myself more clearly, my coach has been a big help, though I’m still a work-in-progress.
2. “It’s lonely at the top.” I’m definitely not at the top, at least on the official org chart, but the old adage applies. Whether it’s the imposter syndrome in me, or my pride in wanting to be the owner of my ideas, I do find myself “lonely” in that I tend not to collaborate and entrust others as fully as I could. My coach helps me see these crucial connections I’ve been avoiding, and confidently open myself up to others.
3. It helps to talk it out. I’m an introverted thinker and fiercely independent soul, which means I can usually work out many challenges in my own head and commit myself to the necessary action. Verbalizing a solution path with someone else can seem like a waste of time to me. But I’m learning (again at this relatively late stage of my career!) that the simple act of discussing it aloud with my trusted coach is opening up options I had not previously considered.