In this session, the client wants to explore her “value” and specifically in the work context. Somehow though, I’m not in sync with the client today, and keep making more observations that have the client questioning herself.

As is often my process, (demonstrating ICF Core Competency: #2, “Embodies a Coaching Mindset”) I reflected on what happened and realized I was “working too hard,” perhaps unconsciously seeking to prove my value in this session (which was not a conscious thought I had during this session). On reflection, I noticed I observed too many “threads” of conversations from previous sessions, that added to the client sense of confusion.

In the next session, the client recognized this session felt different than previous sessions. In another session (#9), client refers to this session and says; “…and this was one of the struggle sessions maybe that we have had, where we, I didn’t understand what am I talking about there…” In session 9, client is exploring a different work context (a volunteer organization she co-founded with 5 other women).

I offer this session as evidence that it doesn’t matter how experienced you are in coaching skills, there are times when the coach is the “problem” in the session, and this is an example of that.

Here’s a sample from session 4, so you hear our voices and can get a sense of whether you are interested in listening to these sessions :-).

This is 9 minutes, 57 seconds of the 52 minute coaching session:

Here’s an example Core Competency Worksheet (CCW) from Session one; there’s a CCW for every coaching session.

In this session, the client wants to explore her “roller coaster” of emotions she often experiences as someone who grew up in a country with very different cultural and life experiences than her current country of long term residence. The client has some “emotional pain” about being understood by her family (husband and children) who often find it difficult to relate to the childhood experiences that have shaped her.

In this session, the client explores a relatable topic; a tendency to be overly ambitious about what she can accomplish, and putting “high demand” on self in the process. The result is often feeling overwhelmed, then dissatisfaction with not accomplishing everything the client demands of herself. There’s deeper exploration of possible drivers or motivation for being “overly ambitious.” The exploration moves between feelings of lacking something, to how to feel more satisfied as a daily life experience.