Coaching Brings Out Your Potential

Coaching brings out potential that is already there inside you.

For some reason, recently I was thinking about the movies “Sister Act” I & II.  In both movies, you watch Whoopie Goldberg (playing a singer posing as a nun) transform first a group of nuns and then a group of underprivileged students into impressive singing groups.  Is this just Hollywood, or is this a possibility?  If you watch closely, Whoopie does not turn every person into a star performer.  She does boost every person’s confidence.  She brings out the best possible singer in every person.  She takes a quite nun and helps her discover a very powerful and melodic voice.  She helps an old “crochety” nun find a powerful gravelly voice.  (I once heard Neil Diamond’s voice – yes, I am showing my age – described as “silk and sandpaper.” In other works, a bit gravelly, yet with a smooth character).  She takes a shy young man and helps him discover his voice, which is powerful and has quite a range. She also brought the whole choir together as a team. She did not give voices to the singers. She helped the nuns and students bring out the voices that were already inside the individuals.

            This is what coaching is all about. A good coach listens, as one of my clients said a few years ago, “You listen well between the lines.” By listening to what is said, and what is not said, and reflecting that back to the client, often the client hears their true self for the first time.  It is a bit like recording yourself and listening – your voice on that recording sounds nothing like what your voice sounds like inside your own head.  You now hear and see yourself as those outside yourself experience you. Those outside of you do not hear those nagging, negative voices inside your head. Coaching helps you to focus on the positive, let the negative go, and get past many of the self-imposed obstacles to your progress.

            This creates a much more productive life where you can experience many “Happy Days.”

And for those of you who have not seen the movies, and may not quite understand what I am talking about – here is a link for you.