The Transformative Power of Learning the Skills of Professional Coaching

When we chose to learn the skills of professional coach training, we didn't realise how incredibly life-changing and powerful the experience would be for ourselves and the people we support: whether that be in our professional or personal lives.

Learning the art and science of coaching was an unforgettable and transformative experience that changed the way we navigated our world in all of our areas of life. It provided so much joy, freedom, inspiration and creativity beyond what we had ever imagined.

Not only did we learn the many specific skills of coaching - and communication - and leadership - we also embodied the skills by choosing to coach and be coached to support much greater self-awareness and a deep personal development journey. This meant the different elements of coaching we were being taught to us were experienced through our minds, body and senses as we got to understand the skills from a theoretical perspective and then put it into practice - bring them to life - as a coach and a client.

In both the coaching and client roles, we were stretched out of our comfort zones, and our thinking, beliefs, ways of being and doing were challenged in support of identifying better ways to move forward to achieve our aspirations.

As we embarked on the journey of becoming coaches, some of the specific powerful learnings included the following:

Better Communication:

Understanding and learning how to listen deeply and intuitively, asking challenging and thought-provoking questions, and providing  effective feedback in a way that creates rapport and trust created the foundation for deeper and meaningful connection with others: our clients and the people we are with day to day.

These skills of coaching have not only strengthened our personal relationships, they also fostered a positive, creative and collaborative professional approach. Being present and listening for what is also not being said has been an incredible gift for ourselves and others, and has added richness and depth in our professional and personal conversations.

This doesn’t mean we are perfect at communication or getting things right; what it does mean  most times, we catch ourselves sooner when we aren’t communicating effectively. We understand the early signals of when things are going 'off track' within ourselves. We are able to share where we have slipped up with the skills and ideas to rectify our communication to create better outcomes for everyone.

Empowerment and Self-Discovery:

By learning and embodying coaching, communication and leadership skills, we have developed the ability to coach ourselves and empower others by supporting them to explore their own thoughts, beliefs, and values. This leads to increased self-awareness and a clearer appreciation of who we are being, who we want to be, as well as our aspirations and what our life's purpose and values are. This is with the understanding that our life's purpose and values are like our compass to making our decisions in our business and our personal lives: decisions that we believe are good for ourselves, Empower World, our stakeholders ,which includes our families, clients (including those we haven't met yet), the team ... and ultimately the planet Earth!

The beauty and power of being able to coach ourselves has been the ability to bring our dreams to life, such as creating our businessess and then our partnership and creation of Empower World. By getting clear about our vision, dreaming big and identifying our values, passions and strengths, we identified the steps and actions to make our vision come true 12 years ago. And the dreaming continues. It’s a never ending journey of self-development, and when we are faced with setbacks and challenges we can get out of our way quicker, and speed up the process of positive creation.

Resilience building and overcoming challenges:

The skills of coaching have also supported us through challenging times and building our personal and partnership resilience. Deep listening to our thoughts, emotions, energy, intuition, actions, physiological responses and getting curious about all of our experiences has led to greater understanding, new perspectives and therefore new beliefs and decisions leading to better outcomes.

It could have been easy to sit and wallow in the challenges, to blame others when things didn’t go the way we wanted them to. Instead we have chosen to be courageous, name the challenges, have tough conversations and work altogether to create rich and rewarding positive outcomes that have had a ripple effect out into the world - supporting many people to change their lives in beautiful and very brave ways.

Even when situations are very challenging, such as when the Covid pandemic arose, we chose to be with our families at this difficult time, which led to opening up what we offer more widely online. This provided so much flexibility to continue offering what we do even though we were in different countries to where most of our participants came from.

Leadership and Team Dynamics:

In the professional sphere, including working in our own organisation, coaching skills are invaluable for leaders and team members alike to inspire a culture of continuous improvement and innovation within teams - to support team members to feel valued and supported, even when work is challenging and errors are made.

Using coaching skills in very difficult times can lead to greater transparency, understanding, accountability, responsibility for outcomes, compassion, gratitude, and increased morale and productivity. All our team are encouraged to train in the skills of coaching and their own learning and discovery has been influential in the success of our business and team dynamics, especially when times are tough which have proven to be some of our greatest teachable. This includes what to do and what not to do across every part of our business. This incorporates administration, policies and procedures, ways of working with each other, training, who we partner with, communication and so much more.

Conclusion:

Learning the skills of coaching is much more than just acquiring a set of tools; it's a powerful transformative journey. It has changed the way we perceive and interact with our world: from enhancing communication and fostering empowerment to promoting resilience and identifying better ways to move forward.

Learning coaching skills is a gateway to tremendous personal and professional growth. We sometimes wonder where we might be right now if we hadn't invested in ourselves by learning the skills of coaching, communication and leadership to become credentialed coaches as we have.

One thing we do know for sure is that there are no regrets and we are in charge of our lives and the experiences we create for ourselves. As we continue to embrace the power of coaching, we discover even more potential to create a more fulfilling, purpose-driven, and interconnected world.

Be empowered.

Our next live training is starting on 16 February 2024 in Doha, Qatar. Find out more here.

With empowerment and gratitude,

Jeanine and Marie Empower World Co-founders

Listen to The Empower World Coaching and Leadership Podcast on the following platforms.

Stitcher: http://bit.ly/st-podcast
Spotify: https://bit.ly/sp-podcast
iTunes: http://bit.ly/EW-Podcast-iTune

 Below are five ways we can support you to make a difference:

(1) Set up a Discovery Call, to find out what you can do to make empowering change
(2) Download our "How Coaching Can Change Your Life"
(3) Sign up for our offers
(4) Connect with us on LinkedIn
(5) Share this article with someone you believe would benefit from coaching, learn to coach, develop leadership skills and so much more