The Power Of Empowerment (Coaching Discourse)

As part of my coaching course with RD1st, I had to write a case study and a discourse on coaching. The case study is confidential, but the discourse is here below - an ode to my experience of the training and the sense of purpose that emerged as a result.

Leadership and coaching

When considering both ‘leadership’ and ‘coaching’, one word immediately springs to mind: empowerment. In both cases I think of empowerment as a notion, act or feeling that lies at the heart of the most positive outcomes.

empowerment.

[NOUN]

Authority or power given to someone to do something. 1.1 The process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights.

- Oxford English Dictionary

Whether you are operating in a position outwardly perceived to be one of ‘leadership’ or not (particularly in a professional context), I believe that it is always possible to lead by example, and demonstrate a leadership style that empowers others. This is about believing in other people, leaving your ego at the door, and finding ways to support, guide and engender confidence in others as they go about their work and lives.

I have also come to believe that building relationships rooted in mutual trust and equality are crucial to exemplifying a leadership style that empowers others to truly flourish. In turn, this can help increase the chances for all concerned to reach their potential and head in a positive direction. It’s a curious thing to navigate this concept in practice, particularly when we often operate in professional contexts that create hierarchies and barriers to that sense of equality. Which makes me wonder - where can we find the levellers? Does that come from speaking up and challenging the cultural norms common to so many workplaces and professional settings? How can speaking up translate to meaningful change? You have to be heard and also hear others. It is a conversation that requires the utmost levels of attention from all involved. This is where one of the cornerstones of coaching comes in: active listening.

The greatest need of a human being is psychological survival - to be understood, to be affirmed, to be validated, to be appreciated. Listening provides this… for it provides psychological air.

- Steven Covey

I see that ‘psychological air’ as the oxygen for empowerment. On a practical note, perhaps group coaching or Action Learning has a role to play here. Likewise, I believe that there is a strong argument for individual coaching when it comes to acknowledging and overcoming the things that stop us fulfilling our potential, as ‘leaders’ or otherwise.

As a coachee I have felt the profound shift that comes with actually tuning into your own internal resources and finding the clarity and conviction to own both the challenge and the solution. The sense of empowerment that I carried in those moments, and have been able to tap into since, has been truly liberating and an incredibly positive force in my life. This has also helped me adapt and continue moving forwards in periods of change, with less of the burden of angst and uneasiness that I sometimes carried prior to discovering coaching.

As a coach, my only hope is to help enable that same shift in others.

—

Big thank you’s to Debs and Claire and the splendid folk I shared the coaching training experience with in spring 2019.

If you’re curious to know more, read about my coaching journey here.