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Coaches as Leaders & Guides
- Sarah Ozol Shore
- Feb 11, 2018
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 20, 2019
guide (v.)
late 14c., "to lead, direct, conduct," from Old French guider "to guide, lead, conduct" (14c.), earlier guier, from Frankish *witan "show the way" or a similar Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *witanan "to look after, guard, ascribe to, reproach." The form of the French word influenced by Old Provençal guidar (n.) "guide, leader," or Italian guidare, both from the same source.
guide (n.)
mid-14c., "one who shows the way," from Old French guide, 14c., verbal noun from guider (see guide(v.)). In book titles from 1610s; meaning "book of information on local sites" is from 1759.
What does it mean to be a coach? To coach a client?
I'd rather call myself a guide.
While I am a "coach" and people come to me for "coaching," is that really what I'm giving them? Or is it something more akin to guided conversation? Or facilitation of movement? Or leading toward change?
I'm not healing them. I'm not educating them. I'm not directing them.
I'm walking with them and ever-so-subtlety nudging them in the direction of their growth. Trying to uncover and untangle and unfold what lies beneath their words and the things they think they should say and want.
When you work with clients, you want to have the clear and singular intention of meeting their deepest self in the coaching session and helping to bring that voice to the surface. Lift it up. Shine the light on it. Amplify that voice. That's the one we need to be listening for as coaches. As leaders. As guides.
A guide also has wisdom. A guide is the holder of information about where the process is going. When you climb the mountain or trek the wilderness, you take a guide with you. The guide provides safety, security, knowledge, a sense of being cared for and secure in the journey.
The most powerful coaching we can do comes when we act as guides for our clients, holding all their fears and trepidation and insecurities so they can freely explore the terrain, be it wilderness, mountain, or psyche.
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