If people are so successful; so committed to their own growth and development; so far along the road of developing their best potentials what stops them simply coaching themselves and save all that time and money?
Ah, a truly innocent question! And a question that asks the obvious in the most curious and sincere way. The answer is that, simply put, self-coaching is the most advanced form of coaching out there.
It is? Why? What’s so hard about coaching yourself, especially if you are committed to yourself and your growth? (Don’t you just love such innocent, to-the-point questions?)
The answer is quite simple. Blind spots!
Even the most psychologically healthy person on the planet, the most self-actualising individual has blind spots – we all do.
It needs someone who will challenge them, confront them, and not let them sell themselves short or worse still, fail to confront them to bring these blind spots into conscious awareness. This is especially true of the most successful and effective of people because our greatest blind spots hide in our greatest strengths.
When stresses come and when the pressure is on, our natural tendency is to revert to what we know, stay in the comfort zone and play to our strengths. It is then very easy to over-play to your strengths, especially if you have been highly successful as a result of those strengths in the past.
Does that make sense?
No? Well then, try this as an example -- the (until recently) BP CEO Tony Hayward.
I bet he would be a real bear in a board room negotiating with top level executives, don’t you think? I bet his go-getting, no nonsense, hard-nosed attitude and his ability to shoot straight and think in terms of shareholder value would make him a real powerhouse.
However, that very strength was his fundamental weakness when handling the public and the media. When people needed to hear from his ‘heart’ about the death of 11 people, the environmental and ecological damage as well as the loss of thousands upon thousands of jobs due to the oil spill… he comes out and says he just wants his life back!
His strength of operating from first person, fighting for himself and his company was a critical weakness in terms of managing public relations.
That’s why he really needed a coach — a professional executive coach. It’s just a shame he didn’t have our details when he most needed one!
