It’s time to redefine what it means to be a successful coach. If you were to let go of any ideas of coaching success being measured by financial gain, then a whole new realm of possibility opens up. Coaches are needed in all arenas of life, because they carry with them a powerful formula for enabling human change and growth.
We are living in a time of remarkable planetary change, characterized by instability, upheaval, and the breakdown of systems that once helped to maintain stability and certainty. The future of how we will live and work together as families, communities, and organizations is unknown and unpredictable.
For many people this degree of uncertainty and change is highly unsettling. There is mounting evidence of growing levels of dis-ease and worry, as people stress themselves into suboptimal ways of being. The dysfunction of the fearful mind will come to the fore as ways forward seem hopeless, unattainable, or non-evident.
What is also becoming clear is the limit of government at all levels to help in any significant way. We are already seeing this happen on the world stage, as governments become overwhelmed or paralyzed by the effect of sudden, dramatic change thrust upon their systems. The future increasingly lies the hands of individuals and communities who embark on processes of change which incorporate sustainability and model flexibility to deal with the ever-changing landscape and the uncertainties of system collapse and renewal.
The coach is needed in this world more than ever before. Never mind the idea that you want to create a successful coaching practice so that you can do the work you love and make money at it—that is a relatively self-centered notion of what it means to be a coach, as it begins and ends with you. A true coach must be looking outward at the landscape of human need and positioning him or herself to meet that need.
Why?
Because a coach is in possession of a method of change that supports life to find a sustainable way forward amidst the great uncertainties and stresses of life.
We know each individual has within great wisdom, and that each community has extraordinary potential for collective thought and action. Despite this inherent potential, it seems that there is almost always the need for certain individuals to facilitate the process of other individuals and groups to connect to that innate wisdom and potential. The coach is precisely one of those individuals: the holder of a powerful process that can facilitate profound change in thought and behavior in others.
What if, instead of focusing on building a “successful coaching practice,” you focused on identifying where the essential need is or will be, and moving to meet that need head on? Most coaches are focused on the bottom line: I want a financially viable practice that allows me to put bread on the table and a decent roof over my head, and to do the work I love to do. There is nothing wrong with this success definition; it is how many coaches interpret what a successful coaching practice looks like. However I want to paint for you another picture of success, one that is not tied to numbers of clients and numbers of dollars. It is tied to serving humanity at a time when humanity is needing it the most.
Coaches, as the holders of a powerful process of change, will be needed in every corridor, on every street corner, in every home, and in every community. You are where you are in life, and no matter where you stand there is a need for what you do. Do you see it? Are you willing to meet that need with the fullness of your being?
You may be working in a toxic organization and longing to get out to start the coaching practice of your dreams. Yet where you stand is precisely where what coaching does is needed the most. Can you stand for a different way of being and living amongst those who are in need of it most; amongst those for whom the thought currents of fear have become so strong that they have polluted the fabric of the organization? Do you flee or do you do the work that you have learned to do where you are today?
I’m going to hold this visionary challenge out to you today. Not because I want to dissuade you from starting up your own coaching business or being a “successful coach” in the conventional way, but because so many coaches are either not seeing the need for this work in the very place they are standing today or they are not willing to do the work in the very places that need it most.
The reality is, you are where you are in the world for a reason, and you are needed there. You have likely been called to coaching because something inside of you knows that there is more to life than most people seem aware of, and you see how coaching is an extraordinary process for mining our inner landscape in service of growth, potential realization, and the betterment of life.
Therefore I’m going to define a successful coach as one who coaches. Period.
I know many trained coaches who do not coach where they stand; they do not embody the Way of Coaching and stand as a beacon lighting up the corridors in which they spend their days. These coaches have many excuses why they don’t or can’t coach, but those are just excuses; something within is preventing them from being the facilitator of a new way in a place when it is needed.
But I say this with certainty: you are needed as a coach where you stand today. All around you people are struggling in one way or another: there are systems collapsing, families disintegrating, communities on the edge. There is fear, hopelessness, uncertainty, worry and stress in abundance wherever you live and work.
You do not actually need your own coaching practice with paying clients to be a successful coach—that is just an idea you have chosen to believe is true—but you do need to be coaching where you stand today.
Comments 16
Thank you Leon for this refreshing perspective: One that stands for the need of humanity.
By standing you ground and sharing your vision about what coaching means for you, you have touched my heart, bring new significance to my passion and reignite my fire in supporting individuals and Humanity at large by sharing my gift. I am grateful for your voice and courage to stand up for what you value. Count me in your team.
With Love and Light!
Catherine
Author
Beautiful, thank you for saying this Catherine! You are needed, and I’m glad to hear the fire to serve has been reignited in you. There is so much need, and so much we can do simply by living the way of coaching in our organizations and communities. Blessings!
Leon this leaves me with a filling of I need to do what I am called to do.
To be that which the society needs.My needs come latter and they will be met when the human need is met.Be the transformation in my community.
Author
Yes, always follow what you are called to do. However, to clarify, I’m not advocating for you to put your needs later or last Christine. It’s about looking about at the needs of humanity where you stand and noticing where your gifts, passions, talents meet that seen need. It’s a co-creative dance, where your personal desires and aspirations (ie. to coach or heal or facilitate transformation) in the present moment meet what the world is calling for in the moment.
I want to start by saying Amen ? first .
It is indeed an empowering perspective that I have been holding onto from ages. Have moved countries every 2 -3 yrs in last 16 years was never able to fully establish the business I wanted with so called x number of paying clients but always felt success in doing what I do. When I see clients achieve their goals and see the growth n happiness they achieve it feels successful . The feeling of being able to do something for people gives this immense happiness n satisfaction which money can’t buy . Indeed very proud of being a coach and very grateful to be able to do something to change people’s life.
Being the change you want to see in the world . Thank you for reminding me of this , I am grateful .
God Bless
Nupur
Author
I love it Nupur, it is so good to hear that you have embodied this way of being and coaching. Coaching is a type of social technology that is needed in so many places to facilitate change and transformation, especially during difficult or turbulent times. You too are seeing that being a successful coach is not about numbers, but about the willingness to make use of this technology wherever your stand. Way to go coach!
Leon, thank you for this beautiful gift you have given me as a student, getting ready to embark on my journey. Your sharing has offered me a wonderful perspective . I feel empowered with the thought that I will base my coaching on this perspective . This takse away the pressure the word ‘success’ puts on new coaches like me !
Author
It sure does take the pressure off, doesn’t it. And that also helps bring us back into the joy of it, the very reason we came to coaching in the first place!
Thank you Leon! This couldn’t have showed up at a more appropriate divine time for me! I myself, have been holding stress and fear around the concept of a “successful coaching” business when the reality is…, the truth is – I’m already doing it right where I am and I’m so very grateful to have been called to be a coach on this planet in this lifetime! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Author
You are very welcome Regina. How gratifying and affirming it is to notice that you are already doing the good work, where you stand. It’s the work we are called to do, so let’s do it with ease and joy.
Leon–you know me too well! I know I am where I am doing what I am doing because this is where I am supposed to be. I don’t always know more details than that, but I am at peace that this is my time to be where I am. The truth is, we are all where we are supposed to be and the encounters we have paid or not where we use our coaching skills are where we are needed.
There are so many hurting people in the world. Anything we can do that brings them to the realization that they are so much bigger than their hurt makes for a more peaceful and stable world. People are hurting for relationships because it is through relationships that lives are transformed. As coaches we can connect with people and walk with them on that journey. And in the process, our lives are transformed as well.
For me, coaching is more than a “job” or a means to make money. For me, it is more about making relationship with people to connect to who they really are. We are most powerful when we live in our God-given potential rather than being defined by our community or culture. This is true for coaches as well. We need to see who we are in the bigger picture of humanity. We are here where we need to be “for such a time as this”.
Author
Yes! Yes! Yes! You said it so well Debbi. Anything we can do that helps, we should do…and we can all bring this powerful method of awareness creation to any conversation, any relationship, any issue. It connects us, helps us see each other’s humanity, and helps people see themselves more clearly for who they are. What a blessing it is to serve in this way.
Thank you Leon for sharing this perspective which is great inspiration ! If I want to be the holder to support others I need to start from myself in my own life. I like the definition of Coach not based on the client numbers but on how you serve those who is in need of coaching.
Author
You got it Betty! When we redefine it that way, it shift the entire paradigm…hopefully inspiring more people to loosen up the grip of the numbers/financial perspective of success. 🙂
Thank you Leon for this inspiring letter.
I love your phrase: “A successful coach is a person who coaches”.
In Yoga we say: concentrate on what you are doing or what is your purpose NOW, and not on the fruits of your doing!
And the focus is now – if I understand you correctly – “identifying where the essential need is or will be, and moving to meet that need head on”.
I am now starting a series of conversation with people exactly with this question.
And I am completely open and interested what will come out of these conversations. This as a practical idea in the direction to be a coach that coaches – what ever the situation might ask for.
I wonder if you have any other practical ideas and suggestion to follow “What it means to be a successful coach.
In love with warmest regards – Ernst
Author
Thank you for your words and question Ernst. The conversations you are initiating around the question will be fascinating, I’m sure. Where do my gifts and talents meet one of the world’s great needs? And if we are gifted or desiring to coach, then where is that need and how can we position ourselves to be of service to it?
The most practical act anyone can take to ‘be a successful coach’, in accord with the way I have defined it in the article, is to coach where you stand. To see that in every situation there is an opportunity to coach, or at least to embody the ‘way of the coach.’ If success is measured by clients or dollars, then there will be many who do not succeed – by their own standards! And this is highly disempowering, and does little to expand the good that coaching offers. Coach folks, coach!