One of the most valued contributions clients gain from coaching is a simple and profound one. Insights. So, in the space of coaching, where do insights come from?
Over many years of coaching, my beliefs around this have evolved. I believe that insights come from the client, not the coach. Yes, time after time clients have told me they value my insights, but here I am saying the insights are theirs! Why is this?
The role of the coach is to create a space from which insights emerge through and by the client. Coaches do this through what I often call “full-body listening”, i.e. listening deeply, listening for what sits behind the words the client is speaking.
What a client often hears as an insight from the coach is, when the insight is the most meaningful and valuable, simply the reflection by the coach of the truth the client speaks, even and in fact particularly when the client cannot listen deeply enough to themselves.