Yesterday, I had the opportunity to get feedback on my coaching from a master coach–someone who “supervises” new coaches in training for a living.

I coached a volunteer client for 15 minutes. The master coach then gave me feedback. Two comments stand out in my mind:

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“You were connected to yourself when you were coaching.”

“You were using all of you in the coaching.”

 

This is my hope for boundary crossers.

The first part, being connected to yourself, has to do with being comfortable in your own skin and not being self-conscious. You know who you are and you can draw strength from that.

The second part, using all of yourself, in whatever work you do, can be trickier, as many of you know. Let me give several examples, which hopefully will trigger ideas for your own situation.

1. The pieces of me that showed up in my coaching were intuition, playfulness, and what I call my “engineering mind.” I can take the facts, combine with an inkling to understand what’s really happening for the client, and then put a light touch on a serious topic. In the words of the master coach, I was able to “hold the client with lightness without being dismissive.”
2. I have a client who heads up a successful leadership development company. He also has a love of music–making music with others, listening to music. One of the things we’ve been working on is how to bring that love of music into his leadership work, so that all of him shows up when he’s working with clients. He’s done some of this over the years but not purposefully.  In each instance, the client results were remarkable. I’m excited now that he sees this part of him as an asset to his main gig and he is looking at ways to fully integrate it in. He recently attended a workshop from a company that combines leadership with music, The Music Paradigm, which I’m sure has given him some new ideas.
3. I know of a software developer who specializes in computer animation. He works for a company that develops virtual worlds for kids (think Club Penguin.) Computer animation is a natural discipline for boundary crossers, because it relies on knowing both software development as well as the graphic arts. You have to be versed in both to be good at computer animation. Growing up, this person used to get frustrated when people told him he couldn’t be good at both art and computer science (obviously, he was talking to inferior human beings.) Now, he’s got the last laugh as the demand for his craft is growing. When he started out a few years ago, there were a handful of virtual worlds aimed at kids. Now, there are over 200.

BTW–This is a great way to “recession-proof” your work.  The remarkable will win out over the mediocre in a down economy.

If you’ve been wondering how to bring all of yourself to your work, contact me. I’d love to give you a free consultation. Email me, carol [at] carolrossandassociates [dot] com or find me on Twitter (@carolross) or LinkedIn.