Relational Coach: Silence

What is happening between coach and coachee when the room goes quiet? Michelle continues the week’s story atLevel 2, the Relational Coach. The coachee’s silence turns out to hold more than uncertainty. It holds judgment, and maybe some shame, about wanting something different from a job other people would love to have. Michelle explores how relational safety is created through presence, not only words, and why “take your time” only works when the coach is settled enough to mean it. She looks at silence as relational information, how a coach can make room for someone to say what they have never said out loud, and the developmental edge for Relational Coaches: rushing to make silence comfortable can rescue a coachee from the very place where discovery is happening. Safety, she suggests, doesn’t mean eliminating discomfort. It means the person knows the discomfort can be held. Have a question or a coaching moment you’d like Michelle to explore on the podcast? Email [email protected]. Want to build the kind of presence that helps people tell the truth? Explore the Coaching Academy launching this January at CA.GrowBy1.com. Reflection Questions How do I communicate through my presence, not only my words, that a coachee has time to think? What might a coachee’s silence tell me about whether they feel safe to say what they are thinking? When might my reassurance or validation rescue a coachee from a productive moment of discomfort? How could I respond when a coachee judges themselves for wanting something different? What would help my coachees feel free to say something I may not expect from them?