A coach walks through building trust with a leader by creating conditions for honest conversation. The key: ask what support they need to feel safe discussing vulnerable topics, and acknowledge that discomfort actually strengthens trust.
The other thing is that partnering is just one of the keywords that's repeated in all of the International Coaching Language, International Coaching Federation language. So if there is a partnership around what leader— speaking, I'm the coach speaking to the leader— what leader do you need to feel like you can be honest here? What do we want to create? How, you know, who have you worked with in the past where you knew that if you said something that was going to look vulnerable or embarrassing or scary, that you were gonna get treated respectfully? Like, what do you need? Partner through that process. Put it out there. And even though that might be a little bit scary to talk about, and that's gonna raise some cortisol in that process, the fact that you're talking about it also creates trust in the midst of it.
Susan’s ICF Educator Award | The Heart Behind the Impact Katy Montgomery, PCC
