Jennifer James, a PCC coaching instructor, shares how coaching shifted from unofficial work to her formal role. She teaches from the learner's perspective, emphasizes peer support and strengths, and believes the coach's job is to listen and let clients lead, replacing self-doubt with their own voice of confidence.
Everything about coaching speaks to me. I feel like my entire career I have been unofficially coaching, and at this point am thrilled to be officially coaching. So my teaching style is very approachable. I always remember what it was like to be in the seat throughout the learning experience. What I am always amazed at and just what warms my heart is the fact that each individual lifts other individuals up. We're all learning. We're all on a journey of getting better as coaches, and we need to have a focus with our peers on what's strong. Maybe I wasn't as good of a listener as I thought I was, and I think having that coach mindset really enables me to be a better listener, allowing the individual that I'm interacting with to lead and to understand that it's their way, right? It's not about me. It's all about that person that I'm having interactions with. We don't have a voice in our head that's telling us telling us that we can't. Instead, we have a voice that's saying, "You are strong and you've got this."
Susan’s ICF Educator Award | The Heart Behind the Impact Katy Montgomery, PCC
