I have been a scientist for 20 years. I have loved my work, working in the laboratory, looking at data and trying to make sense of it. Only believing in what I could prove. Always looking critically on the results I obtained. Analysing, experimenting and confirming every step of the way to find my conclusions.
It can seem to be a very different step going into coaching from there, but I believe that some of the skills, that made me a great scientist, also make me a great coach.
I am curious. I do not believe that I have the answers. I will learn from each coachee, as I learned from my results. I do believe that the models I have learnt, will help my coachee to release their potential, just as I was researching papers to find the right approach method for my scientific trials. I am a tool to be used to get results – just as I used laboratory tools to obtain my results. I am showing the coachee their results for them to analyse, just as I was using data analysis to understand the results that were given to me in the laboratory.
In science, I have learned, that I become a bad scientist, when I think I have the answers. Same thing in coaching: It is my coachee, they have the answers. I am the paper, the laboratory tools and the sense making tool for my coachees, for them to find their conclusions.
For me, this is taking the mind-set, I have learned and trained to a next level.
