We are creators and when we touch our moments of decision with clarity and purpose, we can manifest a different world. Accessing this clarity and purpose takes courage and self-compassion. Transformational coaching makes that clarity possible because it shifts us from self-condemnation to empowerment.

Our practice and research points to three levels of awareness that clients experience on their journey from self-condemnation to empowerment. This article describes these three levels and illustrates them through the experience of a composite client case study. We hope our framework of leadership empowerment offers insight for coaches and clients alike in our current moment of global transformation.

Giorgio, Global Financial Specialist

Giorgio has effectively turned around a portfolio in record time. His company wanted to scale his success by supporting him to grow from a star specialist to a star leader. Giorgio and his manager agreed that the promotion would require significant growth. Therefore, leadership coaching was recommended.

Level 1

The coach creates the space for the client to tell their stories and holds the space for the client to see their dilemma outside of themselves. This supports the client to notice the starting point of their learning journey.

The client begins from their current level of consciousness. This is the first step in exploring the connection between their inner narratives and their behaviours.

Giorgio shares, “…people frustrate me, they don’t work hard enough, nobody wants to make the same effort I am making, and the stakes are too high for me to delegate.” At this level of coaching, Giorgio becomes aware that he is stuck as a leader.

Level 2

The coach deepens and holds the space for the client to shift their attention to themselves. The coach’s connection with the client creates a mirror that allows them to consider how their emotions and beliefs serve them or get in their way.

The client explores their self-limiting stories. These are the stories of self-judgement and fears of inadequacy.  At this point, the client experiences their epiphany about what’s really getting in their way.

In this part of the process, Giorgio moves from frustration about others to sadness and fear about himself: “I should be inspiring people, but I’m not the kind of leader who has deep emotional conversations. I’m afraid to fail as a leader.”

In this phase, Giorgio starts to realise that his own self-condemnation, and not others, is his true obstacle. For the first time he sees these stories as separate from himself and that he can choose to believe or not, which leads to an immediate feeling of lightness.

Level 3

The coach trusts that this level can happen at any moment. We are emotional instruments, and we can sense the shift in energy. In this space, we are witnessing the experience of transformative awareness. Our job is to use our intuition and support the client to trust and embrace what comes.

The client, in this moment sees those stories melting away to reveal a deeper truth that is their essence. This is a moment where thinking stops, feeling takes over and transformation happens. The client is empowered to experiment with new ways of being.  This supports the development of new behaviours that, over time, will become new habits.

At the beginning of one of our sessions, Giorgio said with a smile, “I realised it’s OK not to be an extrovert inspirational leader. I can develop skills in this area while I embrace the strengths of being a quiet, caring leader.” Later on in the session, he said, “As I accept and evolve myself, I also accept others.”

Giorgio’s growth accelerated, and he was promoted. Eventually, he  tripled the size of his team and doubled the value of their portfolio.

A Journey from Self-condemnation to Empowerment

Carl Jung wrote that “We cannot change anything unless we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate; it oppresses.” Evolving as human beings is about traveling through challenging realities and inner narratives and finding new perspectives to feel empowered again.

The transformational coaching journey is a circuitous path driven by the energy and emotions of the coach and client. The outcome we seek for our clients is the growth of new neural pathways that replace self-limiting habits with productive ones.  Self-awareness is both the catalyst of the journey and the foundation to which the client returns again and again for motivation and direction.  These three levels of awareness are our attempt to articulate a process for reaching that outcome, which can often feel to client and coach alike to be a magical one.

© First published in Coaching World by ICF on October 12^th, 2020.