Your Answers are the Best for You

As I coach my clients at the center, I often tell them that my job is to ask questions that will evoke their own answers and uncover their own unique opportunities. I am repeatedly surprised by how their solutions are so much better than those I might otherwise offer. 

When we begin the first of eight coaching sessions, I ask the client to list three to five areas in which she would like to grow. Common subjects include: Parenting, Finances, Housing, Education, Career and Communication.  Most say they want to improve life for their families. As we move through the coaching process, they find answers that work best for them:

A Tailored Plan

A Hindu woman, married with two children, lives with her husband’s extended family. She has two daughters – a three-year-old and an infant recently born prematurely. A complicated pregnancy meant that she had to reduce her hours from full-time to part-time. Now, because of her baby’s needs, she has had to stop working altogether. 

Still, she wants to earn extra money to help her husband support the family. During coaching, she reveals that the women in her family routinely come to her when they need their clothing altered. She decides to invest in a specialty sewing machine and to begin tailoring for income. For family members, she will provide tailoring in exchange for child care. As she speaks of selecting the correct machine for her plan, her voice lifts and her expression reveals her excitement.

If I weren’t a coach and she had asked me for advice, I might have unimaginatively suggested she find a job close to her home in the evenings that compliments her husband’s daytime hours. Her solution, however, draws on her existing circle of support, uses her gifts and talents and may even prepare her for a new career path. 

Visit this blog frequently for more stories about the mothers we serve.