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Coaches' Corner: Integral Coaching and Professional Development

Posted January 28th, 2010 by Susan Hodges

 In an era characterized by rapid economic and social change, professional development has become a crucible inviting us to grapple with the guts of who we are and who we long to become, both individually and collectively.  On a personal level, whether your destination is clear or not, career evolution is an uncertain process without easy answers. What just happened inside you as you read that line? If you experienced recognition tinged with excitement and anxiety, you’re not alone. 

 
Your current way of seeing and navigating your career path has enabled you to get where you are now. However, it might also be your primary impediment to change. 
 
My eight-year transformation from being a sole proprietor of a Personal Chef business to becoming a Certified Integral Coach was as devastating and harrowing, as it was thrilling and deeply rewarding. Why? I approached it as the Tragic Romantic. 
 
Although I felt intrinsic conviction about my purpose and place in the big picture, the silent driver of my behavior was a core belief that I was fundamentally abandoned – that life could not and would not hold me if I acknowledged my competence and fully engaged. Fueled by passion and adventure, as well as by the pressure to stay in control so as to protect myself, I strove to learn and do ‘everything -perfectly - all at once’. I noticed what was missing - everywhere. I did not allow myself the luxury of noticing and enjoying the good that was present, let alone what I had achieved, so the beauty, safety, and equanimity for which I longed remained illusive. As a result, I oscillated between trusting with naive idealism and withdrawing in fear and despair. It was quite a conundrum…an all-or-nothing, tragic and romantic, painful and convenient escape from waking up and growing up.
 
Through the process of certifying as an Integral Coach, I became capable of honoring what the way of Tragic Romantic afforded me - rich breadth and depth of life experience, which enhances my capacity as a personal and professional coach.  However, it caused me and others undue suffering, and I knew it would prevent me from ‘walking my talk’.
 
The Integral Coaching process gradually and organically changed my paradigm of being in the kosmos, not just how I relate to my professional development. What I needed was a spiritual, moral, and emotional awakening, and it delivered in spades. 
 
More and more, I’m experiencing myself as being integrally linked within, and held by, a universal web that’s thick, alive, nourishing, and flowing. Deep down, I know this web cannot not support me. ‘Faith’ invites me to remain in the uncertainty of the here and now, which, paradoxically, allows me to hold and ground myself and others. I’m moving with greater simplicity, curiosity, and ease, trusting my gut instinct rather than needing to see the big picture before I take action. 
 
Morally, I’ve become willing to accept myself as I am, largely because I perceive that my existence represents part of a greater ‘play’ that transcends my lifetime. I am consciously censoring the prolific scriptwriting of the Tragic Romantic, whose tales ultimately disconnect me from Essence, as well as from others and from my body and heart. Therefore, my absence is no longer optional. Thankfully, my participation is far more enjoyable and stable – both for me and for those who know me! 
 
Emotionally, I’m learning to hold my experience tentatively, such that my conclusions feel like hypotheses, not reactive judgments. Slowing down affords me greater discernment, as well as openness to receive and take new opportunities to connect, have an impact, and grow financially. Productivity and equanimity are becoming my norm. Because I see that the process is the point, not the destination, I’m able to welcome challenges and am more honest with others and with myself about my professional desires and capacities.
 
Overall, I am living with greater fulfillment and balance. I am pleased with the tangible outcomes I am now able to generate, and I look forward what is in store, no matter what it entails.  
 
I would like to offer a few questions that might shift your perspective and change your current approach to professional development.
 
  • How do reactive emotional patterns take you out of the game?  (i.e., out of your body and heart, out of community/ relationships, out of structures and tangible training systems like school or jobs?)
  • As you consider your career dilemma, do you find yourself caught in blame? Who, or what, is to blame? How do you know? How does blame benefit you? How does it keep you stuck?
  • If outside observers were tracking your behavior, what would they conclude about your values as they relate to money, time, service, opportunity, community, and spirituality? 
  • How do you reconcile any discrepancies between the values you espouse and your theory in use (what you actually do)? What could you do to close the gap?
  • What are the benefits of staying in your current situation? The costs?

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leading with self

Posted January 28th, 2010 by Ambo Suno

Hi Susan - I appreciate a lot how it seems that your presentation here is leading with your self and your process, the beautiful and the difficult. I can then hear your offering better. More correct for me to say is that I hear the personal offering of your true and good story and can feel better the beauty of the practical offerings. Something like that.

I went back and read your last presentation about a holiday visit at home. It was also beautiful and touching how you lived through that and other moments. Again, I then could feel the goodness in your practical offering.

I am inspired by what you have been doing and what you have been presenting here.

ambo

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What Happened?

Posted February 10th, 2010 by Stanley

When I read words like "rapid, crucible, grapple, and guts" I was not going to read any further. But I am glad I kept reading and arrived at words like "alive, nourishing, and flowing". It sounds like you are getting great benefit from your integral coaching training. I  invite you to hold your apparent conclusion that you must overcome your romantic way of being as a light hypothesis.