Yay! I just submitted a 20,000 word assignment reflecting on my work through the lenses of adult learning, humanistic psychology and systemic thinking.
Most inspiring here is that I have come to fully realise that my ongoing learning is a necessary condition for helping my clients learn and grow, too.
As a coach, facilitator and coaching supervisor I am never fully formed. And yet that is precisely what helps my clients learn for themselves — as long as I am open and authentic about my own learning and limitations.
Carl Rogers, one of the early founders of humanistic psychology, believed that positive personal change can only occur within a relationship. Seen through his ‘person-centred’ approach, my client and I are both in a state of ‘becoming’. We are fellow travellers on our learning journeys.
I often notice that when I make myself vulnerable, openly sharing my state of learning and not knowing, it visibly increases trust in the relationship — which in turn leads to better engagement and outcomes.
By adopting Rogers’ person-centred stance — being real, with empathy and unconditional positive regard — I am creating the space for my clients to grow. And thus, I am also growing myself.
In systemic terms, none of this is surprising as we live in an interconnected world of nested systems where everything and everyone influences one another. It follows that learning is always mutual, too.
And there is a real beauty in that.
True Horizon Coaching 