This week I’ve delivered a client-centred leadership programme in Meriden, the centre of England.
Centred at the actual centre – an intriguing metaphor?
The centre of England is the point around which the country would rotate if you cut it out and balanced it on a giant pin.
Being client-centred means supporting the other person to find their own way forward. We can only do this from a grounded, centred position. Otherwise it’s like trying to balance England on Land’s End.
Being centred and grounded is a core skill for coaches and leaders. As I delivered this week’s programme again on my own, without a co-facilitator, I was the sole pin to balance the group’s learning on.
The group needed my centredness to find theirs.
Human stuff is messy. In organisations it is what makes or breaks things. And yet, most leaders still default to restructuring processes or organisations to fix problems.
What if leaders invested more in being centred? In having better conversations? This week we had some difficult moments. Resistance. Conflict. But also breakthroughs and moments of connection that changed everything.
Sadly, some years ago Ordnance Survey spoiled my centred metaphor. Their geospatial wizards calculated that the geographical centre of England is actually located at a farm 11 miles northeast of Meriden. After 500 years, the village lost the title but kept the sign. I’m off-centre after all.
But that’s not where the story ends.
Apparently, the new centre is also the birthplace of a man named George Fox. According to Google, he founded the Quaker movement and helped people find their “inner light”. Discovering our inner light sounds pretty client-centred to me.
Even if, according to OS, I’m still 11 miles away from mine.
