Part 3: A New Coach by Brandi Alvarez
Today is the beginning of a new chapter in my journey – being a coach. I am ready to start anew and enter in with positivity and hope for a new outlook. I realized today I like the prospect of coaching; it is encouraging more than I ever thought. I know as a coach I am the encourager and the role encourages me. I will admit when I started this process I thought I was going to gain more insight into conflict and further expand my knowledge in dispute resolution; instead I have gotten to go on a different journey and interestingly one that coincides with everything I have already learned. The forward focus concept is so simple and so hard to constantly keep going. I am continually asking, “Where do you see yourself?” and “How do you get there?” and realize those are such great questions. The questions have become ones both for my client and for me. I feel like I am on this journey with my client and it is helping me to go back to my own focus and start again. I am amazed to find myself here and with so much hope.
Because my degree is about conflict I still keep searching for the conflict, looking to a solution, wanting to be the problem solver. I discover it is hard to hold my tongue and let my client find his own way. For me this keeps circling back to the forward focus: how you can you move forward?
When I started coaching the answers started falling into place. For me now it is a logical progression of client, student, coach, I value being all three to really see the benefit of the process. There is a method behind it; there are specific questions to be asked and an order to follow. Coaching is its own language. Now that I have coached I understand and I see how it works. At this point I am able to feel the benefits of coaching no matter the circumstance or the goal you are trying to achieve. I know that having coaching as a skill set will help me be a better person, a better advocate, and a better conflict manager.
