In search of a metaphor for coaching

Finding One metaphor for “coaching” has been a difficult task for me…… many thoughts have come and gone and nothing sticks. I thought of how coaching is like a gust of wind, like a mirror cleaner, like a torch, like a swiss army knife and that’s when I realized I don’t think there is one metaphor for coaching for me. It depends on your perspective and therefore cannot be just one thing. How your client perceives coaching can be different from yours and just having just one metaphor for coaching resonate with you is perhaps limiting. So here are my top metaphors for coaching:

Coaching to me is like a

• Route map - Something that helps you find your way to your destination  
• Torch – Something that helps you illuminate the path forward…from darkness to light
• Tailwind – Something that helps you get to your destination faster. The gentle push that makes the difference.
• Colin – the glass cleaner - Something that helps clean the mirror so that you can see yourself clearly
• Swiss army knife -   Something that can help you with many tools to solve the problem at hand
• Duster - Something that can remove the cobwebs in our mind and help us with clarity of thought
• Noise cancelling headphones – Something that tunes out the ambient noise and helps you focus
• Onion peeler – Something that helps peel the layers and get deeper
• Guide – Someone who helps you go from where you are to where you want to be

As I look re-look the above list, and try to see which one resonates with me the most, it is “Tailwind or the Wind beneath your wings”. A coach essentially helps with that nudge, the gentle push that gets you going. The invisible force multiplier that moves you forward towards your destination.  

The Bette Midler song, Wind Beneath my Wings has various stanzas that kind of describe the role a coach plays and things that resonate with me….

You were content to let me shine, that's your way

You always walked a step behind

….

Did you ever know that you're my hero

And everything I would like to be?

I can fly higher than an eagle

For you are the wind beneath my wings

….

It might have appeared to go unnoticed

But I've got it all here in my heart

I want you to know I know the truth, of course I know it

I would be nothing without you

To me it emphasizes a couple of aspects of a coach/coaching. A person who is behind the client, not in the forefront. The coach should inspire their clients to reach higher and help them get there. They are the one’s that lift their clients performance, they are the catalyst that propel the client towards their goals and do that from the shadows. A coach needs to add value to their clients such that they acknowledge and see the value and are able to express their appreciation similar to the sentiment expressed in the song.

As i embark on the coaching journey, ping me if you would like me to be the wind beneath your wings :-)