Navigating the Co-Active Journey: Lessons, Transformations, and Trust

What I know now I wish I knew then….

My Co-active journey with CTI certainly has been one of my life's most amazing and transformational experiences! Never had I been exposed to such a powerful as well as eye & heart-opening experience; it certainly felt like a twilight zone, or as some people would say, “it’s like coming back home!”

Learning Steps and the Ladder of Competence

This is why I want to share my first experience way back in Co-Active Coach Training Fundamentals. I remember learning about the Learning Steps… which the Front of the room leaders expressed and highlighted the conscious and unconscious competence and incompetence steps we get to navigate as a ladder we go up and down the staircase going through such a program. That metaphor opened for me such an empowering space and the experience I was embarking on! This concept allowed me to have and hold more compassion for myself and others, and not only was it powerful to hold for my clients but especially for my young kids who were going through some challenging times as they were transitioning from elementary school to high school at that time.

The Power of the "Fail" Sticker

And then followed the “Fail” sticker! “What?” I told myself… A fail sticker was introduced as we were coaching one another in the training room with other participants. “What do you mean a fail sticker?” I couldn’t believe my ears or perhaps my saboteurs (critical voices in my mind) couldn’t or wouldn’t believe the scary freedom of giving myself permission to test and trial, to step out of my comfort zone by doing something different in my coaching such as being audacious in speaking my truth, intruding when my client would go on and on in storytelling, or daring to challenge myself and my clients to own our resourcefulness and wise Self.

Balance Training: A Paradigm Shift

A third powerful experience and part of my co-active venture happened during our Balance training; I remember having a coaching client that one evening and then coming back the next day to debrief our takeaways from that experience. I felt so inexperienced as a coach and awkward in my approach. However, I remember that this Principle allowed me to be creative, playful and step out of my comfort zone to embrace the quicky parts of me. Day three was so enlightening for me! It’s like a new paradigm was presented which invited me to embrace life in a 4^th dimension! We were asked to step onto that wheel on the floor marked with blue tape landscaping different words that would qualify our coaching experience. What really struck me in that moment was being asked to step into the geography of the qualifier that most represented my experience with my client. I remember selecting something like: “challenging”. The next question we were invited to reflect on was: “What’s most true about this?” and… “What’s least true about this?” Wow! What an eye-opener! What again a powerful and transformative paradox presented to us to consider in how we view the world, how we experience our life, and what I choose it to be! What an extraordinary way to lead us into the realm of conscious awareness and empowerment.

Being a Servant Leader in Coaching

Fourth, I would share like many of us being in the profession of coaching that we are in this to be servant leaders; to lead the way to raise consciousness, to hold our clients and have them lead a life holding an empowered stance for themselves and to live purposefully feeling fulfilled, at choice and permitting themselves to be perfectly imperfect human beings. And then doubts can creep in, we start getting influenced by some limiting beliefs that would have us assume we have to be trained or certified in such a tool, concept, model or any type of training above and beyond what we’ve been trained in. Continuous education is fundamental in our profession as professional certified coaches and ICF certainly encourages and requires us to be on the path of professional development. I am a constant learner which is one of my strengths, I want to be informed and share my knowledge with those around me, whether with clients, colleagues, friends, etc. On another hand, being in pursuit of training for the sake of filling a void or feeding an almost never-ending fear that keeps on creeping in whenever a new mandate is presented or offered to us is just filling in the hamster to exhaustion on its wheel.

Trust in the Journey

Fifth, trust… The whole universe is naturally creative, resourceful and whole; nature is, people are, and so as Oprah Winfrey would be saying; “What I know for sure” is… that trusting oneself as we sail through life, embark on a new journey – whether you have accepted a new position in another company, you recently became pregnant and are anxious about how to raise this child, or you are moving in a foreign country. You have absolutely no idea what this new culture is about as a new ex-pat, life is made in a way to support you and your magnificence! You have all the wisdom, the resilience, and the inner power to rise to any occasion that life throws at you! Life will spontaneously show you the way to point you to what you need to work on yourself; may it be confidence as your manager asks you to speak in front of an audience, may it be having more empathy for your colleague who’s struggling with mental health and going off on a burn-out for a few months, or may you be promoted to become your boss’s boss (Yes I’ve seen it happen with my own eyes!)… I say trusting your higher Self and the Universe which is orchestrating all that you are experiencing in this lifetime and beyond.

Continuous Personal and Professional Development

And lastly, should you choose to pursue continuous personal and professional development, here are some of the most impactful resources and training I’ve been exposed to in the past 20 years…

• The Four Agreements & The Voice of Knowledge by Don Miguel Ruiz
• Leadership from the Inside Out & The Pause Principle by Kevin Cashman
• A New Earth & The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
• Return to Love by Marianne Williamson
• Listen to Your Body Training by Lise Bourbeau (personal development)