Are You Confident Enough to Admit “You Don’t Know?

One of the many things I enjoy about my career coaching work is the sheer diversity of information that is brought into this coaching space.
With each client comes an absolute avalanche of essential information regarding their learning styles, their industry sector and the protocols in that cultural context. They bring information regarding the individual’s personality type and their preferred way of doing things. There is information shared concerning their strengths and vulnerabilities, as individuals and as team players. 
They bring information about where they are right now and where they wish to be in the future. Details of past skills developed and future attributes sought. There is information around a clients perception of themselves that assists in choosing their possibilities regarding future roles and professional identifies. There is information about what drives them to wish to act as they do, what nourishes them and what rewards them. 
So there is a lot to explore, and, the work is juicy and rewarding. But, and it is a very BIG ‘but’, only if I am willing to admit that i don’t know all the answers or even understand all the implications of what is being shared with me.
The other day I caught myself really enjoying working with someone who has a phenomenal grasp of language. Whereas in the past I might have let the odd unfamiliar term float right over my head, whilst nodding as if this had some meaning for me, instead I found myself riveted by his conversation, and even more importantly, totally at ease with saying ‘ooh hang on, what does that word mean?’. I did not even have a glimpse of the old me who might have felt less-than for my not knowing. Instead here was a woman who really wanted to understand and was going to find out the meaning. The benefits of this are two-fold. Firstly if I dare to ask, to question and to be curious, I can begin to understand the real nuances of the other persons journey to this place where we meet. This in turn enables me to really walk alongside that person as they design the next bit for themselves, understanding in myself the rationale and the implications of these choices.
The other brilliant thing about being willing to ask is that I get to learn heaps of new things from my clients as we collaborate. Somehow it seems only fair that if a coachee is willing to bare their heart, mind and soul to me in our work, the very least I can do is to step right over my ego and admit that sometimes, I don’t know what that means. This is rich work! Collaborative, honest and mutually beneficial. & I don’t want to miss a beat of it!

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