Working with Kathy Mallary to explore my target market as a coach I am grappling with a number of questions including the question: what is my genius? This comes up, too, in my work with my coach, Lynne Fairchild. These are some of the thoughts arising following a conversation with Lynne:



Perhaps my genius lies in the area of alignment:

• When my clients are at odds with themselves, in inner conflict, trying to reconcile needs that seem at odds;
• When clients at work are in some way out of alignment: when they experience the expectations placed on them as out of alignment with some aspect of themselves – their values, sense of self etc.; when they are successful in their work and yet yearning for more joy or noticing something calling them in another direction; when their self image is two steps behind their latest promotion; when “what is” and “what should be” seem worlds apart…
• When something is out of alignment at home: when the dream of happy-ever-after romance is out of synch with the reality of daily life with their partner; when the cost of spending time with old friends, family or, or, or… seems too high; when the dream home comes with a nightmare mortgage payment…

These are areas in which I am perceptive and engaged.

This is not about career coaching in the traditional sense but about clients’ alignment to and embodiment of their inner wisdom. It is an “inside out” coaching which takes in all of Robert Dilts’ “logical levels” – clients’ “who am I?” (identity), values and beliefs, capabilities, behaviour, environment – in the wider context of family and organisation.

I notice I am drawn to work with talented people who want to bring their genius to bear in the world. These are people who recognise and want to respond to some kind of inner calling that takes them beyond their current situation to answer the question: what is it that is calling me? These are people who, in treading this path, have to engage with and move beyond their inner and outer constraints. These include the constraints of culture – “the way we do things round here”. This is a path for the courageous few: what M. Scott Peck describes as the road less travelled.

Travelling this road often takes people beyond the confines of the paradigms in which they are raised or within which they work in order to find their own answers. For these people it is not enough to be successful within the paradigm assigned to them – these are the people who see the limitations of our current cultural norms and who reach out in search of their own path. In this sense alignment comes from within and spreads outward – these are people who begin by finding their inner sense of alignment and move on to seek out and create opportunities to which they are fully aligned – organisations to work with, leadership approaches which match their heartfelt values, a place in the world which reflects their sense of purpose. In this sense my clients are often leaders whether or not they have a recognised “line management” or leadership role. They lead by example. They create culture as much as they sit within a culture – they are the shifters and shapers.

These are people who are able both to live their lives and to step back and examine the lives they are living – to take a meta-perspective in life;

These are the people who, by making choices at a meta-level, can pursue a path with conviction and continue to pursue that path even when the terrain is rough and challenging;

These are the people who chose a way of being in the world and in this way bring greater meaning to their lives;

These are the people who, from their sense of conviction and by pursuing a path, develop a mastery in time of their chosen way of being in the world.

Having worked over the years with many people in leadership positions I wonder if my true clients are leaders who are on this journey, whether leadership is a subset of this area of alignment, if…, if…, if… This question remains open – at least for now.