The President’s Position on Overload

Resilience
Without question, the ability to cope is the coaching theme that is more common in my practice than any other. I am sure that all coaches and mentors seem to have particular themes that are more predominant in their practices than others. Well resilience seems to be mine. What does it take to run a home, raise children, negotiate the traffic, lead a team, deliver results, report to the board, meet clients’ expectations, handle the bank manager, lose a big account, lose a key team member, on-board a new team member and keep a smile on your face? It seems that it is all in how we think about things and how we choose to respond to things. So often the coaching conversation turns to “how can I make this all feel a little less insane”? We work on breathing, shifting focus, maintaining focus and managing boundaries all in the interest of making things feel a little more under control.

Workaholic Coach
Don’t we all grapple with these issues? Coaches and mentors are not immune to the vicissitudes of life. We are challenged by the demands on us and, for whatever reason, we take on too much and feel overwhelmed. I am fascinated by the idea of the “workaholic coach”. It strikes me as a bit of an oxymoron – but perhaps that is just me. Perhaps it is because Balance is a fundamental value to me that I expect myself to model balance to my clients. If I am to coach around issues of balance and resilience I surely need to be paying attention to it in my own life. I tend to regard life as a bit of a smorgasbord, and want to sample every dish. So I want to do work that I love. I want to spend time with my family. I want to see my friends. I want to paint. I want to go to the beach or the berg. I want to serve my professional community. I want to read and learn. Doing this takes resilience – and it is worth learning as it makes for a rich life full of variety.

Build Your Practice
COMENSA provides its members with wonderful resources that will help you to play your various roles and wear your many hats – with style. There are the resources available in the Build Your Practice section on the website. There is both the access to expertise and the opportunity to make a contribution in our Portfolio Committees and Special Interest Groups. There are many opportunities to learn, and find a coach, mentor or supervisor at our Chapter events, conferences and on the website. There is also the opportunity to participate in research around coaching and mentoring issues that are of interest to you. There will also, shortly, be the opportunity to participate in work that makes coaching and mentoring available to people who would otherwise not have access (see John Paisley’s article in this issue). So, rather than thinking of participation in COMENSA activities as more work, perhaps it might be regarded as an environment in which you can serve your values and have access to wonderful resources that make it easier to be everyone you need to be!