Fire tender, bottleneck detective, deadwood collector

Coaches are called upon to play many roles in their work.

Here are three I find myself occupying frequently:

Fire tender. Many people show up with glowing embers—unmet desires, protean ambitions or a growing dissatisfaction. But they’re unsure how to breathe these embers into life. Sometimes they feel a growing heat in their bellies before their eyes have registered anything.

My job is to honour the ember—to witness its warmth, to grant it some air, and fan it into a confident flame.

Bottleneck detective. Sometimes embers have already been tended to. The energy is in motion, but the flame is dampened and restricted.

Generally, it’s easier for people to identify external bottlenecks. But my job is to help unblock things wherever they get jammed up. That could be negotiating a demanding boss, loosening a tightly-held belief, boosting a skills deficit or facing down an authoritarian self-critic. Inner or outer, it doesn’t matter—my job is to clear the bottleneck.

Deadwood collector. Growing into new spaces inevitably means ceding old territory. Sometimes people don’t want to let go of those branches, even when they’re barren and heavy. My job is to help them sense the weight of what’s no longer working for them. Other times, people want to force parts of themselves into exile, never to be seen again. But it’s not that simple. Deadwood feeds what comes next when it’s given space to decompose.

Deadwood can also fuel the flames of a new ember, slowly burning its way into existence.

I’m never sure whether I’ll be tending fires, finding bottlenecks or collecting deadwood. But it’s always a privilege to walk this wilderness with others.