“The coaching room can sometimes become its own theatre. A marriage unravels right in front of you. A shaming confession is made. A secret hugged for many years is disclosed. Tears of wrenching anger and despair can take up the whole session. These are times where you and the client hold your breath because nothing is ever going to be the same again.”
“It is very rare as an adult to find a place where you are not judged, where you can be open, honest and vulnerable: that is exactly what coaching provides. This book brings together twenty different stories which represent the very human dilemmas a coach can encounter.” Jenny Rogers.
I have just finished listening to the audiobook “Are You Listening?” By Jenny Rogers Beautifully narrated by Antonia Beamish.
As a coach, I am a big fan of Jenny Rogers, recommending many of Jennies books to coachees who train to be coaches with me through my coaching company. EH Coaching Academy.com
As I listened to “Are You Listening,” I was captivated from the start and found it difficult to stop listening. Throughout the book, Jenny expresses how much she appreciates the very essence of individuals, and the message I took from the book was how we as human’s need to align with who we are and seek out what is missing from our lives.
Each person (each chapter) expressed a deep need to be heard, seen and accepted, not by their coach, but by themselves. As each person’s narrative opened up, I found myself becoming immersed in the intricacies of their stories. Jenny talks about her vulnerability, her own sense of self. Still, she demonstrates the most profound understanding of knowing that her role was to put the client first.
I could recognise so much of what was unfolding. At times, I found myself sighing relief regarding my own practice; I felt I was witnessing some kind of permission to carry on being me and to trust in my coaching style and ability.
Jenny shares some important lessons about being a coach and how we need to embrace the essence of creating the most crucial aspect of coaching: the client-coach connection! This book is for coaches or clients and anyone who needs a place where they feel safe enough to ask for help, support, or love.
I will listen to the book again, and I have ordered the hard copy to energise my work and to remember that failures are also successes. I found the chapter “Not Fitting In” empowering, and I know first-hand that this kind of journey can be a catalyst to learning valuable lessons about who you are and what you stand for. From personal experience, you learn so much about belonging and that not fitting in can be a blessing in disguise.
I engaged with Jenny a few years ago for supervision coaching, but unfortunately, we could not quite get our diaries to work, something I very much regret. Thank you, Jenny Rogers!