I enrolled in an inviteCHANGE program on a whim after speaking to a mentor coach. It was a month after my mother died from Covid-19. I shared with him my desire to resume coaching. I mentioned I was searching for something to give my coaching a boost because I felt my coaching had grown stale. I was simply looking for inspiration; something to get me going again, to rekindle my fire. My mentor coach shared he was taking a mentor coaching program offered by inviteCHANGE and thought I could benefit from taking any one of their programs. He forwarded me an email InviteCHANGE sent within a week of our conversation with his recommendation for me to sign up because he thought it would help me achieve my goal to begin again and strengthen my coaching.

I accepted my mentor’s advice and enrolled after visiting the InviteCHANGE website to learn more, watching the short video introduction by Janet Harvey, and speaking with Laurie Johnson who answered the few remaining questions I had and helped me enroll.

The program was way more than I bargained for because it supported me in so many ways toward what I was seeking:

• International Coaching Federation (ICF) trained coaches learn to ask their clients what support they want or need at the end of a coaching session to help the client make progress toward their goals in between sessions.

• I had just lost my mother, and yet, never considered what support I wanted or needed to process and overcome my grief until about halfway through the program when I realized many of the questions I was asked could only be answered by me spending more time being curious about what the loss of my mother means to me and how I continue to live the rest of my life. It became clear to me I was not grieving in a healthy way and that what I needed more than learning and honing coaching skills was the support of my tribe.

• Being in the program with so many coaches who practiced living authentic self and expressing vulnerability without hesitation opened me up to explore my own vulnerabilities, how to acknowledge and express them, and how to choose what to do with them. This really helped me notice and name my feelings and emotions, get unstuck, and begin moving through the stages of grief with a learner’s mind that enabled me to see good again. This was something I really needed; a need I did not know I had when I signed up for the program. I will forever be grateful for the role inviteCHANGE and each member of my cohort played at a difficult time in my life.

• Exploring key concepts (ego, authentic self, agency, sovereignty, world view, mindset, choice) helped me explore how my thinking relates to my doing and being. I was reminded how vitally important it is for a coach to live authentically in all walks of their life. Who I am is who I am. Who I am is who I choose to be. Who I choose to be is who I bring with me to my coaching sessions.

• The concept of sovereignty was new for me. The word “sovereignty” captures my ability to generate wholeness and abundance so well that I came up with a mantra to help me stay grounded in my truth in the face of adversity. My new mantra is, “I am a sovereign nation.” This mantra is already helping me resist the temptation to respond to people who do not have my best interest at heart and circumstances outside of my control from a place of fear, anger, or pride which only breeds disappointment and regret because I am not living in alignment with my core values. I look forward to seeing how sovereignty improves my coaching.

• Being reminded that I and everyone I meet is whole, resourceful, capable, and challenged me greatly. I do not know that I believed about myself at various times in my life especially after my sister, mother, and father died. This insight caused me to ask, “how can I give what is not mine to give, or what I do not possess myself?” My reflection led me to acknowledge and own the truth that I have not always believed I was whole, resourceful, capable, and creative, and therefore, did not always see my clients as whole, resourceful, capable and creative. I now set this as my intention before coaching, so that I am able to be more authentic, present, and effective with my clients. Coaching authenticity and presence helps me build trust with my clients faster, and ensures my clients get the most out of our time together assuming coach-client fit is right.

These are just a few examples of what I learned and how this program has sparked my curiosity and helped me identify more possibilities for how I can engage my clients.

I truly enjoyed learning with inviteCHANGE and highly recommend to any coach seeking to improve self and coaching ability for others.

Editor’s note: The coach education program Sterling Brinson took was entitled Power of Generative Coaching. All the key curriculum and learning elements of this program have been woven into the Mastery of Generative Coaching. The next cohort of Mastery of Generative Coaching is scheduled for March 1, 2022, register by February 15, 2022.