Delving into the Spectrum of Trust

There is reoccurring theme cropping up in my leadership coaching work – trust. Lack of trust, fear of trust, loss of trust…all are words and phrases my clients use consistently. Not a new theme for sure. There are volumes of books and videos and advice and parables developed around the need for trust, how to foster trust, how to gain trust and on and on. But my new emerging curiosity and exploration is around a spectrum of trust. The range of trust and how we move and play within the two ends “a complete void of trust” and “a place of unwavering trust”. And supporting that is an essential question, which is “When I feel untrusting, what within me am I not trusting?” Is self-trust the true reservoir from which we draw our trust for others? And so in the true spirit of the Experiential Learning Cycle, I now begin to transfer my learning about the spectrum of trust and self trust to my work with clients who are striving to deepen their leadership skills.

I so love the practice of coaching and leadership development because the people I have the honor of working “with” are continually spotlighting new areas of growth and reflection for me. As Martha Beck said to me recently when I had the gift of chatting with her about the term “life coach”, “Coaching is not what we do, it is the way we choose to live and grow”. Amen!