Leadership Revolution

CHAPTER 7The Third Right Answer

The way I see it, I've got two choices. I need your help deciding.

Coach: Actually, you need help seeing that there are more than two choices.

Wait, how do you know?

Coach: Because there are always more choices!

Rethinking—and updating—your approach to leadership might at times sound exhausting. And let's face it, sometimes it can be. But along the way, there are many payoffs, many moments when you can breathe a sigh of relief, because you've built the skills and capacity to handle an unexpected crisis. You've put in the time and energy to learn how to confront difficult challenges.

I've found this with many coaching clients: At a certain point in a coaching cycle, the sessions can get shorter because the coachee, based on what they've learned, is anxious to take action. By this time the trust in the coach–coachee relationship is deeply established; each understands how the other works. Together they've essentially developed a kind of shorthand for their conversations—almost a private language that serves just them. This is when you know a thinking partnership is fully established. The work of the coaching is now not so much the coach driving the development forward as it is mutually thinking about options and knowing there is not one right answer.

The work of the coaching is … mutually thinking about options and knowing there is not one right answer.

It's liberating, and refreshing. But even a true breakthrough doesn't mean the coaching ...