Recently I’ve had a client reach his goal. Congrats to him. We had been working on his Promotion and Tenure packet (P&T packet) that sums up his entire body of work while being a professor at a local university. He won’t find out the results for almost a year so it needed to be great. And it is. I have every confidence that he will be a Tenured professor next year. I was very honored and shared that with him to have been a part of this process. To be chosen as a coach to help someone reach their goals is a gift, something to treasure. I take my clients goals very seriously.
The ending of a coaching relationship is a bitter sweet thing. To watch and be a part of someone striving for a goal and reaching it is something to cherish and to celebrated. Which we did. We met for drinks and toasted his accomplishment.
I shared with him that I was honored to be a part of the process. I thanked him for allowing me to be someone he trusted and allowed to come on this journey with him. I didn’t share how brilliant I think he is and what a bright future I see for him. There are always things you forget to say when you want too have said them. That is OK.
But the close bond that we created while striving to reach this pinnacle in his career has come to and end. Will we continue to be friends? Yes I’m sure of that. But there is a twinge of sadness that the relationship has come to and end. In life we all have beginnings and endings, as a coach many of my clients experience several shifts that cause and end to a relationship. The key I think is to focus on the success and the future. But I want it known I will miss our Monday sessions. My ultimate goal is to help every client reach their goal so this is just a part of the process. And the sadness is far out weighted by the realization that we accomplished something great.
A true friend, or coach as the case may be is someone who even though it hurts them to have you outgrow them, revels in your accomplishment anyway. “Chuck Franks 2008”
Go forth and conquer my good friend. My heart if filled with pride.
Chuck Franks, Certified Professional Coach
Executive Life Coach
Inner Strength Quest