This article was originally published by Choice Magazine Online Blog.
Within every individual resides an uncharted potential, and “beyond the individual, we believe in the power of personal and professional growth to catalyze societal change.” These are the words that the International Coaching Federation (ICF) used to declare its new manifesto. The ICF added, “we believe in coaching to be the guiding star to unlock that potential towards becoming our best self, but we are not content with the status quo; we aspire to redefine coaching, not just as a process but as a profound mindset. We strive to integrate this mindset into the day-to-day of people, touching lives of current and future generations. Together, we power transformative journeys, sparking change makers to inspire, transform, and thrive.” The manifesto concluded with an invitation to all coaches to help ICF redefine coaching and shape the future.
As a leadership coach, the ICF manifesto strongly resonated with me. It helped answer a question I’ve pondered: What role can coaches play in bringing positive transformation and peace to the world? I believe coaching must go beyond changing mindsets; it must foster a holistic transformation, balancing the heart and mind. Coaches are uniquely positioned to help individuals uncover deeper layers of their experience—not only by guiding them to shift their mindsets, but also by empowering them to confront and transform their fears. This approach encourages clients to step into a space of trust, which is where true growth and societal change begin.
In my book *Unlock Your Conscious Leadership*, I outline how coaches can facilitate holistic transformation by addressing the mind, heart, body, and talents. While it may not be possible to achieve full transformation in every coaching engagement, coaches can begin by liberating both the client’s mind and heart from the status quo of fear. For example, I worked with a client who was highly successful in their professional life but felt stuck in their personal relationships. Through coaching, we explored not just their thoughts and beliefs about relationships, but also their emotional responses, rooted in past experiences of betrayal. By addressing both the mind and the heart, we were able to unlock new pathways for personal growth.
Human beings have long been conditioned by fear, an evolutionary trait. However, to evolve into more conscious leaders, we must shift from fear to trust, which begins with self-trust and self-love. Shifting from fear to trust is not a one-time event but an ongoing practice. Coaches can help their clients develop self-compassion and trust through daily exercises, such as mindfulness, journaling, and positive self-talk. For instance, incorporating reflective questions like, ‘What does my heart need to feel safe?’ or ‘Where can I show more trust in myself today?’ can be powerful starting points.
In the coaching model that I was certified in, it is evidenced that consciously choosing our beliefs, thoughts, and emotions and actions, prompts us to choose between giving our power away through fear or taking it back through trust and love. Conscious leadership or leading ourselves with awareness; usually prompts us to choose better, not only for us but also for those around us. It highly energizes us and strengthens our capacity to unlock our potential. In that state of being, we are not only unleashing our potential by stepping into our best selves, but also acting as catalysts for societal change. Our transformation inspires and motivates people around us to also transform and thrive. However, I have seen many clients struggle with the shift from the unconscious to conscious or the fear into trust.
Some clients resist shifting from fear to trust because of past trauma or pain. Through my work, I’ve noticed a pattern: clients who have experienced deep hurts often struggle to trust, love themselves, or envision new possibilities. This highlights the importance of helping clients heal their hearts in order to unlock their full potential. Coaches must be prepared to navigate these challenges with sensitivity and care, recognizing that healing the heart often requires time and, in some cases, therapeutic intervention. When clients are resistant to change, it is helpful to incorporate exercises that build their awareness of the patterns holding them back. For example, guiding clients through a process of identifying and overcoming inner mental and emotional blocks can gradually help them develop the trust they need to move forward.
Clearly, this group of clients had shut down their hearts as a protective mechanism against all the pain, betrayal, disappointment, challenges, hurt or trauma they experienced. While they may have been able to love a partner or a child, they were unable to love themselves, trust others, and trust life. One client described to me how when she was 14 years old, her brother got into a car accident that left him with a severe brain injury. After this painful experience, she lost “trust” in life and, as she put it, her faith in the belief that “everything happens for a reason.” Only when she began to see these patterns within herself as result of our work together that she began to see the importance of healing her heart.
The heart is critical to transformation. It fuels our imagination, creativity, and higher consciousness. As coaches, we must support clients in healing their hearts to help them liberate their potential and inspire change in others. By integrating heart-centered techniques such as compassionate listening, visualization, and gratitude practices, coaches can help their clients access the deeper wisdom and creativity within. When the heart is open, clients are more likely to step into new opportunities with courage and resilience, sparking transformation not just within themselves but in their broader communities.
What our world needs to transform positively and attain peace is more conscious and wise individuals. This holistic approach to coaching would help the clients cultivate wisdom, which is the ability to rely on one’s lived experience and the hard evidence, as well as one’s intuition to draw conclusions to inform their choices, decisions and actions. Wisdom is the ability to blend both mind and heart intelligence. I believe that many conflicts and divisions that we are experiencing around the globe and even in our communities are stemming from fear in the form of social ills, such as ignorance, racism, bigotry, xenophobia, greed. . .etc. When we are courageous enough to become conscious and look within, we face our fears, and begin to heal. When we do our inner work and make it a daily practice to not just have a coaching mindset, but to also practice self-compassion and self-love, we begin to open up to others and to the world. An open mind leads to curiosity, and an open heart leads to love and trust. This in turn fuels empathy, compassion, and a desire to focus on our common humanity. When we heal our hearts, we tame our fears. When we tame our fears, we heal the world.