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My Blog
November 30, 2010
I'm beginning my blog today. I want to
capture the thoughts I have about my coaching practice - what I'm
reading, working on and what my clients and I are doing together.
For example:
I've
worked with a number of professors in my coaching practice. The issues
that are of concern to those clients are highly individualized. What
they all have in common is the professional environment in which they
operate.
The dedication to intellectual pursuit that academia
demands is saturated with anxiety - sometime specifically related to an
event or goal and sometimes free-floating worry.
Of course,
seeking tenure is particularly stressful. For those pursuing an
academic career, performing at the top of one's game has been a way of
life. So has being judged.
Ultimately tenure is about being accepted and recognized, being seen and heard by the academic community.
What
seems to be stirred up by this process is a great deal of angst based
in family history. My clients seem to ask, "When I get tenure:
- Will that be enough to win my parents' unconditional love?
- Will I finally have proven myself worthy?
The
successful tenure process often is followed by post-tenure depression.
Disappointment is inextricably linked with the final step in a long
long path. My clients have said, "I've gotten what I've wanted - is
this all there is?"
Together my clients and I examine how
expectations were expressed in their families, whether they always were
expected to have done better and what they wanted and didn't get.
Tenure
is a statement to the world about the community's acceptance - a
welcome into the inner sanctum of learning. What seems to be
problematic is the degree to which the outer achieving self does not
reflect the inner sense of one's self. "Even now they haven't found me
out!"
The coaching process is ideal for exploring these issues. It is strength-based, non-pathologizing
Building
on what we've learned, my clients are better able to move forward with
satisfaction about a job well-done, and hope for new opportunities and
challenges.
In the Media
I was featured JStyle, a magazine produced by the Cleveland Jewish News.
The article begins by describing a coaching client and the work we have done together. He started out as a life coaching client but soon begain working with me on other issues and problems.
He says, "Working with Barbara helped me find answers and be more honest with myself. She gave me the opportunity to talk, and she listened. She would call me on anything she felt I wasn't being honest about with myself. "
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