Perspectives in Coaching
Coaches do a lot of work with perspectives. In the coaching world, a perspective is defined as a point of view or belief about something. When we are stuck, confused, or feeling strong resistance to something going on in our lives, we are often immersed in a fixed perspective about that thing. This limits our vision, thought, emotions, actions, and possibilities around creating change and moving forward. What we forget when this is happening is that the perspective we are stuck in is just one of many possible perspectives. The current perspective is not the TRUTH. It is just one possible way of looking at the issue.
We are always free and empowered to find, use, or create more effective perspectives that expand the possibilities for moving forward.
One useful metaphor for perspectives is to think of each perspective as a particular pair of colored sunglasses. You can have many different colors and depending on which one you choose to put on, you will see the world differently.
Another thing we do in coaching is to help our clients separate the topic from the current “limiting” perspective. When we are stuck about something, it is often because we have collapsed the topic and the limiting perspective into a messy cookie batter. If we are able to separate out the “neutral” topic from our current perspective about that topic, it is much easier to see that we can choose to put on a different pair of perspective glasses to view it from.
Example:
I need to quit my job because I hate my boss. This could be separated out into the neutral topic of “my job” and the current limiting perspective, “I need to quit because I hate my boss.” This allows for the possibility of finding some different, more empowering perspectives to view the situation through and to generate possibilities for taking positive action.
Some different (more empowering perspectives) might be…
I am skilled at listening and developing good relationships with others
I am a great problem solver
There are other departments in the company that I could move to
Viewing the neutral topic of “my job” through these different perspectives will help you brainstorm/generate more effective actions to pursue. Using different perspectives enables you to expand the possibility for effective action and gets you out of that stuck place.