Project Empowerment – A Unique Purpose-Coaching-Journey

A Coaching Model By Paola Gallucco, Transformational Coach, UNITED KINGDOM

Project Empowerment Contribution

This project is my contribution to all the individuals who feel doomed, and stuck in a life they feel does not resemble what they were wishing for.

It reflects my personal experience in a corporate environment when I was feeling like a victim of circumstances and powerless. However, thanks to the coaching experience, I managed to change my perspective and understand that what I was living was the consequence of my own choices. This helped me feel empowered and allowed me to build a life that is closer to my core values.

The model offers a journey through our limiting beliefs, our values, our strengths and weaknesses, our non-negotiables, and our desires, and will flow in the joy of uncovering our true purpose – in or out of work –leading to the ocean of our empowerment, as we will look at our life from a different perspective.

It’s a coaching model that was initially aimed to talk mainly to corporate people – aged between 50 and 55, when individuals start looking back on their lives and ask themselves what is left of their young self, and if they wish to continue living that way.

The model is worded keeping in mind the corporate “to-do attitude” (hence the choice of the word “empowerment”) – but it actually works perfectly for people in any other work environment and at any age. The common element is the feelings of being stuck and unhappy and living a life where we are not heroes – in and out of work.

Project Empowerment – Unique Purpose

Step 1: Client Acknowledges the Feeling of Being Powerless

It starts with the individual wanting to address this status and wanting to regain the feeling of being master of his/her own life- this begins a journey in search of his/her purpose.

I like thinking of it as a journey on the river Thames: in fact, the river Thames doesn’t originate from a mountain, it actually starts from spring water – something that bubbles from the inner part of the earth and then begins to find its way out.

Likewise, the individual feels bubbling inside some discontent, an inner feeling of being powerless, and is ingrained in the limited belief that life must go this way and there is no way out. This goes on until he/she understands that needs the coaching support to channel those negative feelings into something else.

Step 2: Coach Partnerships With the Client to Set the Objective of the Coaching Journey

The coach intervention aims to sustain the client by giving voice to what is bubbling up – what to address; sets the basis for the sessions to come, clarifying that the direction will be determined by the client as this is his/her journey of self-discovery.

And so, the journey begins…

Like the shape of the river Thames, the journey is not seamless – there will be bends and turns, and the traveler/client will experience the discovery of unexpected beauties on the road.

Step 3: The Coach Helps the Client Exploring Their Strengths and Core Values

In the river metaphor, the breathtaking landmarks like Big Ben and Westminster, the Shard, and the Tower of London, will represent our beliefs, our values, our convictions, our desires, our aspirations, our frustrations, and our ambitions.

The delicate task that the coach performs in every session is to relentlessly support the client in exploring deeply what is there: who he/she is, what matters to him/her and how precious this is. More importantly, what are the values, that have dictated their choices so far?

Each bend of the river will remind us of our achievements, the people we met, and the choices we made – that all contributed to making us who we are now: a unique work of art.

Step 4: The Coach Helps the Client Become Aware of the Reasons Behind His/Her Choices

The awareness of what led us to where we are now is the most important part: behind each choice, there is a reason, and once we get that reason, we know that we are back in charge of our lives. In fact, we can decide if the reason why that choice was made is still valid and what we want to do with it now.

Step 5: The Empowerment

The awareness that we did act having a choice, gives us the freedom to do something to change the present – should those reasons prove not to be valid for us anymore: this is where the client experiences empowerment.

At that point, we have the view from the top, and we can see more clearly where we stand and where we want to move next.

At that point, we are fully aware of who we are and what we want – or do not want anymore – and we are finally realigned to our inner souls.

The alignment has the capacity to empower us, and we are ready for the last part of the journey: when the river will reach its estuary when we can finally see what our purpose is- and we are ready to sail the ocean of our life.

Now, on that boat, side by side with the client has been all along the subtle presence of the coach: holding hands, asking the right questions to allow the client to see his/her inner beauties… breath in the fresh air of those discoveries… allow sinking in the joy of every progress towards the awareness that there are choices all the time; the awareness that what led us where we were, served a purpose – our purpose, which is unique to us. And the coaching journey slowly empowers us to find our purpose once we – at last – align with our values.