How to Coach Yourself and Others Essential Knowledge For Coaching | Page 414

organizations. As mentioned above, how one chooses to live a more
authentic life depends on their perspective. A person might choose to
appreciate more their own current approach to life, or meditate on a
regular basis, or journal (write down) their thoughts, or engage in
regular retreats, or sign up for a more complete program, etc.

Major Benefits of Authenticity
Peter Block, in his book Flawless Consulting, asserts that authenticity is
one of the critical aspects of successful consulting (along with
successfully carrying out the phases of consulting). There are several
reasons for the importance of authenticity.
1. Encourages coachees to be open, honest and direct in the here-andnow.
The collaborative consultant wants the coachee to be as open and honest
as possible. The consultant can encourage open and honest behavior in
others by modeling that behavior themselves. This helps the consultant
to fully understand the coachee and provide useful feedback that the
coachee will hear, as well.
Authenticity from your coachee also provides extremely valuable
feedback to you. Frequently, you do not have sufficient opportunity to
continually learn about yourself, particularly in settings with your
coachees. Coachees who choose to be authentic around you are offering
you a precious gift that can be used by you to cultivate a collaborative
consulting relationship with them and others.
2. Builds coachee’s trust and confidence in your relationship.
You can build a strong relationship with your coachee by showing them
that you trust them enough to be able to handle the truth. In turn, they
will do the same thing for you. Trust and confidence are critical
ingredients for a successful working relationship between you and your
coachee.
3. Deals with issues before the issues fester.
When people express themselves honestly in the here-and-now, they are
much more likely to report issues as soon as they notice them. This
1287