Loss is universal, inevitable, life-changing, and transformational. There is an urgent
need, particularly now, to respond to personal and collective grief. A silent and
overwhelming sorrow follows loss that is largely ignored rather than integrated. How can coaches be ready to authentically and meaningfully witness grief to support the process of healing and transformation? Let’s explore how coaches can mirror and participate in a reciprocal, life-affirming exchange.
When someone shares their story of grief, we see ourselves reflected on their face
and in their voice. Suddenly, we're confronted with mortality, ours, and our loved
ones. We may be tempted to back away or offer a platitude and return to the illusion of ordinary life and complacent coaching. But what would it mean to look beyond the tragic story and be with the griever, and what does it take to do so?
The ICF competencies help us employ our exchange as a transformational tool for
the griever, and the Enneagram helps us embody this exchange as transformational for ourselves.
ICF Competency 2 reads: Embodying a coaching mindset — a mindset that is open, curious, flexible, and client-centered — is a process that requires ongoing learning and development, establishing a reflective practice, and preparing for sessions. These elements occur throughout a coach’s professional journey and cannot be fully captured in a single moment in time.
How does Competency 2 imbue our coaching presence and what we offer the
bereaved? And how does the Enneagram inform us? Together, they:
1. Engage us in self-reflection and personal responsibility.
2. Reveal inquiries for inner witnessing and transformation for both.
3. Clarify how to set aside our agenda to serve our clients.
4. Illuminate the WHO behind their story.
Vital to coaching, developing our Inner Witness helps us become aware of our
emotional attachments and mental aversions to respond from Presence consciously.
Our Inner Witness reminds us that we are not in the driver's seat of Transformation.
We employ the Inner Witness without an agenda, just as we coach without an
agenda—this is the journey to accurately knowing ourselves so we can fully be with
another. Coaching is not something we do to another person or something to take credit for. Coaching is not a reactionary dialogue. Nor is it bound to a fixed format. Coaching is a humble mindset balanced amid grounded presence, attunement, and mental clarity, inducing transformation through conversation.
Learning Objectives
● Integrate Competency 2: Embodies a Coaching Mindset.
● Distinguish the Who from the tragedy.
● Experience what it means to inner witness.
● Identify personal triggers and biases.
● Create a self-inquiry to remain Present.
Participants will earn .75 Core Competency and .75 Resource Development CCEs for attending this in person program.
Networking will begin at 6 pm with the program by Holly Margl starting at 6:30 pm.
About our speaker:
Holly Margl is the award-winning author of "Witnessing Grief; Inviting Trauma and
Loss to Our Coaching Conversations, An Enneagram Perspective." Holly also holds
the prestigious titles of ICF Master Certified Coach and Advanced Certified Mentor
Coach and three Professional Enneagram Certifications and Accreditation from the
International Enneagram Association.