Emotional Engagement and Self-awareness in Effectiveness Coaching
Emotional engagement and self-awareness are fundamental to effectiveness coaching because they allow coaches to stay present and objective while helping clients develop emotional intelligence. Coaches understand their own emotional triggers and reactions, preventing personal feelings from interfering with the coaching session and creating a safe space for the client. This allows the coach to better connect with the client through empathy, leading to deeper insights and more effective support for the client's goals.
Self-awareness is the ability to recognize oneself as an independent entity, independent of the environment and others. It involves recognizing one's strengths and weaknesses, emotions, needs for change, and current experiences. People ask themselves and seek answers to the question, "Who am I?" and are also interested in how others perceive them. Representative methods for obtaining information about one's own perception of oneself and how others perceive oneself are the Leadership 360 Assessment and the 360 Interview.
When people receive feedback, they pay attention to it and recognize its meaning. Deeper self-wareness allows them to recognize not only themselves but also the impact their emotions have on others and those around them. Furthermore, deeper self-awareness allows them to view themselves objectively, enabling them to accurately identify the starting point for change.
Emotions are a key component of self-awareness. When people recognize that they can choose the emotions they feel and are the agents of those choices, emotions become a component of self-awareness. In social relationships, representative emotions include sympathy, empathy, and compassion. If empathy is the expression of shared feelings through words and gestures, compassion is the expression of those feelings through helpful actions. The emotional dimension of compassion is subjective. While compassion encompasses positive feelings of pity and compassion, it also, in rare cases, encompasses feelings of foolishness. It's a moral judgment, saying, "That person deserves to be the way they are." It's believing that the other person has a reason and a cause for sympathy. These four emotions differ in the level of engagement with them.
As we move from sympathy to empathy, empathy, and compassion, the level of emotional engagement with others increases. As engagement increases, self-awareness expands from self-centeredness to other-centeredness, and from a self-centered perspective to an altruistic one. Self-awareness and self-confidence play a crucial role in determining the success of the change. Self-confidence is a psychological state that demonstrates confidence in one's own existence. Self-confidence is the power that enables consistency and continuity in one's thoughts and actions. Therefore, coaches foster a coaching conversation environment characterized by high confidentiality and security, thereby helping coachees develop deeper self-awareness and self-confidence.
References
Lee, Sukjae (2014). Effectiveness Coaching by a Business Psychologist. Seoul: Kim & Kim Books.
Lee, Sukjae (2024). Coaching Psychology Class for Boosting Execution. Seoul: Hakjisa.
Lee, Sukjae (2024). Thinking Partner. Gyeonggi: Moa Books.
Lee, Sukjae & Lee, Jongseo (2025). Perspective Shift. Seoul: Parkyoungstory.
효과성 코칭(Effectiveness Coaching)을 전개할 때 다음의 내용을 참고하면 도움될 것입니다.
1. The role of the coach
- Presence and objectivity: Self-awareness enables a coach to remain fully present and attentive, ensuring their own emotions, biases, and judgments do not overshadow the client's needs.
- Emotional regulation: Coaches who understand their own emotional triggers can manage their reactions, stay composed under pressure, and respond thoughtfully instead of impulsively, fostering a calm environment for the client.
- Building trust: Emotional self-awareness and empathy are crucial for building a strong, trusting relationship, which is the foundation for meaningful and challenging coaching conversations.
- Modeling self-awareness: By openly and effectively managing their own emotions, coaches can serve as a model for clients, who are simultaneously developing their own emotional intelligence.
2. The role of the client
- Identifying triggers: Self-awareness helps clients recognize their own emotional triggers—situations that lead to strong feelings—allowing them to manage their reactions more constructively.
- Increased empathy: Developing emotional self-awareness is the first step to developing empathy, helping clients better understand how their words and actions impact others.
- Improved performance: A client's ability to notice and manage their emotions directly shapes their performance, engagement, and ability to achieve goals.
- Greater self-acceptance: Coaching helps clients gain a deeper understanding of their strengths and limitations, which increases their self-worth and confidence.
3. How coaches develop these skills
- Mindfulness and reflection: Techniques like mindfulness, meditation, and regular journaling can help both coaches and clients become more aware of their emotional states in real-time.
- Real-time feedback: During a session, a coach can provide gentle, real-time feedback to help a client notice and understand their own emotional responses.
- Using assessments: Effectiveness Tools (ELA, TEA, OEA) and self-awareness assessments can provide objective data to create a foundation for open and honest conversations, tailored to the individual's unique traits.
- Focusing on physical manifestations: Recognizing the physical signals of emotions, such as a racing heart or muscle tension, is a key part of developing self-awareness
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-Sukjae Lee
