Yannick’s Coaching Lab features guest coaches from a broad variety of approaches, who showcase how they work as part of a live 45min coaching session, followed by reflections and Q&A with the audience.
Curious to know what this session was like? Have a peek at the Lab Report below or consider VIP membership to access the full recording of this and many more exciting sessions.
Yannick’s Coaching Lab #60 — Yannick Jacob
Lab Report by Natalie Fraser
Pre-Session Summary
Yannick’s client qualified as a coach last year after six years of training. Initially she had anticipated working as a coach, yet her plans changed when she chose to take her child out of school. Using existential themes which emerged as guidelines, the session reflected on how the client’s ambitions and drive has changed over time, and how this related to her past and present sense of purpose. Following this expansive phenomenological exploration, shortly before the session closed the client experienced a sudden new sense of purpose arising which she wrote down and shared happily.
Session Summary
Being vs Doing Yannick identified the themes of being and doing, inviting an exploration of whether there is unfulfilled meaning in the being parts of her life, or whether there are elements of doing that are being avoided. This revealed past dynamics of feeling pressured to ‘do’ and taking rebellion in the ‘being’.
What questions are you asking yourself right now? Yannick noticed his client reflecting, and invited her to share. She explained that she wrote down “why is being so important?” expressing she’d like to think about it later, which Yannick did not push her to explore.
Purpose Exploring this theme revealed the client’s comfortability in having purpose in ‘being’, yet questioning whether she was fulfilling purpose in ‘doing’ which deeper exploration led to purpose in where she was doing what she’s doing related to her current lifestyle.
Exploring contributions and purpose revealed: “I’d like to save the world, but I’m a little bit older and wiser now” “Youthful naivety” had been replaced with some cynicism about this life purpose. Passion in purpose was revealed to shift towards practical priorities.
“There’s always questions, would you like another one?” Throughout the session, Yannick held silence for his client to reflect on what came up for her until she signaled that she may wish for him to move the session in a direction.
5-10 minutes, months, years Inviting his client to choose the timeframe, Yannick invited her to consider what she would like to see in terms of purpose.
Yannick picked up on his client’s “go with the flow” attitude, inviting an exploration of this in contrast to planning. Organically developing paths versus laser driven goal seeking was explored in relation to his client’s life using the current session as a mirror to this. Metaphors of treading water, drifting, and swimming arose to illuminate this.
Felt purpose Reflecting on different roles (such as fundraising, being a PA, and childcare) revealed the differing experience of feeling purpose. Having direct contact with the people she is serving was revealed to be especially important.
With the end of the session in sight, what are you taking from this? “I’ve just written down my purpose. My purpose is to pamper me! I like that”
How would you like to close this today? Yannick reflected that this was not really the close, as it had just opened something new for his client.
Key Insights
Rapport and the relaxing energy was considered an important aspect of this session. Yannick considers that matching the client’s pace and flow rather than pushing a certain style is important to his client work.
The client’s favorite part of the session was revealed to be a moment which the coach felt didn’t resonate.
Yannick reflected that in this setting, at the start of the session he noticed his mind wandering and having to actively pull himself back. Soon, he was able to really be present with his client.
Yannick recognized their shared “go with the flow” energy, noticing a nagging inner voice which suggests that plans are important, yet did not allow this to reorient his approach to the session. Sitting with uncertainty and not being attached to arriving at a specific outcome was an important element of Yannick’s existential-phenomenological approach.
Shared experiences, such as parenting young children, was a dynamic influencing the session. This included the pre-session call, where both had their children with them, which Yannick reflected altered the more traditional coach-client boundaries and was more intimate and revealing than he may normally be with clients.
Yannick’s non-traditional ‘contracting’ provided an alternative beginning to the session. This was discussed in relation to rapport building – Yannick wanting to create rapport and get to know his client, whilst his client felt she already knew him (having admired his work prior to their session).
Attendees picked up on the session giving space for silence being a valuable intervention, with traditional modalities being more directive and filling silence.
At the core of Yannick’s approach is giving client’s agency, working what the questions the clients are asking themselves which he believes are often the “better questions”. A role of the coach is to be a fellow-traveler, collecting themes. Yannick remembered training teaching him to ask clients, “what question would you like me to ask you?” which is a prompt for this client-directed reflective journey.
Over his career, Yannick has recognized the value of inviting clients to go into their body which did not originally come naturally to his more cognitively driven modus operandi.
Yannick reflected that existential coaching may involve exploring existential themes more directly through explicit philosophical explorations, as well as more subtly.