In a recent coaching supervision session (a quality control process in which I help a coach review their client work and coaching effectiveness), the question came up about whose agenda to follow in a coaching session. The immediate answer is of course that it is the client's agenda that we should follow. But it's often not quite as simple as this.

When we ask a client what they would like to get out of the coaching, or out of a particular session, we discover what the client's explicit agenda is. But there is also a larger context within which the coaching happens. This larger context concerns the journey our clients are making through their lives to the fullness of who they can be. But the nature of this journey is often elusive and unfolds only gradually.

A key role we can play for our clients is to notice these signs of unfolding and help them come into being. We act as a mirror, reflecting back to the client what is emerging so that they can see more clearly and then cooperate with what is happening rather than work against it. Thus, in working with clients, our goal is to help them achieve their explicit agenda whilst at the same time to support them in bringing into being those things that are seeking expression in their lives. In terms of Psychosynthesis these can be thought of as emerging from our unconscious - either the lower unconscious when patterns that no longer serve them are ready to be resolved and transcended or the higher unconscious when some aspect of their potential and future is ready to be embraced.

So as coaches we focus on two things: the topic that the client is directly presenting to us and the journey through life that the client is travelling. This "bifocal vision" enables us to serve both who the client is and who they are becoming. If we can manage this effectively then we enable our clients to achieve their immediate coaching goals - and to do so in a way that is aligned with their larger purpose.