In my Hogan coaching sessions, I have discovered that I have a strong inner critic and a weak outward critic. I am only beginning to understand what that means for me as a coach.
For this post I am going to focus on the inner critic:
In the pro column, I know what it's like to cope with a strong inner critic and to work towards making peace with it. That allows me to understand and relate to clients or coachees who also have a strong inner critic.
On the flip side, it can cause me to want to see results too soon, to doubt my performance and the client's progress, and to miss opportunities for celebrating progress.
One way to cope with this is to develop a framework for how I will structure engagements with clients and set up their goals and performance metrics to keep the inner critic at bay.
Additionally, I learned that one could even work towards making peace with the inner critic and it starts by asking "is this my inner critic or realistic positive critical thinking?"
Upon listening to this HBR Idea podcast with Tara Mohr, I developed the following cheat sheet of her recommendations for managing the inner voice:
Could this also be a good way to deal with outer critics too?
Love the reflection and self awareness you have. I have struggled with my inner critic too. Something that has helped me is to do a quick journal entry every time the inner critic comes up! I ask myself these questions: what am i doing right now (working/school work/coaching/parenting), how is this making me feel in my body (my stomach is in knots/my head hurts), what is triggering this (a meeting/an assignment/an interaction), how can i silence my inner critics voice, has someone told me I'm not doing well or is this me (is this from direct feedback or am i telling myself this)? When you start to look across entries you'll see themes and then have a better awareness of…