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The Power of Impact
“You want to become a coach? Björn, the uncoachable?! I still remember when you came back from leadership training, furiously complaining about your coach and saying he should be fired.”
“That’s how Urs, my former boss, reacted when I told him I’d gone back to university to get a Master’s in Change Leadership. I wanted to deepen my understanding of leadership, and organizational and individual transformation. I was 42 at the time and had left my corporate career three years earlier,” Björn recalls with a smile.
Academic insights weren’t enough
“It was true. At 29, the company sent me to a renowned business school to learn more about senior leadership and how to make an impact on teams and stakeholders. Urs, who was my boss back then, still teases me about it. Just last Friday, over dinner, he brought it up again when I told him I was featured in Forbes’ coaching special. We laughed so hard remembering how furious I’d been.”
“The reason for my anger is a long story, but it boils down to the coach assigned to our small group for the week. Not only was he rude and patronizing, but he also singled me out as the “rebel” when I questioned why we were clapping along to a toddler’s song. It got even worse when he started insulting two of my team members during a vulnerable moment. I stood up for them, telling him that his behavior was unacceptable.”
“Long story short: I complained but still had to face him one last time. It was awful. He told me I needed therapy - 'Freudian, as a matter of fact', he said - and then kicked me out of the room. When I returned to the office, Urs asked the question that in hindsight planted a seed, 'How did the coaching go?'”
Learning to step back, listen and observe
“Fast forward to 2020, when I finished my Master’s. The program was a great opportunity to reflect on my career, the organizations I worked in, and the teams I had led or been part of. I learned from both my successes and mistakes. I was excited to apply all my new knowledge and past experience, but then the pandemic hit, making it hard to find clients or build a network over Zoom.”
“As I worked with the few clients I had, I realized that my professional experience and academic insights weren’t enough to sustain meaningful coaching conversations. I was still too much of an advisor or consultant, and I lacked the confidence and tools to help clients find their own solutions.”
“That’s when Remi, a friend from London who had been in my Master’s cohort, suggested Erickson Coaching International. He told me it would be the perfect addition to what we had already learned - teaching me to listen more deeply, ask better questions, and equip me with coaching tools to help both myself and my clients.”
Defining a unique coaching approach
“A few months later, I began my Erickson Coaching journey. During the 11 months I spent in the program, I learned to step back, listen, and observe. I learned how to structure a coaching session with a clear beginning and end. The tools gave me the confidence to sustain a coaching program without losing client engagement or boring us both.”
“Of course, I hadn’t lost my rebellious streak. I still challenged the instructors and questioned the ICF’s (International Coaching Federation) perspectives. I also wanted to understand better how I could develop a style and delivery which was the opposite of my experience in my late 20s. The Erickson education helped me define my own approach to coaching. My style is now a blend of advisory, coaching, mentoring, and consulting, with the client’s progress always at the center. My approach is solution-focused, professional, and rooted in partnership and full presence. Most importantly, my coaching space is a safe space for both of the client and me, where there is no space for being rude, patronizing, condescending or unsolicited and unqualified medical diagnoses.”
“I often think back to that terrible coach in the leadership training nearly two decades ago. Am I uncoachable? I don’t think so. But one thing was clear from the start of becoming a professional coach: I wanted to become a professional coach who gets the best out of his clients and subsequently also for the people that work with my clients. Erickson Coaching International played a significant role in shaping the coach I am today. The seed was planted much before that.”
Björn Schigt is an experienced professional coach in leadership development with an ICF PCC/Level 2 accreditation from Erickson Coaching International. Visit his leadership development website: https://STRATZR.com. He is Erickson's Global Partner in Switzerland and Germany. Visit his website: https://stewardbright.com/.
