For example:
I've worked with a number of professors in my coaching practice. The issues that are of concern to those clients are highly individualized. What they all have in common is the professional environment in which they operate.
The dedication to intellectual pursuit that academia demands is saturated with anxiety - sometime specifically related to an event or goal and sometimes free-floating worry.
Of course, seeking tenure is particularly stressful. For those pursuing an academic career, performing at the top of one's game has been a way of life. So has being judged.
To learn more about me and my practice, go to www.FuturesCoach.net.
Ultimately tenure is about being accepted and recognized, being seen and heard by the academic community.
What seems to be stirred up by this process is a great deal of angst based in family history. My clients seem to ask, "When I get tenure:
- Will that be enough to win my parents' unconditional love?
- Will I finally have proven myself worthy?
Together my clients and I examine how expectations were expressed in their families, whether they always were expected to have done better and what they wanted and didn't get.
Tenure is a statement to the world about the community's acceptance - a welcome into the inner sanctum of learning. What seems to be problematic is the degree to which the outer achieving self does not reflect the inner sense of one's self. "Even now they haven't found me out!"
The coaching process is ideal for exploring these issues. It is strength-based, non-pathologizing
Building on what we've learned, my clients are better able to move forward with satisfaction about a job well-done, and hope for new opportunities and challenges.
and highly collaborative. The partnership I have with my clients is a safe place to explore the connection between family and professional life.
To learn more about me and my approach to coaching, go to www.FuturesCoach.net.
