Letting go

Saying goodbye is a very peculiar thing.

There is always both pain and a new beginning. In my work, I move from project to project, from team to team, from client to client, from country to country. Always letting go. Saying goodbye. Also sadness, followed by a sense of missing.

But then also looking forward to something new: a new place, different people, new challenges.

Right now I’m in one of those phases again.

And reflecting.

About everything that has happened, the small and big experiences. The wonderful people I’ve met who have enriched my life so much. The changes we have gone through together, but also each individual, including myself.

About everything I have learnt.

The theme that came up again and again in the last project was courage.

Courage to try something new. Courage to get involved in something. Courage to allow closeness. Courage to allow vulnerability. Courage to admit mistakes. Especially my own.

The second big topic was trust. Again, on so many different levels. Trust in our own abilities. Trust in the transformation process. Trust in the team. Trust in concepts. Trust in the abilities of others. Trust in what others bring to the table – team members or clients (in this case learners and their parents).

Courage and trust are always the key ingredients in any transformation. The basis.

And where these are weak, everything else fails.

As a coach, my main task is to create an environment where both can meet and positively fertilise each other. But time and again, I observe that both also have another dimension in the transformation process, a dynamic of their own, if you like.

It is always exciting to see how these two components are often torpedoed the most by those in the organisation who feel pushed out of their comfort zone the most, just when the transformation is picking up speed.

It is always those who have difficulty letting go, allowing things to happen and being open to the process because it triggers fears in them, which then lead to confrontation at the level of trust and courage. They are therefore the first to try to weaken and question trust and, at the same time, often question the success of new approaches loudly or from behind the chest, which can change entire dynamics in a team.

Courage and trust.

And then I think again how wonderful it is when you are so sure of yourself that you have the openness, confidence and strength to embrace transformation.

Self-leadership. Lived.