Can Coaching Help You Discover Your Superpower?

by Ircel Harrison

“I use coaching almost every day in my role as Senior Pastor at large church. It helps me in my goal to equip and empower staff and church leaders in their work. I’ve learned how to ask the right questions instead of thinking I had to have all the right answers!” --Rev. Dr. Cathy Jamieson, Senior Pastor, Grace UMC, N. Augusta, South Carolina

“Coach training has equipped me for ministry to individuals and teams by providing me with a competency-based framework for leading clients in a process of discovery toward their ideal self as a team member, leader or partner.” --Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Nance-Coker, Coordinator, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of South Carolina

Are you a fan of super-hero movies? I am. Recently I took two teen-agers—a grandson and a great-grandson--to see Captain America: Brave New World. There is a point in the film when Sam Wilson, the new Captain America, confides to Bucky Barnes, “I wish that I had taken the [super soldier] serum.” Bucky reminds Sam that the most important thing he brings to being Cap is who he is. In other words, he uses what he has to the maximum advantage.

In reading these comments from Cathy and Elizabeth, I think they are using their coaching skills to help others unleash their “superpowers.” Each of us has something unique to offer in our context—church, vocation, family, community—but we may need someone to help us discover that power.

When my friends use the words “equip,” “empower,” and “discovery,” they recognize that coaching can help another person to discover abilities, skills, and talents that they have not acknowledged or exercised before. The potential is there; it only has to be unlocked.

We don’t need a “super soldier” serum; we need more coaches.