The Gremlin Effect
During the course of the coaching relationship, clients will experience ups and downs, plateaus, periods of great insight, everything happening at lightning speed, followed by a trough of the wave, drifting in the doldrums.
In particular, for most clients, there’s a slump between weeks three and eight. It happens because change is not happening fast enough, or the initial euphoria of commitment has worn off. The client realizes that talking about action is one thing and actually taking action is quite another.
One of the reasons coaching relationships typically have a minimum time agreement of three months is to help clients get past this initial slump.
The slump can also be a sabotaging work of the client’s Gremlin – that inner voice that abhors change and demands the status quo. It’s the voice that says, “This is stupid, or too risky, or you’re not ready, or you’re not equipped, or……..” Well, you probably know that voice yourself.