When waiting becomes the work

The podcast conversation I had with Claire Pedrick about coaching and Advent went live this week. Clare and I explored how coaching often mirrors the Christian season of Advent – not through candles or countdowns, but through its quiet discipline of “being with”  while something new is forming.

Advent begins not with certainty but with attentiveness. In the podcast, Clare describes coaching as “the being with and the bearing witness,” a line that keeps returning to me. Leaders often feel pressure to offer answers or direction. Yet the most transformative conversations rarely start with expertise; they start with presence. With noticing. With the willingness to hold back from “poking the fire” in the hope of speeding things along.

In the podcast we reflected on how Advent offers a different posture: holy anticipation, patient accompaniment and the trust that insight will emerge in its own time. Good coaching is the same. It doesn’t manufacture change; it creates the conditions for it.

So, as Advent starts this Sunday, and the countdown to Christmas heats up, perhaps the invitation is simple: slow down enough to witness what’s already unfolding, in yourself and in those you lead.

You can listen to the episode here: https://lnkd.in/eAy5yYu4 

or watch here: https://lnkd.in/e5i6yT3J

If you’d value a conversation shaped more by presence than prescription, let’s make space for that as well.