In a post Casey shared lately, she was highlighting how everyone is an individual with his challenges and solutions and contrasted it with DIY ideals of being able to follow a few simple steps to solve such problems.

In a way, everyone wants both. They want to be able to do as they like, that is have the understanding that as they are so different that an individual solution is needed. At the same time, they want to run ahead and simply get things done by following a blueprint or some other easy-to-follow method.

As Casey describes it, there is nothing that compares with making the experience oneself. Sensing an emotion, knowing what it is to lead, grasping what it means to have followers, or sensing how psychological safety is working out in the team, are all ideas people may try to conceptualize. But in reality, that doesn’t work. The understanding and knowing have to emerge from the experience.

And most often, that is what the few simple steps or the blueprint are for. They describe a framework within which an experience can develop itself. That is, until understanding sets in.

Much of the work as a coach consists in being there with the client and helping them grasp what is happening while they progress and how to move forward to develop the experience. And often, this can be frightening as it doesn’t happen fast enough or as it invites one to move through the doors one would prefer to avoid.

When the challenge is to deal with the slowness of the process, the risk of jumping ahead may bring the risk of lack of commitment as the project isn’t understood well enough. It’s leaping without knowing how far that leap will be nor what energy or resources it needs to leap far enough.

When the challenge is to stand in front of the door one would like to avoid, then a crucial question is how much willingness and ability there is to face one’s fears. It shows the risk there is to move away from the places that don’t feel as comfortable as one would like them to be, especially when the blueprint makes it look so easy.

There are no simple answers, and both can work, the exclusively individual approach as well as the blueprint. To get a sense of progress, and to gain a better understanding of the process it helps to combine both. That is, to know the simple steps and to help the individual see how they are relevant to themselves.