When a coach works with clients who often possess such a predominantly negative spin on life (as described above), there are ample opportunities for recognizing distinctive strengths and competencies as well as uncovering obscure strengths and competencies. By creating a sanctuary through the coaching sessions, dentists are given a safe time and place to explore, experiment and ultimately learn. (Adams, 1989)

Dr. Jane, a suburban dentist operating outside a moderate size Midwestern city, has owned her own practice for 15 years. Her monthly revenues are above average and she enjoys the stability of long term employees. By all accounts, she would be considered comfortably successful. However, in the past 3 years, more dentists have opened up practices in her area, decreasing her number of new patients.  Dr. Jane knows she needs to market herself more in her community. So, in spite of her terror of public speaking, she accepted a keynote speaker role at the local chapter of Rotary Club, an international service organization. During several hours of face-to-face performance coaching sessions, we reviewed the content materials Dr. Jane had researched for her speech.

These early drafts focused too much on dentistry and sounded like an “info-mercial” for her dental practice. Through interviewing techniques I used with her, she realized she could broaden her topics to include general health themes – once we discovered new areas of expertise she had about smoking cessation and pharmacology. By focusing on her strengths outside of dentistry, she was able to feel confident about addressing this audience of average citizens. We worked on honing her presentation, getting the timing right and interspersing appropriate humor in the right spots.