The Truth-Teller Advantage: What Real Support Looks Like

At the end of every coaching session, I ask my clients what was most valuable.

After my first session with this client, she shared something that stayed with me.

“You gave me a different perspective,” she said. “Everyone else supported me, and they were asking, ‘How dare she do that with you?’”

She felt supported by others, which is fine, and it did not mean I was not supporting her. I was - probably in a way she had never felt before.

Here is what happened.

She came to address a conflict with a colleague. The situation had escalated, and it was clear they were no longer able to work together.

She had a point. She defended it strongly. She was right, and she was miserable.

In our session, we explored the other side. We asked, what might be behind the colleague’s reaction?

We made progress, but it was not enough. When I asked if this person had good relationships with other team members, she named one immediately.

When I asked what was different, she said, “She feels understood by him.”

She paused. Her face softened, her posture changed.

That was the insight. Her colleague only wanted to feel understood. From her, the colleague felt attacked.

Deeper still, they shared the same core intention: to do quality work. The same intention, different ways of communicating, changed everything.

Communication is an art.

When you step back and take a bird’s-eye view, awareness expands and resistance reduces.

This shifted the frame. It stopped being only about defending quality, and became about how she could influence from a higher place, so her message landed, and the colleague felt seen.

Friends and family who agreed with her were comfortable allies, but they also kept her in place. What she needed was not affirmation. She needed truth and a path forward.

Everything has a time and a place. Sometimes you want an ally. Sometimes you want to grow and move forward. Often, you are just one choice away from progress.

Keep choosing.

P.S. If you are ready and willing to grow, DM me and we’ll explore the possibilities and how we could work together.