#196 What If Your Doubts Are Trying to Help You?

‍Most coaches are familiar with self-doubt.

Am I doing this right? Am I asking the right questions? Am I living up to what I was taught? Am I good enough?

In a fascinating conversation on The Coaching Supervision Casebook Podcast, coaching supervisor Steve Benson challenges the assumption that doubt is always something to eliminate. Instead, he invites us to consider a different possibility: what if some doubts are actually useful?

The conversation centres on a coach who arrived in supervision carrying uncertainty about their practice. Like many coaches, they worried about being judged, measured against expectations and somehow falling short. Beneath the surface, questions about models and techniques masked deeper questions about identity, confidence and authenticity.

What emerged was a powerful exploration of the role doubt plays in professional development.

Rather than asking how to get rid of doubt, Steve encourages a different line of inquiry. Which doubts are holding us back? Which doubts are prompting valuable reflection? Which doubts help us grow, and which simply drain our confidence?

For experienced coaches especially, doubt can accumulate over time. Expectations from managers, tutors, training programmes, organisations, professional bodies and even our own inner critics can create layers of noise that obscure who we really are as practitioners.

So what happens when we pause and examine those doubts more carefully?

Could some of them contain important information?

Might they point towards areas for development, deeper self-awareness, or greater alignment with our values?

How do we distinguish between doubts that support our growth and doubts that merely undermine us?

And what might become possible if we learned to work with doubt differently rather than fighting against it?

Steve's reflections offer a thought-provoking perspective on supervision, coaching maturity and professional identity. But the most interesting part is how he helps coaches make this shift in practice.

To discover more, listen to the full interview with Steve Benson on the podcast and explore how a fresh perspective on doubt could transform your development as a coach. The Coaching Supervision Casebook Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and at RSS.com.