Mastery in the Messy Middle: Staying in MCC Presence

Even masterful coaches get hooked — staying in MCC presence means noticing the pull and choosing to trust the process.

I remember a session where I took the bait.

The client was angry—rightfully so. She felt underpaid and overlooked. She said it wasn’t fair, and it was true. She wanted to talk to her boss, and she wanted help crafting the perfect words. I invited exploration, reflected words and energy, asked about values, held silence, offered space for emotional processing. She looped back, again and again, to her talking points: "They don’t see what I do. I’m tired of being passed over. Just help me say it right."

With five minutes left, I caved. I gave her some language—wrapped in a flimsy facade of asking permission and summarizing: "Can I offer a possibility? Based on what I have heard you express during our conversation today, you might say ..." Then I tried to rescue the advice-giving breach with a check-in, "What is missing from that approach?"

And just like that, I slipped out of MCC presence and into performance. Not because I didn’t know better, but because I wanted to give her something. I mistook urgency for impact. I stopped trusting the coaching process and tried to fill the gap myself.

Mastery isn’t immune to these moments. In fact, mastery is often made in them.

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