Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Brave Space
66 Plays30 days ago
What else is there about cultivating trust and safety?
In this episode of PRIME SPACE, Elias Scultori, MCC, explores the role of partnership in the International Coaching Federation competency "Cultivates Trust and Safety."
The conversation turns toward a question that often remains implicit in coaching practice:
Who holds responsibility for trust and safety in the coaching relationship?
Rather than approaching safety as something the coach creates, this episode introduces the concept of Brave Space, originally developed by Dr. Brian Arao, ACC, and Kristi Clemens. From this perspective, trust, safety, and growth are not managed by the coach alone but emerge through shared responsibility.
The episode reflects on how discomfort, accountability, vulnerability, and action show up within that shared space—and how a coach’s presence may either invite or limit the client’s willingness to engage with them.
This is not a redefinition of trust and safety, but rather a closer look at how it is practiced.
Chapters
01:27 – The Overlooked Competency: Trust & Safety Revisited
03:49 – Why We Can’t Make Clients Feel Safe
05:16 – From Safe Space to Brave Space
07:03 – Key Traits: Discomfort, Ownership, Vulnerability
10:50 – Brave Space as a Catalyst for Action & Transformation
11:56 – A Poetic Invitation to Brave Space
Memorable Quotes
- “We cannot make anyone feel safe—safety is the other person’s choice.”
- “Brave space welcomes discomfort because growth doesn’t happen in comfort.”
- “Are we creating value… or taking away the client’s ownership?”
- “Our vulnerability is an invitation for the client to be fully human.”
- “Transformation begins the moment we stop protecting comfort and start inviting courage.”
Links to Episode 59: "The Overlooked Competency"
YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Prime Space Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to Prime Space, a Prime Coaching Academy podcast with your host Elias Scultori
The Role of Partnership in Coaching
00:00:14
Speaker
Coaches, where does partnership fit into the skill of cultivating trust and safety in our coaching?
00:00:29
Speaker
Coaching is a partnership, right? Does the client have any responsibility in creating an environment of trust? What are we doing as coaches to invite the client to take ownership of trust and safety?
Core Competencies: Trust and Safety
00:00:54
Speaker
Interesting concept, right? You've heard me talk a lot about this vital aspect of cultivating trust and safety with our clients. Trust and safety is, in fact, of one of our core competencies. We are called not simply to be mindful of trust and safety, but to be experts in cultivating trust and safety. It is one of our core skills.
00:01:27
Speaker
And as I said before, that's because we can't have coaching without trust and safety. Actually, we can't have anything without trust and safety.
00:01:40
Speaker
If we don't have trust... Nothing happens in any relationship.
00:01:49
Speaker
I talk about the foundations of this competency in episode 59 of Prime Space of our previous season. The episode is called The Overlooked Competency.
00:02:02
Speaker
In that episode, i focus on the fact that we often get so so concerned, so preoccupied with other coaching skills, questioning, listening, session agreement, that we end up taking for granted our responsibility and the skill we need to develop in building an environment of trust and safety for our clients.
00:02:29
Speaker
So I'd encourage you to go and listen to that episode at some time. I'll put i'll put links to it in this episode's description, okay? However, as I said before, coaching is a partnership.
00:02:47
Speaker
And if so, again, what is the client's role and responsibilities in cultivating trust and safety? What is their part in this facet of coaching?
00:03:03
Speaker
When we talk about the importance of building a safe space, if we pay close attention, it is often framed as being the responsibility of the leader or whoever is in charge at that moment.
00:03:19
Speaker
What am I doing as a leader to create an environment of trust and safety? What are policies and agreements am I putting together to ensure the safety of everyone involved?
00:03:33
Speaker
And rightly so. If we are the professional, we have the responsibility to act and set standards with the intention of putting you know everyone involved at ease.
00:03:49
Speaker
However, we cannot make anyone feel safe. Have you ever thought about that? We can act in a way that invites people or sends them a signal that it is okay to trust.
00:04:10
Speaker
But ultimately, safety is the other person's choice.
00:04:18
Speaker
Have you ever been in a situation where it is absolutely okay for you to feel safe and somehow you don't? Or vice versa, right? You feel safe, everything is fine, but later you realize it was a very dangerous situation.
00:04:38
Speaker
Which means the outside conditions were proper or not for you to feel or not to feel safe, But for whatever reasons, you chose differently.
Introducing 'Brave Space' Concept
00:04:52
Speaker
That's why i love going beyond the concept of safe space and entering into the idea of partnering with a client to create a brave space.
00:05:07
Speaker
Have you ever heard of this term, brave space? It's becoming more and more common to talk about brave space. So not simply safe space, but a brave space. This concept of brave space was created by Dr. Brian Arao who, by the way, is an ACC coach, and his partner, Kristi Clemens.
00:05:32
Speaker
A brave space is an intentionally designed environment that encourages honest, challenging dialogue by fostering mutual learning, accountability, and respectful discomfort. I love this definition.
00:05:50
Speaker
Unlike traditional safe spaces focus on comfort, Brave spaces encourage challenge by choice and growth through vulnerability.
00:06:04
Speaker
Whoa.
Brave Space in Coaching
00:06:06
Speaker
That is so much more aligned with coaching. Brave Space began primarily in the educational setting, but it's now spreading across all arenas. Large organizations are paying top dollars for professionals to come and start training their employees in the concept of Brave Space.
00:06:29
Speaker
And I love that for coaching, especially because Brave Space emphasizes that trust and safety is a responsibility of all involved.
00:06:42
Speaker
It does not only depend on me as a coach, but we are both coach and client creating this environment where we can be transparent, bold, daring,
00:06:56
Speaker
and at the same time, respectful, honoring, caring.
00:07:03
Speaker
That is the proper environment for growth.
00:07:08
Speaker
So here are a couple of characteristics of Brave Space that I think you're going to fall in love with it if you have not heard about it.
00:07:19
Speaker
One of the characteristics that I love is that brave space normalizes discomfort.
00:07:29
Speaker
While safe space usually emphasizes everybody's comfort, everybody needs to be safe, brave space welcomes discomfort.
00:07:40
Speaker
And that's because growth doesn't happen in a comfort zone. So if we are aiming for real growth, real development, new awareness and sustainability of this awareness, we will need to get uncomfortable. The client will need to get uncomfortable.
00:08:00
Speaker
We will need to feel comfortable in being uncomfortable.
00:08:08
Speaker
So first of all, are we as coaches okay with being uncomfortable?
00:08:18
Speaker
How do we respond when coaching gets uncomfortable? Do we rush into making it okay?
00:08:26
Speaker
Or are we okay with being right there on the edge?
00:08:33
Speaker
How is my internal response impacting the client to embrace discomfort so that they can grow?
Accountability in Brave Space
00:08:46
Speaker
Another characteristic of Brave Space that I love is accountability and ownership.
00:08:55
Speaker
Are we taking too much responsibility for the client's process? Or are we inviting them, allowing them to take ownership of their own lives and situations?
00:09:10
Speaker
to take responsibility for making their own choices. Are we still in the solution-based mode? I have to find answers where I need to create value.
00:09:25
Speaker
And in in the process, we are preventing the client from taking full accountability and and ownership of their lives.
00:09:35
Speaker
Are we inviting them to be brave or out of our own need? Are we occupying the space so much that they don't have room to be brave?
00:09:49
Speaker
How are we inviting our clients to take accountability and ownership?
Encouraging Vulnerability in Brave Space
00:10:00
Speaker
Another point is vulnerability and authenticity. these These are in our core competencies, right? Brave space invites us to be transparent and sincere. That does not mean being rude or disrespectful or unprofessional, but it is a level of openness, masks off, and relating human to human.
00:10:31
Speaker
Our vulnerability and authenticity is an invitation for the client to also be vulnerable and authentic with themselves. It is an invitation for them to also take off their masks and bravely step forward.
Action-Oriented Brave Space
00:10:50
Speaker
And one more characteristic I think is so aligned with coaching. Brave space is action-oriented. We are not here simply to explore and feel good.
00:11:03
Speaker
Our clients need to be brave, not only to see things differently, but also to do things differently, to be different. Action takes courage. Action cannot be passive.
00:11:19
Speaker
By bringing our clients into the partnership... To create a brave space, we are also opening the door for movement, change, and transformation.
00:11:32
Speaker
and Isn't this so much more powerful?
00:11:37
Speaker
Yeah, this concept of Brave Space invites us to be brave in our coaching and invites our clients to also be brave in their own exploration and in their own development.
00:11:52
Speaker
That's so much more exciting to me. So that's my invitation for you. To not only cultivate a space of trust and safety, but to be brave ourselves and also to invite our clients to this brave space of coaching.
Conclusion with a Poem
00:12:17
Speaker
I'm going to finish our episode here today with a poem by Miki Scott Bay Jones. She is Enneagram professional, very much involved with this concept of brave space.
00:12:33
Speaker
And here's how she put it. An invitation to a brave space. Together, will create brave space.
00:12:46
Speaker
because there is no such thing as a safe space. We exist in the real world. We all carry scars and we have all caused wounds.
00:13:02
Speaker
In this space, we seek to turn down the volume of the outside world. We amplify voices that fight to be heard elsewhere.
00:13:14
Speaker
We call each other to more truth and love. We have the right to start somewhere and continue to grow. We have the responsibility to examine what we think we know.
00:13:31
Speaker
We will not be perfect. It will not always be what we wish it to be. But it will be our brave space together.
00:13:43
Speaker
And we will work on it side by side.
00:13:52
Speaker
Thank you for listening and thank you for sharing this episode with other coaches. Please subscribe and let me know what you think ah of what we have discussed here today. I'd love to hear from you.
00:14:07
Speaker
Have a wonderful week and I'll see you next time.