I was recently lucky enough to be admiring the mountains in Fjord land New Zealand and learning that in fact the mountains that looked so strong and permanent to me are in fact growing at the same pace as my finger nails. That struck me as pretty fast. It made me think that in terms of the coaching work I do there is a steady permanence of what I have seen work (the body of my knowledge and skills) plus curiosity to learn more. My story of how I work as a coach is an evolving story. It changes and grows with every opportunity that I take to learn from the direct experience of coaching and the resources that I tap into. When I work with new coaches I always want them to notice how the telling of their own developing story as a coach is developing. What are they now able to embrace where in the beginning there was discomfort and nervousness? What are they holding onto as their practice develops and where have they begun to relax and go with the flow of their coachee’s agenda.
It made me think that in terms of the coaching work I do there is a steady permanence of what I have seen work (the body of my knowledge and skills) plus curiosity to learn more. My story of how I work as a coach is an evolving story. It changes and grows with every opportunity that I take to learn from the direct experience of coaching and the resources that I tap into. When I work with new coaches I always want them to notice how the telling of their own developing story as a coach is developing. What are they now able to embrace where in the beginning there was discomfort and nervousness? What are they holding onto as their practice develops and where have they begun to relax and go with the flow of their coachee’s agenda.
How is your growth rate as a coach?
Fingernails grow at 3mm per month (informed by How Stuff Works) and that exact rate depends on our age, diet, exercise, and even the time of year. As a coach the factors that influence our continuing improvement and growth would be opportunities to practice, reflection and sense making from those coaching times, plus new materials to challenge us and equip us further. If I relate that also to age, diet, exercise, and even the time of year it makes me sit up and think:Age: how do we best use the experience we gain in our practice? If not we plateau.
Age: how do we best use the experience we gain in our practice? If not we plateau.
Diet: what do we give attention to keep us fresh and healthy in our work?
Exercise: how often do we go out beyond the ‘usual’ to get our heart rate going and to know when to take risks to breakthrough to a new level of ability?
Time of year: probably a bit of a stretch but do people we work with go through different seasons of learning that we need to respond to as coaches?
Case example
I was working with someone recently and they described themselves as struggling in their relations with their senior colleagues. After a buoyant first few months in the new organisation they now felt isolated in their role. Three things that he took particular control of during the course of that session:
- He was able to define what mattered most to him from a range of difficult encounters; the reasons why those had derailed him and what that learning meant for his key relations in the present.
- He realized that he wanted to and that he could let go of the rest of his concerns rather than them continuing to consume his attention.
- He noticed his body posture in the moment of our coaching and re-set it to see a more positive impact on his mood and resourcefulness.
I think my experience and ability to take risks enabled me to push this client in the moment to notice what he was saying and take responsibility, where he needed to, for his actions rather than to blame everyone else and expect me to listen as he vented. It was a healthy conversation as we found times to laugh and smile together at some of the patterns that were still ensnaring him in his work. I think this relationship as it has continued over a number of years has enjoyed a seasonality to it. There are plenty of fresh challenges in his work which mean that our conversations are always about something different and I use many different techniques to keep things feeling new and challenging and not stuck in a rut. Ultimately, if neither he (nor I) were learning then there would be no further need for the coaching sessions.