Coaching principles…

Aliveness over trances

The biggest pitfalls to learning are teaching trances.

It’s easy to be comfortable exchanging sensible advice. But this often inhibits real learning. Discovery, rather than information, needs to be at the heart of learning.

David Rock and Jeffery Schwartz say in their article, ‘The Neuroscience of Leadership’:

For insights to be useful, they need to be generated from within, not given to individuals as conclusions … Human brains are so complex and individual that there is little point in trying to work out how another person ought to reorganize his or her thinking. It is far more effective and efficient to help others come to their own insights.

By avoiding the trappings of expertise, we make ourselves more vulnerable. But we also create a more exciting and engaging atmosphere in which we, and others, can learn.

The people are the content

The unhurried approach says the people are more important than the abstract ideas, and their personal challenges are more interesting than the stock solutions of conventional training.

With this approach each participant is treated uniquely, and we aim to work with and build on their unique experience and curiosity. This seems to us be far more likely to engage their attention which hugely increases the likelihood of discovery and change.

The problem is the solution

Many of us are great at identifying problems, but often unconvincing when offering solutions. That’s because the most interesting challenges don’t lend themselves to easy answers.

I try to avoid promising solutions, however tempting that may be.

It’s better to be more patient and attentive to the problem, what people are struggling with, and exploring it - often quite playfully - to understand it better. That may involve some prototype responses but not a single, simple answer.

Usually, when we relax into the challenge enough, some exciting discoveries start to be made, and people can then move forward. Not necessarily in a predictable way.