[featured_image]Coaches are constantly learning and growing.
They have to. I have to!
To effectively come alongside and empower leaders to stretch further than they ever have before, coaches must be personally stretching themselves to learn and grow – to attain higher standards of proficiency and excellence in coaching. One way to become a better coach is to read articles that will both raise your awareness as you coach and also assist you in refining your coaching skills. I’m grateful for the input and insights that I receive from Creative Results Management’s monthly coaching newsletter. These free articles by Dr. Keith Webb are practical and always relate to my own coaching practice. I have found myself wondering how he keeps coming up with topics and insights that apply so directly to my own coaching practice. (You’ll probably be wondering this if you subscribe).
Here are a few of the articles that have impacted me over the past couple of years:
Coaching Presence
Coaching is hard work.
At coaching workshops I see people physically worn out after a 15 minute coaching practice. What makes coaching so physically taxing?
Paying attention. These days it’s rare to concentrate on one project for more than a quarter of an hour. One study showed that on average a person works on the same topic for only 10 minutes, and during that time approaches the topic by doing three different tasks.
Coaching requires staying on topic for 60 minutes – six times longer than average! And it has but one approach: talking together. It is no wonder that coaching is tiring, it takes a lot of energy to focus, and frankly, we’re out of shape. Discover how to increase your coaching presence.
Ambiguity and Risk
God spoke to Abram in Ur and told him to leave, and he left. “By faith Abraham… obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going” (Heb 11:8).
There’s an amazing lack of detail, direction, or destination in this calling. Ambiguity. Yet, Abraham moved off and went.
It’s tough to function in ambiguity. It takes risk to go in a direction without knowing where you’re going.
Sometimes coaches want to first ‘figure it out’ and then lead the coachee to a solution using questions. Discover how to embrace ambiguity as a fellow-traveler.
Questions to Coach Meaning
Meaning is all around us: living out calling, relationships, learning goals, spirituality, etc. Unfortunately, all of life is not focused on meaningful pursuits.
Life is full of routine. Routine is comforting, but also can become numbing, even to the point of replacing meaning.
Discover how to ask questions that surface meaning.
The Answer is the Question
Are you looking for answers?
We often look for answers in the form of information – books, advice, teaching, etc. However, we make a mistake if we confuse information gathering with learning.
The University of California, San Diego did a study of how much information the average American takes in a day. It’s 100,500 words or 34 gigabytes of data – a day! That’s like filling your computer’s hard drive every two days.
But information does not wisdom make. Discover how questions are to learning what oxygen is to our blood.
I want to always be learning and growing as a coach. I never want to conclude that I’ve arrived – or that I’m now an expert. I am confident that I am a very competent coach, but I’m never done improving my coaching skills.
Reading Keith Webb’s coaching newsletter is one way that I’ve kept myself sharp. I know that signing up for his monthly newsletter will stimulate your ongoing coaching skills.
Why not subscribe today? It’s free!
Sign up for Creative Results Management monthly newsletter.
You may also be interested in the Core Coaching Skills Certificate Program or the Group Mentor-Coaching Program. (Find out more about the value of interactive coach training.)
