I suspect no activity on the blog means you are all heads down into your work. Hope you are having fun! I know you are doing good work for the firm.
I've been asked to lead a discussion group at the end of this month at the ICF conference in Vegas on "developing internal coaches". I'm trying to prepare an outline and some questions. If you had to point to three things that contributed most to your development as a coach, what would they be?
(Now's the time to hear from those of you who committed to posting regularly. Behavior change is hard, isn't it? Remember that when you work with your clients!)
1) Making Big Mistakes 2) Supervision 3) Appreciating where I got in the way of my coaching (Self-Awareness)
ReplyDelete1) Working with peers/mentors to deepen my skills. 2) A constant focus on acceptance of all(starting with me). 3) this one is not coming to me quickly....so I will keep thinking.
ReplyDeleteFor me it was 1.) the opportunity to practice, 2.) mentoring (specifically encouragement and giving me confidence that I actually knew what the heck I was doing and that making mistakes is a part of the process of learning), 3.)learning from peers and hearing about their own experiences. Foundational to all of that however was the environment that was set up within EY for me to do practice and learn. It's very collegial.
ReplyDeleteFor me it's: (1) Learning from peers and mentors; (2) Learning from my own work on "me" = self-awareness + being on my own personal journey and learning from that;(3) Developing a foundation of books/concepts for inspiration
ReplyDelete1) Hearing from and sharing real client coaching stories; learning about new techniques and sharpening skills.
ReplyDelete2) The early cerification process, not only for the credential and confidence that can bring but for the components that made it valuable... the formal learning, the case studies, the feedback, supervision and peer group exhcanges.
3) Understanding the business needs and how coaching plays a part. Foundational business content knowledge and experiencet that offers context for our work in the firm. [It's debatable whether a coach needs this background/context - in the coaching world we'd say you don't need it since a great coach can be plugged in to any scene and coach well. I beleive that to be true and I also believe that to be internal is to have that 'edge' of content knowledge and an appreciation and underastanding for the greater context of the work to be done in that organization.] I probably just stated the obvious but isn't blogging for rambling too?! : )
Thank you for seeking input and encouraging the blog contributions.
Dawn
1. Coaching certification class - The foundational skills taught in the six month course continue to dominate my approach to coaching. Like any skill sticking to the basics (conversation structure, contracting, "empty vessel", self management, etc.) really matter. The people who taught the class were phenonmenal, seasoned, expert coaches - the best. Finally the ability to learn from each other in cirlces was critical.
ReplyDelete2. Practice - One year after spending full time as a coach, it has become very clear that coaching often makes a difference. There is no comparison between my effectiveness as a coach today versus a year ago. I have broaden my understanding of others and enhanced my use of the tools available through almost daily conversations. What a gift! I bet my golf game would improve if I played five days a week instead of once every two weeks.
3. Other coaches - The sharing of experiences and perspectives, as well as the honest feedback provided by the group has been extremely valuable in expanding my thinking and as resources to share in my thinking.