Coach

The third set of coaching practice sessions were completed alongside the second module of the course last week. My thinking has been directed to attention / paying attention. There are many draws on our attention in contemporary living and there are suggestions circulating that the length of time we can concentrate on a particular activity or subject is contracting. Perhaps this can be attributed to how information can be accessed in small bites through twitter, facebook or website headlines. Coaching offers a dedicated space and period of time when the coachee can notice, consider and contemplate in an expansive manner. The coach pays attention through high level listening, being attentive, concentrating on hearing what the coachee is specifically saying, reflecting back and then asking open questions. This type of attention has the potential to be transformational, in a time when uninterrupted time to speak is rare, coaching offers a space to be heard and importantly to hear oneself.

attention
noun
1 observation, attentiveness, intentness, notice, concentration, heed, heedfulness, mindfulness, regard, scrutiny; contemplation, consideration, deliberation, thought, thinking, studying, investigation, action.

2 awareness, notice, observation, consciousness, heed, recognition, regard, scrutiny, surveillance, attentiveness; curiosity, inquisitiveness.

3 care, treatment, therapy, ministration, succour, relief, support, aid, help, assistance, service.

4 courtesy, civility, politeness, respect, gallantry, urbanity, deference; compliment, flattery, blandishment; overture, suggestion, approach, suit, pass, wooing, courting.

Second day of module two and another day packed with information, different coaching models, discussing and practicing. The learning space is exciting, invigorating and safe. The physical space where the coaching takes place is important, but when a coach talks about holding the space they are referring to holding the coaching framework / the coaching method(s);  focused listening, paying attention, being comfortable with silences, reflecting back accurately. The coaching space is one where there is psychological headroom, legroom, elbow room allowing the coachee to metaphorically stretch into the space facilitating the location of ideas and supporting the discovery of insights.

space
noun
1 room, expanse, extent, capacity, area, volume, spaciousness, scope, latitude, expansion, margin, leeway, play, clearance; headroom, legroom, elbow room.

2 area, open space, open area, unoccupied area, empty area, expanse, footprint, stretch, sweep, tract.

3 gap, interval, opening, aperture, gulf, cavity, cranny, fissure, rift, crack, breach, break, split, flaw, crevasse, interstice, lacuna.

4 blank, empty space, gap.

5 period, span, time, duration, stretch, course, interval, season, term.

6 outer space, deep space, the universe, the cosmos, the galaxy, the solar system, infinity.

Today was the beginning of the second module. Thought provoking, challenging and at times unexpected it was a great feeling to be back in the group. There was plenty of time for practising new techniques and approaches. Coaching sessions can be used to explore, develop and name goals. To achieve goals the coach and the coaching space offers an opportunity for actions that are specific in terms of what, when and how to be identified by the coachee. When the actions are completed it can be anticipated the goal will be achieved. Written here the process sounds neat and fluid and it could be, equally though it could be an identified action feels jarring, isn’t attempted or completed. Reviewing actions (attempted or not attempted, complete or incomplete and all the degrees between these extremities)  in further coaching sessions can lead to the coachee connecting with further insights about the action itself, its relationship to the goal, the goal in a wider sense and / or the changing priorities of the coachee.

This course continues to offers up much to think about.

action
noun

1 deed, act, activity, move, gesture, undertaking, exploit, manoeuvre, achievement, accomplishment, venture, enterprise, endeavour, effort, exertion; work, handiwork, doing, creation, performance, behaviour, conduct; reaction, response.

2 steps, measures, activity, movement, work, working, effort, exertion, operation.

3 energy, vitality, vigour, forcefulness, drive, push, ambition, motivation, initiative, spirit, liveliness, vim, pep; activity; informal get-up-and-go, punch, zip, pizzazz.

4 effect, influence, power, working, work; result, consequence.

5 excitement, activity, bustle; happenings, occurrences, proceedings, events, incidents, episodes, eventualities, chain of events; informal goings-on.

6 fighting, hostilities, battle, conflict, armed conflict, combat, warfare, war, bloodshed; engagement, clash, encounter, confrontation, skirmish, affray.

7 lawsuit, legal action, suit, suit at law, case, cause, prosecution, litigation, legal dispute, legal contest; proceedings, legal proceedings, judicial proceedings.

Second set of practice sessions today, both coaching and being coached. Ahead of today’s sessions I have been reading Nancy Kline’s Time to Think: Listen to ignite the human mind.  It’s a really simple thing; to think. Running an art practice, a business or any job for that matter involves day to day tasks and activities. What often is absent is time to think, in order to review, reflect, plan, identify issues and possible solutions. Coaching offers a dedicated space for thinking, the coachee’s thinking. The coach acts as a viewer, a bystander, not a participant, there is no collusion or collaboration. The role of the coach is the hold of the form of the session providing a place and time to think.

think
verb
1 believe, be of the opinion, have as one’s opinion, be of the view, be under the impression; expect, imagine, anticipate; surmise, suppose, conjecture, guess, fancy; conclude, determine, reason; informal reckon

2 deem, judge, hold, reckon, consider, presume, estimate; regard as, view as.

3 ponder, reflect, deliberate, meditate, contemplate, muse, cogitate, ruminate, be lost in thought, be in a brown study, brood; concentrate, rack one’s brains, cudgel one’s brains; informal put on one’s thinking cap, sleep on it; rare cerebrate.

ANTONYMS act, leap into action.

4 consider, contemplate, give thought to, entertain the idea of, deliberate about, weigh up, turn over in one’s mind, mull over, chew over, reflect on, ruminate about, muse on

5 recall, remember, recollect, call to mind, bring to mind, think back to, review.

6 imagine, picture, visualize, envisage, envision; dream about, fantasize about.