Coach

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.

The first practice coaching sessions were today which involved being both coached and coaching. Both activities involve reflection. Working as the coach, reflecting back what the coachee is saying requires close attention and well developed listening skills. When being coached hearing your words reflected / spoken back to you is powerful and has the potentially to be truly transformative.

reflect
verb
1 send back, throw back, cast back, give back, bounce back, shine back, return, mirror.

ANTONYMS absorb.

2 indicate, show, display, demonstrate, be evidence of, register, reveal, betray, evince, disclose, exhibit, manifest; express, bespeak, communicate, bear out, attest, prove, evidence; result from.

3 think about, give thought to, consider, give consideration to, review, mull over, contemplate, study, cogitate about/on, meditate on, muse on, deliberate about/on, ruminate about/on/over, dwell on, brood on/over, agonize over, worry about, chew over, puzzle over, speculate about, weigh up, revolve, turn over in one’s mind, be in a brown study; informal put on one’s thinking cap; archaic pore on; rare cerebrate.

End of day three and the topics we covered were varied, exciting, challenging, supported. A conversation of trust linked to a conversation about failure and specifically healthy failure which connects to art practice so clearly. As an artist I make repeat attempts at artworks, it’s why I describe myself as having a practice because I practice being an artist everyday. The artwork I hold in my mind for the longest is possibly at the greatest danger of failing as when it is actually made the perfection of the form or aesthetic in my mind is impossible to duplicate. In attempting to manifest this mental picture and failing, I learn about the next piece of work.

The last 3 days has felt more like a week (or more) i’m so full up with information, experiences, questions, motivation. Looking at the thesaurus helps me to reflect and process.  Today’s word Fail has a lengthy entry, alas the word learn is nowhere to be seen.

fail

verb

1 be unsuccessful, not succeed, lack success, fall through, fall flat, break down, abort, miscarry, be defeated, suffer defeat, be in vain, be frustrated, collapse, founder, misfire, backfire, not come up to scratch, meet with disaster, come to grief, come to nothing, come to naught, miss the mark, run aground, go astray; informal flop, fizzle out, flatline, come a cropper, bite the dust, bomb, blow up in someone’s face, go down like a lead balloon.

ANTONYMS succeed.

2 be unsuccessful in, not pass; be found wanting, be found deficient, not make the grade, not pass muster, not come up to scratch, be rejected; informal flunk.

ANTONYMS pass.

3 let down, disappoint, break one’s promise to, dash someone’s hopes, fall short of someone’s expectations; neglect, desert, abandon; betray, be disloyal to, be unfaithful to, break faith with, play someone false; informal do the dirty on; N. Amer. informal bail on; archaic forsake.

ANTONYMS support.

4 be deficient, be wanting, be lacking, fall short, be insufficient, be inadequate; not come to ripeness, wither.

ANTONYMS thrive.

5 fade, grow less, grow dim, dim, die away, dwindle, wane, disappear, vanish, peter out, dissolve.

6 break down, break, stop working, cease to function, cut out, stop, stall, crash, give out; malfunction, act up, go wrong, develop a fault, be faulty, be defective; informal conk out, go kaput, go phut, give up the ghost, go on the blink, be on the blink; Brit. informal pack up, play up.

ANTONYMS work, be in working order.

7 deteriorate, degenerate, decline, go into decline, fade, diminish, dwindle, wane, ebb, sink, collapse, decay.

ANTONYMS improve.

8 collapse, crash, go under, go bankrupt, become insolvent, go into receivership, be in the hands of the receivers, go into liquidation, cease trading, cease production, be closed, be shut down, close down, be wound up; informal fold, flop, go bust, go broke, go bump, go to the wall, go belly up.

ANTONYMS thrive.

Another full day on the course, reflecting on yesterday, learning and practising new skills, asking questions and sharing ideas. The process of identifying intention seemed to be a very pertinent one for me, facilitating a consideration about the point of a conversation or naming the desired outcome. Recalling a digital making conversation with engineer Derek Hillyard about Design Intent, I have been pondering about where intention fits in with art practice and particularly process led art practice.

intention
noun
1 aim, purpose, intent, objective, object, goal, target, end; design, plan, scheme; resolve, resolution, determination; wish, desire, ambition, idea, dream, aspiration, hope.

2 deliberateness, intentionality, intent, design, calculation; premeditation, preconception, forethought, plan, planning, pre-planning, advance planning, prearrangement, malice aforethought.

ANTONYMS inadvertency; accident.