What is coaching? (Thoughts from a professional coach)
A very warm welcome to my blog section, I’m pleased you are here. I hope to achieve two main things with my series of blogs; the first is to give you a sense of what coaching is, and what it isn’t; and the second is to give you a taste of how I work with clients and what outcomes can be expected.
These blogs are for people who are new to thinking about hiring a coach and those who are more familiar. If you like the blog, or have questions, then please do contact me via my Contact Page, I’d love to hear from you.
Coaching as poetry
I will talk about poetry below, but for now I assert that coaching is about transformation. I could end it there; but that simplicity gives little information and doesn’t quite do justice to the amazing journey of growth and creativity that comes into possibility when two minds spark each other into building something new. (That is, coaching).
Human beings are relational beings, and by offering honest feedback we can build a trusting relationship. In the coaching relationship this is also important, and a good coach will not only give their honest and thoughtful feedback but will also value your feedback in return.
Alpha Poem
To me, talking about coaching, and what can be possible in it, needs me to use a certain type of language, jargon, as I try to capture what happens in the container of the coaching relationship. But I want to avoid jargon, which can be hard to understand, so I use poetry and creative writing exercises to help. Alpha Poems are the ones where you choose a word, it could be a topic or a feeling, or anything really, and you use each letter of the word to begin a new sentence and let it tell you something about the word. They don’t have to rhyme, but they are a fun way to explore an idea you wish to think about in more detail. For example, the word awe could be:
A absolutely impactful
W where is it?
E everywhere
So, I thought I would do the same for the word coaching:
C coaching is a fairly simple and yet complex process
O other than providing a listening ear, coaches also offer their hearts, minds and presence
A and they invite you to bring the same focus on your life, and your problems
C creating, which is necessary for change, comes from this joint focus and
contracted aims
H how you meet challenges and problems in the mission of our partnership
I instead of trying to see though your stress and usual survival systems, we
N notice how these old survival patterns get in your way and
G generate a living plan to expand your vision, strategy, mindset, skill set and
energy.
Well, I hope that you found something of interest in this first blog. Maybe you will try and Alpha Poem?
Please do contact me if you have questions.
With best wishes
Andrea
Root & Rise Coaching