At a recent coaching workshop, I asked people to share some aspect of their coaching they were keen to work on. The first person to share outlined what they wanted to improve and then asked the group how they approached it.
Bearing in mind this was a coaching workshop, what do you think happened next?
You get first prize if you said people just offered their advice (even when I nudged them to think about coaching!) and there wasn’t a question in sight!
While this was a wee bit disappointing it was also an important learning moment.
The need to be, and more importantly the need to be seen to be useful is an important and very powerful motivation for humans. But the downside can be when the impact of this motivation is unchecked and is allowed to override the opportunity to support learning through coaching (while also acknowledging that advice still has its place).
As I pointed this out, someone then asked about the best way to make themselves more aware of opportunities to coach. You’ll be happy to know the group resisted human nature and came back with some questions to help them come up with something to try…. which I know still made them feel very useful!
Tony
If you’re interested in receiving our monthly Insights sign up here
