Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Coaching Diads

“Coaching helps you take stock of where you are now in all aspects of your life, and how that compares to where you would like to be.”
-Elaine MacDonald

                Recently, I participated in an exercise in which I was paired up with one other person and was instructed to talk about something that I was going through in my life at the time.  The other person was “the Coach”.  His responsibility was to help me work through the situation that I was currently dealing with.  He was given a list of questions to use a guide if he wanted to.   After about 10 minutes, we swapped positions.  I was now the coach helping him work through something in his life.

                One of the greatest challenges we discovered was the listening aspect of the exercise.  As a coach you are looking for every clue possible to help the other person in their attempt to move forward through this obstacle.  The listening required complete attentiveness as well as exercising compassion and empathy.  It was a challenge, but a learned lesson.  

                By the end of the exercise we found that we were both shocked at how we came to reach a conclusion as to what step to take next in these circumstances.  It proves just how important and effective taking a coaching role in someone’s life can actually be.

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