Coaching Rediscovered...

Just ended the VOL ("Voice of Leadership") follow-up course on Coaching last Friday - and I must say that it's not exactly what I thought it was in the first place. Yes, as almost all of us had agreed - that we're so used to "giving advice" and "showing" how things are to be done to our staff - which is a very "directive" approach. "Coaching", as we've learnt - is nothing of the sort. It's all about (in my own words) - "tickling" the coachee to let *them* come up with solutions to their own problems, issues, or stumbling blocks. Ok so that wasn't a good word to use, but I see it that way.... You don't crack jokes for others to laugh at - but instead, change the state of mind of others so that they see things in funny way - and then can psyche themselves and place themselves in a state of being - that they're in a "funny mode" to laugh at jokes which they themselves crack. Again, bad example. Maybe I'm confused, tired, or just plain sleepy...

But the key message is the "state of being" part :)