Now I've been back to work for two weeks after my Solutions Focused (SF)- coaching retreat in beautiful Switzerland.
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| Elfie, Katri and Dominic in Switzerland |
My Trip from Director to Solutions Focused Coach
I have also started to develop my SF- coaching skills. I've been writing a diary since I came back to home. I've been writing everyday around 15 minutes of my working (coaching) experiences after my work day. This thinking and writing process has led to the situation that my cerebellum has also started to work around the SF- issue.
One morning last week, when I woke up, "a miracle had happened", 😉, I noticed that I have found my first idea, what is the difference between traditional direction and SF- coaching relationship. I had to draw a picture to remember my "Heureka"- realization afterwards. Here is the picture of "from traditional direction to solutions focused coaching".
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| The first picture of SF-coaching mindset |
Next I'd like to explain my first Heureka- idea of SF- coaching. As a SF-coach, I'll try to act like "the keep it simple "- SF-coach and keep everything clear and practical.
Director as a Leader
In this picture you can see two drawings. The both drawings have vertical dimension, which describes the amount of knowledge and skills. The horizontal dimension is the timeline. On the left drawing, in the begin of process a client has zero knowledge/skills and a director has the highest amount of knowledge/skills. When the time runs and the process is in the end, the client's knowledge and skills are increased. There is no need for guidance from a director, who has given all her/his knowledge/skills to the client.
Solution Focused Coaching
On the right side drawing, both the client and coach have the highest amount of knowledge and skills in the begin and in the end of the process. The difference in these two processes is that SF- coach is working and acting with "not knowing attitude" . This means, that SF-coach's mindset of the client is that she/he has all resources and knowledge/skills. During the coaching process they both are acting equal and the process is a dialog, where both are learners from begin to the end.
WOW- feeling
After drawing that picture, I got the "WOW- feeling". I could also call it a meaningful learning experience , which is the subject I've studied in my doctoral thesis (Sorry only the abstract page 5 in English). As a conclusion of my Heureka- realization, I think that the solutions focused coaching is kind of mutual learning process between the client and the coach. I would be more than happy if readers of this blog had time to share their views. What do you think of solutions focused coaching as a learning process?
I look forward to receiving feedback from this blog, either on this blog page or on social media platforms; Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram, where I share this blog as well.
My comment was that your article, in the context of training, reminded me of an analogy for the SF “training’ approach … which seemed relevant where you see the ‘coach’ as having relevant content knowledge in the process.
VastaaPoistaThe analogy was that the trainer/coach is seeking to build a firm and solid wall of knowledge, skill, understanding, confidence etc in the trainee/ coachee so that they go on to change their behaviour and are able to act successfully in the desired new way. Rather than just ‘transmitting’ the required content (your left hand model - I.e. building the wall for the trainee) , the trainer’s task is to bring to consciousness the skills, knowledge etc that that the trainee already has that is relevant to what they are required to do as the result of the training, and to add any missing ‘bricks’ in the wall that the trainee cannot complete from their own previous knowledge, skills etc.
I.e. working the opposite way to usual round the unconscious incompetence -> conscious incompetence -> conscious competence -> unconscious competence matrix. The SF route focuses on making the unconscious competence -> conscious competence… and identifying any bits of remaining incompetence that need support. Easier, more fun and the trainer/ coach responsibility is more for the process than the content.
Hope this makes sense. Have fun with your learning!
Cheers,
Sarah