Tag Archive for: coaching
Do you care?
Slow Down.
Being heard
Here are some tipsโฆ
Mission Service
Recently, I have been asked this a few times; โWhat do you do as Mission Leaders?โ
My response was โMany things!โ
One of our key responsibilities that Monic and I share is for the well-being of our missionaries.
Let me explain furtherโฆ.
Mission life is segmented into a 6-week transfer cycle.
Each cycle starts and ends with arrivals & departures of missionaries.
In between our days are regularly filled with preparation, planning, training sessions, conferences, leadership meetings, travel, medical issues, phone calls, zoom sessions and much more, not forgetting of course, our precious regular catch-up time with family time too, via Zoom!
Professionally, as a coach and counsellor, one of my favourite things to do in life has always been 1-1 coaching sessions. During the 6-week cycle, every missionary in the mission (currently 51) has personal 1-1 time with each mission leaders. In mission lingo, they are called interviews, but essentially, having sat through thousands of coaching sessions, that is exactly what they are.
The last few days have been filled with these sessions.
Each interview (mini coaching session) begins and ends with prayer.
In between, we slow down, talk, laugh, cry, catch up, share, consider, counsel, challenge, soften, teach, learn and ultimately, we listen.
Listening
In fact, we listen a lot.
Then we listen a little more.
Some time ago, I shared a thought about the word โlistenโ.
The word has six letters. Rearrange them and the word โsilentโ is formed. In Dutch the six letters become even shorter, with only four โstilโ
Frequently, I find as I listen, oftentimes a missionary will suddenly go quiet. Years ago, I used to feel a little awkward when the first quiet spell sets in, but now I understand that these are the moments of real inspiration, when they are thinking.
I donโt know what they are thinking, only that they are thinking!
Experience has taught me that it is in these very quiet active times, when the least seems to be happening, that the most is actually happening.
In those quiet moments one missionary recently shared this verse of scripture, found in Psalms 46:10 โBe still and know that I am Godโฆโ Regularly, we hear the whisperings of the Holy Ghost to guide each of us in our missionary work. It is beautiful, reassuring and fills our hearts with love and pure knowledge.
Learning to be still
To listen and to be silent (still) are inseparably connected.
These short interview sessions are by design an opportunity to learn, to listen and grow.
What I have learned most in my life has come in many ways, but the largest part has come from listening to those with much greater experience than me. Generally, it tends to be those who have lived longer and learned many important things that I needed to know โ one of which is learning how to be quiet, to be still and to listen.
Now however, we are being taught frequently by those much younger than ourselves. Daily we find, tender mercies from the Lord, as He has prepared these young people (18 to 26 years of age) to preach the gospel to the world. Indeed, it is a mighty miracle.
We are off to do some more mini-coaching sessions.
Please choose to slow down, be quiet, learn to listen, listen to learn, then you too will hear the whisperings of the spirit of the Lord.
#HearHim
Change 6 things!
Understanding
To don’t list!
Asking Questions
What will you do differently because of what you learned today?
Asked any good questions lately?
Questions can be extremely powerful. They help us to think, feel and do things differently.
We all need to learn how to ask great questions!
Some professionals like doctors, lawyers and journalists are taught how to ask great questions as part of their training.
In my own professional career through sales and coaching, I have found it equally important to be able to formulate and ask the right question.
Questions aid performance, close sales, help provide inspiration and direction, they even help to build trust and rapport.
“Management teams aren’t good at asking questions. In business school, we train them to be good at giving answers.” – Clayton Christensen.
Itโs time to be a little more curious. Asking questions is an important part of life and learning.
As a coach, I am constantly asking questions to help clients move forward.
– What do you really want?
– What do you need most right now?
– So what?
– Why now?
– How can you be truer to yourself?
– Can you tell me more?
What question can you use today to unlock your own potential?
Deep Change
“What is your favourite book on change?” asked a course participant.
I’ve spent the last week talking and facilitating workshops all about change (again).
It is likely you are aware of a few change models, including the Kubler Ross Change Curve, Kotterโs 8 stage model, Bridges Transition model, Prosci’s ADKAR model (lots of models) et cetera.
But if you want to really change in your personal life or in your organisation, consider this thought from Deep Change โ Discovering the Leader Within from Robert E.Quinn –ย “Deep change differs from incremental change in that it requires new ways of thinking and behaving. It is change that is major in scope, discontinuous with the past and generally irreversible. The deep change effort distorts existing patterns of action and involves taking risks. Deep change means surrendering control.”……
This is an introspective journey that will challenge your thinking, you’ll need a reflective journal, in Bob’s words it’ll be like “walking naked into the land of uncertainty”.
You will be introduced to new ideas, new ways of thinking, new ways of behaving and can put an end to the slow death dilemma forever.
Consider this book a masterpiece!
Deep Change reveals the remarkable capacity each of us holds to change ourselves and ultimately our organisations.
Do you think I enjoyed it!?
You will too.