Encouraging our magpie to pause….

As I mention in the Foreword to the 101 Coaching Supervision Techniques, Approaches, Enquiries and Experiments, I am hopeful that the “smorgasbord” of techniques offered, appeals to the magpie in all of us.  However, I go on to say that when you discover something bright and shiny and new that you are keen to try… I invite you to pause. 

I that pause, I would encourage you to read the philosophical part of the chapter in which the technique is located. Consider what might need to shift in you, in order for you to work with technique in the way in which it was originally intended.  Here are some questions which might be useful to consider:

• How does the philosophy behind this technique stand alongside the underpinning beliefs of my own work?
• How would I need to tailor this approach to be congruent (or deliberately incongruent!) with my overarching style?
• What will need to shift in me, in order to embrace this approach fully?
• How might this change how I contract with the supervisee(s)?
• What would I need to share with the supervisee(s) before offering the approach?

Once you have that sense of how you want to “be” with the technique I hope that you will enjoy some wholehearted and open experimentation with your clients. Again, there is an opportunity for a pause, and a different set of questions for reflection:

• What felt congruent to me as I worked?
• What was the impact of the approach on the supervisee(s)?
• How does this experience stretch my understanding of how my practice is effective?
• What of this approach shall I integrate into my practice?
• Which parts will I discard – and what does that say about how I like to work?
• Does anything in my client ‘bio’ need adjusting as a result?

I am hopeful that the book will help us all bring some creative disruption to our practice and in doing so evolve our sense of how we can be most effective with our clients. My plea is however, to never lose sight of where the technique came from while also crafting it into something that feels very much our own.

Please do join our book club (https://www.dhirubhai.net/groups/12400519/) and share with other readers how you are working with the techniques in the book – I will be intrigued to hear how you decide what you discard, what you keep and what you extend for your own unique practice.