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Coaching from the Sideline
Instead of providing answers to problems, this mentoring strategy guides people to devise their own plays.
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Carlos called me in a panic. His ministry was suffocating him and his mind was filled with thoughts of leaving. He'd waited until late afternoon to call, and I had thoughts of getting home to mow the lawn. I did not have time to let him cry on my shoulder (or in my ear, as the phone would have it). So I put forth the blunt question I reserve for need-seekers: "Why are you calling me?" The truth was he was looking for a job connection. I considered hanging up. But rather than send him away empty-handed, I offered to coach him through the situation. I'd recently completed a certification process for coaching, and I figured I could practice my new skills on Carlos with little risk of botching it. After all, he was already prepared to leave the ministry. How much worse could I make it? He responded to my invitation to coach him with a question of his own: "What's coaching?" Basics of the gameCoaching assumes that a unique "solution seed" lies within every challenge. This seed simply needs to be given the right environment in order to germinate and reveal itself. Thus a coach tries to create the right environment for the solution seed to grow within the soil of the current challenge. In contrast, a consultant, or expert, can be likened to a contractor who uses his knowledge to bring outside materials and solutions onto the bare soil of a client's challenge. Today's leaders, including those in the church, are drawn to the organic over the mechanical. They trust the natural more than the artificial. And they are suspicious of outsiders who offer neat solutions to every problem. The values of Celtic Christianity, which are experiencing a resurgence in popularity, stress a person's God-given spirit that lies hidden beneath layers of sin and muck, and must be nurtured out. As George C. Hunter points out in The Celtic Way of Evangelism (Abingdon, 2000), this approach contrasts with the Roman model, which seeks to overcome man's crippling condition by delivering help from outside the person in need. Coaching is an art of discovery more than a science of delivery. The use of questions and conversation in coaching means that we begin from a posture of humility and mystery, not authority and knowledge. The coach serves as a catalyst in the client's own journey of discovery. There is a lot of talk today about life being a journey rather than a destination. Many leaders have abandoned the notion that one ever "arrives." This makes books, conferences, and other products that promise once-and-for-all solutions appear obsolete and arrogant. A journey consists of a series of steps, and today's leaders are simply looking for help to take the next one in their journey. The art of coaching helps people find the road signs to where their journey is headed. It does not prescribe a single solution for every situation. Thus, coaches must be be artful in skills of discovery, rather than experts over a body of knowledge. |              |
