2004 Pre-Conference Workshop

Being Stewards for the Soul of Coaching (A Senior Coach Cafι)

November 3, 2004

Quebec City, Canada

“What is the Soul of Coaching?”

• Start exactly where you are
• Lives in the spaces in between
• Breathing in deeply in the land of not knowing
• Bring out our divinity
• Palpable, yet cannot be touched
• Resonance of people’s voices
• Looking at our meaning & purpose
• Love, being cared for
• Uncovering & seeing client’s greatness
• One plus one is greater than two
• How does the answer to this question help us serve our clients
• Life’s jam session -- the ongoing flow and ongoing process
• Energy – the soul of coaching is ancient
• A co-creative process that is co-designed and vastly bigger than the parties involved
• Giving silence to the voices
• Giving voice to the silence
• What makes us think coaching has a soul?
• Anything worth doing, we can imbue with a sacredness, a soul
• Soul occurs when we live our passion for life
• Celebrating each other’s authenticity and not imposing the coaches point of view on the client
• It’s dynamic – generative and opening to more inquiry
• There is a distinction between the soul of coaching versus the soul of coaches
• Reconnecting people with their beingness not their doingness
• Do organizations have soul?
• We are prepared to deal with questions that we don’t have the answer to

“What does being a steward mean? What roles, responsibilities, opportunities and competencies are present for a steward of the soul(s) of coaching?”

• Being bridge builders, vs. right and wrong only
• Dancing in the paradox of inclusiveness
• Finding where the edges are . . .
• What are we willing to commit to
• Holding the space of curiosity, knowing what we stand for, for the sake of what

“What do I already know and do that nurtures the soul of coaching? What am I willing to commit to do to expand what I already know and do?”

• Have an awareness of how we model our way and being
• Staying connected to the coaching community and being receptive to learning
• Live the life of a coach, not an expert (notice when we are not being coach-like)
• Consider the power of knowledge and expertise, as well as the power of NOT knowing, dwelling in the domain of possibility
• Witnessing who I am becoming
• Moving beyond the individual to incorporate systems thinking in our coaching, each individual is part of a   larger group
• Model the joyousness of staying in the present