21st Century Congregations
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Coaching:
Discovering the Way and Moving Forward
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What do you think of when you hear the word “coach?” I coached volleyball for several years and my goal was to increase the skill level of my players, to help them work together, and to work as hard as they could to excel when they were in competition. Perhaps you have had a sports coach over the years. Perhaps you picture something like the picture here – a coach is a conveyance to move you from one place to another.
There are many kinds of professional coaching that have nothing to do with sports or vehicles, and yet, the purpose is somewhat the same! For some, the desire/need for coaching comes out of a particular issue at work, in a relationship, in managing life’s challenges. There may be places where we are stuck, or cannot seem to act. For others, coaching is simply a regular self reflective part of life’s journeys. Just as we spring clean the house (what goes in the trash? What did I once use but now no longer need? what needs to be given away? what needs to be reclaimed and used?), we can sort through our priorities, gifts and skills as the context of our life, our work, our relationships shifts and changes. Like the horse and coach pictured here, the coaching relationship is meant to support you to moving from one place to another. Like a good sports coach, a professional coach can support you in deepening your gifts and skills.
Coaching is a particular way of supporting the work of moving forward. It is not consulting, spiritual direction, mentoring, or counselling. The coach’s first assumption is that you are whole and have within you the wisdom and ability to find ways through challenges. Hence, the coaching conversation does not brainstorm or advise or direct. The conversation is one of powerful questions that help you go deeper, that may challenge the assumptions that are keeping you stuck. It may be that one of the things
you
discover in the coaching relationship is the need for counselling, or you may want more information about something from a consultant; or, through the coaching conversation, you may realize you want some spiritual direction. These, however, are distinct from the coaching relationship.
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"Coaching is the powerful means to help excavate...
answers as leaders tap their deep inner wisdom stirred up by the Holy Spirit."
Chris Holmes,
The Art of Coaching Clergy
There are many ways into the coaching relationship. You might be facing a particular identifiable issue:
- Moving past a “stuckness” at work;
- Exploring a dilemma about priorities;
- Beginning a difficult conversation;
- Working on moving from an unhealthy habit to a healthy one;
- Weighing the factors in thinking about a job change, or retirement.
There are also many ways into the coaching relationship simply to continue and deepen the process of self reflection, and, for example, the reclamation of gifts and skills. A coach might simply begin by asking you to consider some questions:
- Name three of your greatest strengths. Which one would you like to deepen/use more?
- What would you like to be different a year from now?
- How can you turn a recent learning experience into action?
Our Diocese has entered into the development of a coaching program. Through our formation work, we have trained a cadre of coaches. Their work is to assist vestries and leadership groups in taking things to the next level. There is research that indicates that any learning experience we have can be enhanced and more effectively integrated when a coach is involved. Perhaps you have gone to a Leadership Day – it was a great day but somehow the learning got lost within a few days or weeks. A coach can help you and your vestry ask: what was interesting? What one or two things do we want to focus on? What next action will we take to incorporate this learning, or to learn more about something that seems very relevant to us? A coach can help you focus and stay on track. In addition, we have had 4 people (including yours truly) trained for 60 hours through a Lilly Grant. This is the first level of a professional coaching certification. The Lilly grant is designed for “clergy coaching clergy;” we share this grant with the New England Synod of the Lutheran Church, and the Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island Conference of the United Church of Christ. The Methodist Church, by the way, already has a robust coaching program. All of our coaches meet for continued practice (we coach each other!) and for continuing education and formation.
We are at the beginning of this journey. Many of the first coaches trained want to be trained to a deeper level. The coaches trained through the Lilly grant will be trained to the PCC (or, professional level) of coaching. All of us need to further and deepen the practice in order to be certified. If you reach out for a coach, you will benefit and so will the coaches!
Wondering what you might be coached on? Consider some of these questions:
- What do you need most now?
- What do you want to learn? What’s holding you back? What one step could you take right now?
- What keeps you up at night?
Consider the Wheel of Life and the Wheel of Ministry following this article. Prayerfully consider your level of satisfaction in each area – how satisfied are you that you are living into your call to the deepest life in that area? Consider them from 1-10 with 1 being the least level of satisfaction and 10 being the highest level. Draw a line through each “piece of the pie” to indicate your response. What areas need some attention? Where would you like to increase your level of satisfaction so that you can live the fullest life God has called you to, and offer the fullest ministry to which you are called?
Think coaching might be for you? Please contact me: Pam Mott,
pmott@diocesewma.org
or any of our coaches who might be known to you: Jenny Gregg, Bernie Poppe, Heather Blais, Mac Murray, Molly Scherm, Nancy Webb Stroud, Janet Walsh Young, John Cheek, Jose Reyes, Dick Delorme, Libby Wade, or Erik Karas.
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The Rev. Pamela J. Mott
Canon to the Ordinary
The Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts
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The Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts | 413-737-4786 |
diocesewma.org
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