A Coaching Power Tool created by Louise Talotta
(Corporate and Life Transition Coaching, UNITED STATES)
Coaches support clients to move forward in the ways they would like to move, and dance with them through new ‘steps’ that challenge the client to find answers within themselves. Clients often seek coaching because they have repeated or attracted the same outcomes over and over and wonder why they have similar repeating experiences. Their personal or professional goals may include a variety of interwoven emotions and thoughts that have driven their past behaviors. The gift of coaching shines light on these connections for new and empowering client insights and inspires change.
Whether coaching others or ourselves, we all have automatic responses that drive the very outcomes we are looking to change. We can shift our perspectives to be more empowering when we learn to ‘Catch and Question’ the moments that have opportunities to change ourselves inwardly and drive new results outwardly.
Kim chose to sleep through her alarm again. She wanted to stay in bed even though there was a 9am meeting at work. Dragging herself out of her warm covers, she ran to the kitchen and made coffee. She told herself that taking the time to make the coffee now instead of waiting until she got to work, would wake her up. She rushed to the shower, got herself ready in record time and was feeling pretty proud of getting out the door and into her car for the ½ hour ride to work. It was now 8:15 which gave her 15 minutes extra. She smiled and began thinking that maybe she could start sleeping in more often!
She screeched to a stop at the first light as it turned red. The next three traffic lights turned red also. She felt her heart pumping fast and she clenched her jaw tightly. Nearing the highway, a huge truck turned on its signal light and moved in front of her to avoid a car stalled in its lane. Kim shrieked at the trucker in the silence of her car, criticizing the time it took him. Her hands gripped the wheel as she stayed close to his bumper, angry at the unfairness of everything that slowed her down today.
A blue car that looked a lot like her ex-husbands zipped across the highway lane in front of her. It promptly slowed down, forcing her to do the same. She stared in disbelief and decided it probably was him in that car and that he did it on purpose. Cars continued to slow and she could see that there was an accident or road work ahead from the orange cones that dotted the road’s edge. “Unbelievable”, she screamed to no one and started counting the number of problems she had experienced so far.
She walked stiffly into the conference room, edgy and annoyed because she didn’t have time to review her talking points for presenting the project. She also decided she wasn’t in the mood to be friendly or say hello to any of her colleagues who sat around the table blankly staring at her. All she noticed was her boss frowning at her so there must be something wrong there too. Maybe, Kim thought, if her boss had that kind of attitude, Kim should start looking for a new job.
Quick Response vs ‘Catch and Question’©
What do we know about Kim’s story from her perspective?
- That traffic, people and her ex-husband created obstacles for her arriving at work on time.
- That her boss has issues with Kim which is causing Kim to doubt her performance success.
- That her colleagues must be in on whatever the problem is because no one said hello to her as they usually do.
- That she needs to get her job resume done quickly.