Tips for the More Mindful Coach

With Merci Miglino, MCC

Mindfulness is paying attention to ourselves, others and our environment in the present moment. It’s the awareness of what we’re doing while we’re doing it and helps counter our tendency to get stuck on ‘autopilot’ and caught up in thoughts and emotions.

With its roots in ancient practices, mindfulness has been clinically proven to alleviate stress, depression and a wide range of physiological conditions. It’s no wonder the practice has found its way into the corporate culture as an effective way to improve productivity, creativity and personal well being.

It’s easy then to see how mindfulness is a natural companion to coaching not just for the client, but for developing coaching mastery as well. Mindfulness allows coaches to be fully in the present, and to support their clients in making choices in the here and now that are increasingly free of fear, guilt and expectation.

Douglas Riddle, author of Three Keys to Mindful Leadership Coaching, puts it this way,

Mindful coaches perfect a form of conscious and comfortable simultaneous attention to themselves, their coachee, the relationship between them, and the mental, emotional, and relational dynamics occurring in the moment.

And this requires the coach to have

1. an empty mind
2. non-re activity
3. permissive attention

So here are some tips for being a More Mindful Coach

1. Approach coaching (and life in general) with non-judgment; open-ness; curiosity, and compassion.

2. Prepare mindfully for each coaching session- this can take as little as a few minutes. For example, walk mindfully to your coaching session, or sit in the park and pay attention to your breath for a few minutes.

3. Remember – Less is more.
   Life is fast and full of opportunity and we cannot do everything.’ Focus on what’s essential, to make a higher overall contribution in your coaching and in the world.

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