This webtorial started with me volunteering to talk about a difficult decision that I had to make and the other coaches would then take turns to give an advice or a statement. I talked about a very difficult decision to let my dog who was suffering from incurable cancer to go peacefully. I didn’t think anyone was prepared for what I decided to talk about.
I was still haunted by the decision I had to make that Sunday morning almost a year ago at the vet’s office. I wanted to hear what actions other people would have taken in my position and more importantly, I wanted to talk about it as a way to seek closure.
This experiment illustrates the difference between a mentor and a coach. A mentor would give you answers to your questions, advice to solve your problems (which may be unhelpful) or share their own experience. A coach on the other hand would listen with empathy and ask questions to help you find the answers or the closure you are looking for. It’s not about what actions the coach would take in the same circumstances but rather how the coachee would act in their situation.
One takeaway for me and probably for other coaches is that your coachee may want to talk about an uneasy subject or an unfamiliar topic, or venture into uncharted territory. But that’s OK because coaches are not there to give advice or answers. They are there to ask exploratory questions to help the coachee connect the dots to draw their own conclusions.
Towards the end of the webtorial, our coach Colin asked us what we would do differently this week. For me, it would be listening more and try to rein in my inner advice beast.
Module 02: 2023-03-01
