Routine Housekeeping

Well, that's not quite the topic with this blog of course. I'm reminded everyday with every client and in every situation to keep my head clear when all about me is not. The essence of the "not" can be seen easily with the following stock phrases:

"I'm in my head."
"You must be in your head."
"I feel so ...."
"She never ...."
"I don't like it when ...."

You get the picture. We humans are full of involvement with our feelings and thinking and experiencing. That's the way things are. But as coaches, a major part of our skill set is to not engage these "heady" conversations, experiences and feelings while with our clients. Our job is to serve each client by being interested (as opposed to interesting) and curious. I'm going to boldly say that being "in one's head" is not exactly a recipe for effective coaching.

What do you think? Did you pick up on the word 'engage?' Never will I say that coaches shouldn't feel or think or experience. Our humanity is our gift to a person we coach. What I want to tweak here is the idea that "being in our heads" or being absent from our client is to abandon the purpose of coaching.

That may be a bit harsh.

Routine housekeeping. Once upon a time I managed a rule book for a sport (swimming). When we had minor adjustments (inconsequential, basically) to a rule we called it housekeeping in order to not get wound up in administrivia and word smithing too often. So let's see ...

Routine housekeeping in this conversation is about clearing our heads each and every time we work in our beloved profession. That's not some of the time, it's every time. My dad would say "clear the cobwebs" and I would say "turn the switch." That's what you and I must practice every minute we work.

What do you think about that?