Get Creative for My First Coaching Session: Blending Design Thinking & Meditative Art
Now 9 weeks into my coaching education with inviteCHANGE, we began practice coaching with peers. While I am excited to apply coaching theory to real-life situations, transitioning from my previous role as a UX Researcher, where artful conversations have not yet in my expertise, poses a challenge.
Admittedly, I was sensing a bit of imposter syndrome regarding my performance potential, even though realizing that it is more about focusing on the client, the present moment, and the partnership rather than my capabilities.
Instead of waiting anxiously for my first peer coaching session, I decided to share my preparation journey for my first official coaching practice. This article aims to inspire courage and shed light on our shared experience of marching into new territory. Here’s to uniqueness, resilience and growth.
Here’s how I prepared for my first coaching session in 5 steps:
- Syncing up & Categorizing
- Creating Intention
- Development Plan
- Meditative Art
- Re-centered & Letting Go
Step 1. Syncing Up & Categorizing:
I started by aligning with empowering questions, inquiries and requests from coaching sessions I’ve seen, using ICF Core Competencies and inviteCHANGE’s Generative Coaching tools. I organized these into three themes: Coaching Structure, Generative Perceiving Styles and Dimensions, and Generative Curiosity.
The questions above were context-specific notes taken from actual powerful coaching sessions in the inviteCHANGE coaching program. I used them as inspiration and reminders to expand my curiosity for my clients, focusing on understanding rather than memorizing them as formulas.
Step 2. Creating Intention:
I created an intention statement for Summer 2024, recorded an audio for empowering questions to naturalize my language and style, focusing on being fully present and enhancing my intuition.
Step 3. Development Plan:
I refined my personal Coaching Development Plan, highlighting specific ICF Core Competencies, action plans, and measures of success. In 2024 summer, I choose to develop the following ICF Core Competency and skills:
CC #6: Listens Actively
Skill #2: Reflect or summarizes what the client communicated to ensure clarity and understanding.
Skill #4: Notices, acknowledges and explores the client’s emotions, energy shifts, non-verbal cures or other behaviors.
Skill #5: Integrates the client’s words, tone of voice and body language to determine the full meaning of what is being communicated.
CC #7: Evokes Awareness
Skill #2: Challenges the client as a way to evoke awareness or insight.
Skill #9: Invites the client to generate ideas about how they can move forward and what they are willing or able to do.
Skill #11: Shares observations, insights and feelings, without attachment, that have the potential to create new learning for the client.
Step 4. Meditative Art:
In Week 7, while I had an honor exploring “the mind, body, soul connection” with my peer coach, I decided to embrace a creative challenge leading up to my first coaching session. I meditated with Sun Salutation yoga practice, stretched intuitively, and painted mindful symbols on canvas to anchor my intention and empower my coaching frameworks.
The understanding of Meditative Art focuses not on the artistic result, but on the process of deeply connecting with one’s feelings and energy, and staying in touch with their authentic self to move forward. The visuals in my doodles arise from meditation and intuitive body movement.
Step 5. Re-centered & Letting Go:
On the day of my first coaching session, I set aside my questions and frameworks, revisited my visual cue, and focused on my intention and sense of flow.
I also did a 10-minute quiet session, as recommended by my delivery leader on Evoke Awareness, Christine Gao, for a quick self-check-in:
- Mind: I hold expansive curiosity for my clients.
- Heart: I care deeply for my clients.
- Gut: I trust my intuition and am bold if needed for my clients.
Reflection on My First Peer Coaching
Below is my self-reflection using the “Play, Purpose & Potential” ToMo framework.
Play: What did I learn about my coaching?
- Who we are is how we coach. I’m still the caring, calming, curious person I was as a UX researcher, now diving into coaching conversations. This time, I expanded my curiosity for my client’s benefit, asking questions that help them evoke awarenesses.
- I found myself naturally drawn to energy, feelings, emotions, and visual metaphors. I started incorporating more practical, outcome-driven questions.
Purpose: What impact did I have?
- My impact might not be as deep as I intended, but we co-created tangible actions with my client’s desired feeling within the time frame we have.
Potential: What area do I want to grow in for the next coaching session?
- Empowering Inquiry for Evoking Awareness: How can I incorporate more observations, insights, or feelings as empowering inquiries for my clients to explore deeper relationships with the issues they bring in? What about using metaphors?
Last Notes:
I hope this transparent account of my journey helps others feel less alone and more confident in their own paths to becoming coaches, or inspires them to become whoever they desire to be.
Embrace the nervousness and turn it into dedication, trial, and error.
Thank you for reading this short lesson from my first coaching session. I’m keen to learn from your wisdom and suggestions on the following:
How have you been on your adventurous journey? What’s your favorite takeaway from my visual note and insight summary? What would you like to see more or less of? Other suggestions?
Wednesday Wondering:
Every week, I share the most wondering thing I’ve learned in Generative Coaching. Drawing from my coaching notes, insights from user research, and my passion as a meditative art facilitator, I’ll share short lessons that help me rediscover joyful purposes in life and work. With a beginner’s mind, join me on the tide of coaching together.
Resources and References:
- inviteCHANGE: An organization dedicated to empowering individuals and organizations to live authentically, align with their values, and cultivate prosperity.
- ICF Core Competencies: The ICF Core Competencies were developed to support greater understanding about the skills and approaches used within today’s coaching profession as defined by ICF.
- “Play, Purpose & Potential” ToMo framework: How Company Culture Shapes Employee Motivation by Lindsay McGregor and Neel Doshi from the Harvard Business Review
