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| Circling Instead of Moving Forward |
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by Annie Perdue-Olson If you are a coach or if you are a leader, I bet you’ve experienced something similar to what I did a few weeks ago. While exploring action steps with a coaching client (for you it may have been an employee), you notice after about 10 or 15 minutes the conversation circles back to where you started. The same concerns emerge again and it’s usually some roadblock to the goal.So what now? I wasn’t quite sharp enough to notice it at first and the client and I started spinning in circles together. When I did finally notice and mentioned something, the client was aware of the spinning, but didn’t know how to stop. By then it was late in the session and we delayed exploring the circles until our next session. Both of us walked away from that session with a reflection exercise. Mine was—“What can I learn from this experience?” When I reflected on the session, I focused on the value of engaging my intuitive listening to notice the thoughts, feelings, or behaviors that hint at underlying concerns or beliefs that might be keeping the client from moving forward. It’s not always easy trusting what we notice and taking the risk to bring it forth in a respectful way. However, the perspective the client may gain from your observation may be just what they need in that moment. Awareness can be the key to unlocking change in the life of another person and strengthen his or her ability to take action. Sometimes a simple statement, like “I’ve notice that we’ve come back to that a few times. Can we explore that a bit more?” can mean the difference between circling and moving forward. ~ Annie Perdue-Olson
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