Cherie Silas, MCC is Managing Director of Tandem Coaching Partners and the Director of Education at Tandem Coaching Academy. She Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC), Certified Team Coach (CTC), and Human Systems Coach (CHS).
Cherie also serves as a professional coaching instructor and mentor coach helping coaches improve their core coaching competencies and skills. She Certified Supervision Practitioner (CSP) for experienced coaches helping them look at the work they are doing with their clients to strengthen those client relationships for more effective coaching engagements.
ICF defines this embodiment of a coaching mindset as developing and maintaining a mindset that is open, curious, flexible, and client-centered. The first indicator that the coach is embodying the coaching mindset is:
Acknowledges that clients are responsible for their own choices
What does it mean to acknowledge that clients are responsible for their own choices?
I don’t believe that this acknowledgment is intended to be just what a coach says to a client. The intention is not a checkbox whereby the coach says, “You are responsible for your own choices,” though that may often happen in practice. This indicator is about the coaches acknowledging to themselves and accepting that clients are responsible for their own choices. This acknowledgment becomes a powerful influencer of the way the coach thinks, believes, and approaches her interactions with clients.
In order to more clearly develop an understanding of this first point, ask yourself this question, “How will I interact with others if I truly believe that they are responsible for their own choices?” Here are a few things that rise to the surface for me.
If I truly believe that others are responsible for their own choices, I will:
respect that my client’s way of doing things may be different than my own and recognize that they are the best judge of what is right for their life and situation
be transparent, straightforward, and honest in my observations
support their definition of success and partner with them to achieve that end
hold accountability as a mirror so they can examine their decisions, actions, and inactions and determine the next step
see them as competent, able to make the right choices and not in need of my fixing, advising, correcting, suggesting, or influencing
believe that they can make the best decision to change or not to change and will respect their choice
I will not:
become frustrated when they aren’t moving fast enough, changing consistently enough, or when they seem to be moving in reverse
push my own agenda, thoughts, opinions, and desires on them; nor will I try to influence them to see things my way
judge their actions, inactions, decisions, or words to be right or wrong; instead, I will be curious about what they can discover through them
try to rescue them, coddle them, or protect them
In short, this first indicator of coaching mindset goes far beyond what you do in a coaching session and encourages you to examine who you are as a coach. This sets a high bar and draws a clear distinction from how coaches with ICF credentials are responsible for being with their clients. It also sets clear expectations for clients about what they can expect from an ICF accredited coach. My question to you is, how closely are you aligned to this competency as an agile coach? Something to think about for sure.
This article was originally published at https://baa.tco.ac/3DX8
About Best Agile Articles Project
Best Agile Articles is a collaborative project of the Agile community to bring you the best of the best publications each year. Our goal in publishing these yearly editions is to cull through the many articles that are published each year and provide you with a curated set of high-quality articles that capture the latest knowledge and experience of the agile community in one compact volume. Our purpose is twofold. First, we understand that it’s hard to figure out where to go when looking for ideas and answers. There are thousands of blogs, videos, books and other resources available at the click of a mouse. But that can be a lot to sort through. So, we thought we could be of some help. Second, we wanted to bring some visibility to many people who are doing outstanding work in this field and are providing helpful resources. We hope that this publication will help them connect to you, the ones they are writing for. Our intention is that this publication is to be by the agile community as a service to the agile community and for the agile community. With that in mind, we pulled together a great group of volunteers to help get this work into your hands.
The articles in this volume were selected by: • A diverse Volunteer Committee of sixteen people with expertise in a variety of areas related to agile. • The agile community. A call for article nominations went out in early 2020 and several dozen 2019 articles were nominated by the community.
The articles themselves cover a wide variety of topics including organizational structure, culture, and agile leadership. There is something for almost everyone here. All editions of the Best Agile Articles publication are available on Amazon and free to download on the Best Agile Article site. We are thankful for the great participation by the agile community at large. If you would like to participate in delivering this publication in future years, we would welcome hearing from you.
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Cherie Silas
Cherie Silas, MCC is Managing Director of Tandem Coaching Partners and the Director of Education at Tandem Coaching Academy.
She Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC), Certified Team Coach (CTC), and Human Systems Coach (CHS).
Cherie also serves as a professional coaching instructor and mentor coach helping coaches improve their core coaching competencies and skills. She Certified Supervision Practitioner (CSP) for experienced coaches helping them look at the work they are doing with their clients to strengthen those client relationships for more effective coaching engagements.
Acknowledging Client Responsibility
By
ICF recently released and updated competency model that will go into effect for credential applications in early 2021. The new model starts with the foundation: Demonstrates Ethical Practice which I wrote about last time, and Embodies a Coaching Mindset which is the focus of the next few articles.
ICF defines this embodiment of a coaching mindset as developing and maintaining a mindset that is open, curious, flexible, and client-centered.
Acknowledging Client Responsibility
By Cherie Silas
ICF recently released and updated competency model that will go into effect for credential applications in early 2021. The new model starts with the foundation: Demonstrates Ethical Practice which I wrote about last time, and Embodies a Coaching Mindset which is the focus of the next few articles.
ICF defines this embodiment of a coaching mindset as developing and maintaining a mindset that is open, curious, flexible, and client-centered. The first indicator that the coach is embodying the coaching mindset is:
Acknowledges that clients are responsible for their own choices
What does it mean to acknowledge that clients are responsible for their own choices?
I don’t believe that this acknowledgment is intended to be just what a coach says to a client. The intention is not a checkbox whereby the coach says, “You are responsible for your own choices,” though that may often happen in practice. This indicator is about the coaches acknowledging to themselves and accepting that clients are responsible for their own choices. This acknowledgment becomes a powerful influencer of the way the coach thinks, believes, and approaches her interactions with clients.
In order to more clearly develop an understanding of this first point, ask yourself this question, “How will I interact with others if I truly believe that they are responsible for their own choices?” Here are a few things that rise to the surface for me.
If I truly believe that others are responsible for their own choices, I will:
I will not:
In short, this first indicator of coaching mindset goes far beyond what you do in a coaching session and encourages you to examine who you are as a coach. This sets a high bar and draws a clear distinction from how coaches with ICF credentials are responsible for being with their clients. It also sets clear expectations for clients about what they can expect from an ICF accredited coach. My question to you is, how closely are you aligned to this competency as an agile coach? Something to think about for sure.
All Rights Reserved
This article was originally published at https://baa.tco.ac/3DX8
About Best Agile Articles Project
Best Agile Articles is a collaborative project of the Agile community to bring you the best of the best publications each year. Our goal in publishing these yearly editions is to cull through the many articles that are published each year and provide you with a curated set of high-quality articles that capture the latest knowledge and experience of the agile community in one compact volume.
Our purpose is twofold. First, we understand that it’s hard to figure out where to go when looking for ideas and answers. There are thousands of blogs, videos, books and other resources available at the click of a mouse. But that can be a lot to sort through. So, we thought we could be of some help. Second, we wanted to bring some visibility to many people who are doing outstanding work in this field and are providing helpful resources. We hope that this publication will help them connect to you, the ones they are writing for.
Our intention is that this publication is to be by the agile community as a service to the agile community and for the agile community. With that in mind, we pulled together a great group of volunteers to help get this work into your hands.
The articles in this volume were selected by:
• A diverse Volunteer Committee of sixteen people with expertise in a variety of areas related to agile.
• The agile community. A call for article nominations went out in early 2020 and several dozen 2019 articles were nominated by the community.
The articles themselves cover a wide variety of topics including organizational structure, culture, and agile leadership. There is something for almost everyone here. All editions of the Best Agile Articles publication are available on Amazon and free to download on the Best Agile Article site.
We are thankful for the great participation by the agile community at large. If you would like to participate in delivering this publication in future years, we would welcome hearing from you.