"Coaching is an art, and it's far easier said than done. It takes courage to ask a question, rather than offer up advice, provide an answer, or unleash a solution. Giving another person the opportunity to find their own way, make their own mistakes, and create their own wisdom is both brave and vulnerable. (Brené Brown, author of Rising Strong and Daring Greatly)
This quote captures a lot of my development with coaching this year. Over time, particular questions got to the point and moved our discussions in a purposeful and honest way. Every mentor created their own journey with a little of turn here and there based on evidence in the habitat.
The key elements to our success was having the kaizen focused on what was needed for the habitat and that provided constant feedback on how effective there ideas or plans were. 'Necessity is the mother of invention' when the need for something becomes essential,' you are forced to find ways to achieve it. This was the definitely the case for all our kaizen. Many times there were tweaks and adjustments or even a complete new approach was needed because it was essential to meet a goal.
Another key element was the clarity of our vision and what we were trying to achieve. By having the Simon Sinek 'acid test' to compare it against kept the discussions on track. The honesty of the mentors was crucial, but also being able to trial things and reflect on them, they made their own mistakes and were quick to acknowledge them. Through discussion we both grew in the areas of the kaizen and we were able to have informed discussions which were crucially based on our agreed shared vision.
Also, a key element was accountability. The mentors agreed to meet every 4-5 weeks knowing their short term goals would be discussed. In most cases, every mentor made a small but decisive step forward. It became the norm and having three kaizen's moving us forward was incredible.
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