Be your true self and that’s enough… That’s the message I got from a small stand of Birch trees in the mountains of Colorado on the last day of my Coach Training.
Something tells me I should explain a bit more. 🙂
Since October 2013 I have been learning to be a personal/leadership coach through the Newfield Network. I did part one (Foundations for Personal Leadership) of the training @ the University of Calgary but decided to do part two (The Art & Practice of Ontological Coaching – TAPOC) just outside of Colorado Springs at a Leadership Development retreat called The Nature Place. Ontological Coaching is a holistic and effective way to help people discover all that is within themselves and open their view to new ideas and possibilities.
Both Foundations and TAPOC have been transformative experiences and I’ve met some of the most incredible people along the way. TAPOC was especially meaningful as I spent 5 days truly immersed in the work of learning to be a coach. My classmates were some of the most generous,compassionate and caring people I’ve ever known. I’m certain I will know them for a very long time. The Newfield approach of learning is experiential, we don’t just learn how to coach we experience coaching as both coachee and coach. We practice on each other using real breakdowns and genuine conversation. Coaching is to be in service to another person and we learned the humility and compassion required to be in service to our coachee’s. I believe that this style of coaching is more than a profession, it’s a calling.
The Newfield mission sums up the approach to this work:
Julio Olalla, Founder Newfield Network
I am very proud to be a member of the Newfield community and I’m so proud of all the work my classmates did to help me prepare for the journey ahead. They gave of themselves and allowed me to open up in ways I didn’t think I could. For that I am so grateful.
The amazing room we worked in @ The Nature Place. So inspiring!
The next step is to get out there and actually coach! I would like to thank my Coachee Guinea pigs in advance 🙂
Oh right I forgot to explain the tree thing! On the last day of the conference Julio talked about being open to different voices when it comes to coaching, our learning can come from so many places, he asked us to go out to the forest and find a tree that appealed to us and ask it one question. The question was “What are the things I can do immediately to create happier and deeper relationships?” I walked into the forest and saw an evergreen tree that looked nice, as I approached it the wind came through and made the leaves rustle on a small stand of Birch trees and that caught my attention so I went and stood in the middle of them instead. I closed my eyes and asked my questions, the answer came through so clearly it was almost overwhelming!
Be your true self and that’s enough…
Pretty smart trees
jb