By Ana Karakusevic
Aboodi Shabi set the tone for the International Coach Federation UK´s event, The Art of Masterful Coaching, by challenging the common belief that we need more knowledge, stressing how we coach from our wisdom, and not our knowledge.
Opening the event in London on 9 April, Shabi set delegates on the journey of personal mastery, defining wisdom as a “capacity to listen and be present, to see what else may be needed to transform that person”. Shabi, European head of Newfield Network, which sponsored the event, described an expert as wanting to get to the solution as quickly as possible, and a master as someone who’s comfortable to stay in the not-knowing.
The baton was picked up by Edna Murdoch of the Coaching Supervision Academy, who started with the premise that “who we are is how we coach”. Murdoch encouraged delegates to access their internal supervisor, who connects us with the “you that simply is”. She took them through a guided presencing exercise, enabling them to connect with their “deeper, still, wise, inner selves.” Delegates were encouraged to go deep inside to a place of deep dialogue, before offering themselves as coaches to others.
“When we meet the other, it is our presence that helps them more than our words”, said Murdoch, inviting coaches to remain curious and unconditionally interested, but without attachment to a particular outcome.
Continuing the theme of mastery with grace and ease, Miriam Orriss, also of the Coaching Supervision Academy, introduced delegates to more somatic exercises, following partners’ energy fields without words and without direct physical contact. Miriam talked about The Field – where our consciousness resides and where everything is connected – and backed up her approach with scientific data from quantum physics and neuroscience.
Humanity’s thirst for knowledge can cause us to be overwhelmed with information, tools, techniques, approaches and words, rather than sitting still in the inner space of pure being, Shabi said in the last session of the day.
“We acquire knowledge through consuming information, but wisdom through living,” said Shabi, stressing that “coaching is nothing if it’s not a relationship.”
Introducing the concept of sacred space as a place where coaching miracles happen, Shabi took delegates through a series of silent guided somatic exercises, in which they connected to their partners’ energy solely by looking into their eyes, holding their hands and feeling their shoulders. Without exchanging a word, they were invited to feel their way into their “knowing” to connect with the as-yet-unworded solutions to their deepest needs. For many, it was a powerful exercise in being truly present and comfortable in sharing their innermost space with another human being, leaving them with moist eyes and lumps in our throats.
Other speakers included David Gustave of Kids’ Company – UK ICF’s chosen charity – who invited delegates to contribute to the coaching Gold Olympic Challenge (http://www.goldchallenge.org/ ) and Liz Macann of the BBC’s Internal Coaching Network. Coaching serves to shore up people’s confidence, leadership and team-management skills at the BBC in an era where – due to budget cuts and mass redundancies – many staff feel that their psychological contract with the organisation has been broken, Macann told delegates.
Deborah Price, president of UK ICF, had asked two questions at the beginning of the day: “As coaches, how do we hold ourselves to the need for transformational coaching when market demands are at an all time high for outdated transactional, solution focused coaching?” and “How do we find that inner resilience to break the paradigm and really influence and shape our communities for the future?”
At the end, about 60 UK ICF coaches left with a strong commitment to nurturing that inner resilience and keeping their presence in true service of the client.
Ana Karakusevic is a coach, facilitator and designer of large-group interventions which use Theory U, Art of Hosting and other approaches to uncover collective and emergent wisdom. She works as an independent coach and consultant with Future Considerations, based in London.
Aboodi Shabi will be presenting a session on the art of ontological coaching at the Coaching and Mentoring at Work conference: Beyond Frontiers on 23 November in London http://www.coaching-at-work.com/coaching-and-mentoring-at-work-beyond-frontiers/