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Transcript of Training Call
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Coaching Proficiencies
Proficiency #14 - Designs supportive environments
April 2, 2002 - 5:00 p.m. EST
Thomas Leonard, Session Leader
TJL: Hello and welcome to the call. This is Thomas Leonard, with Susan
Austin and about 30 folks from the graduate school of coaching. We're on
coaching proficiency #14 and will be discussing all sorts of
environments. We'll be talking about that in a moment, and we'll ask you
to share your comments. I'm going to read first the paragraph we have on
the website and we'll talk about the history of the topic. (Thomas reads
the paragraph.)
The three examples of this are: (1) Designs environments which
automatically support the client to take action, (2) designs stimulating
environments which evolve the clients appraisingly or more quickly, and
(3) Repairs environments that might have been weakened. It's so much
easier to get things done if you have environments set up to support
you. It's not true for everyone, but many clients respond so well. I've
gone so far with this - we have a course called Personal Evolution at
CoachVille.com - and I have gone so far as to say that I don't focus on
myself anymore. Now I’d much rather design environments that cause me to
be successful. I spend more time preparing environments to make that
process work more effectively. I look at almost everything, everyone,
every idea, a television show, my dog, my best friend as an environment,
and have a profound relationship with almost everything. The whole idea
is to look at environments as partners in your success, and you begin to
relate to them, rather than just using them as tools. If you set up the
environment well, you can almost have it do the work, rather than you
doing the work.
Susan: If you took away your environments, what would happen to you?
TJL: I don't know. My creative juices would shrivel up and I would go
nowhere. Would I be able to get through the day without them and achieve
my goals? Yes. I'm so intertwined with them, that it would be a letdown
or a devolution, if you will, without them. Life has gotten much more
complex in the last 30 or 40 years.
Susan: So you're saying you set up your environments to be inspiring,
versus just having an environment that you almost suffer through.
TJL: Say you want to write a book - environments can provide a much
easier way to get something done. For example, start with an e-zine
first, and do a lesson or two every day or every week, and in three to
six months, you have most of the content for the book. Your environment
is the subscribers who respond. It's those comments and synergy with
your subscribers that will pull the best out of you. That's a more
effective way to get things done.
Susan: Do you look for anything in your clients that give signs that
their environments need to be upgraded?
TJL: I want them to have success in spite of themselves. I want things
to be sustainable for my clients, and I don't want it to be dependent on
me. For example, if a client is stuck and isn't getting much done, we're
going to talk about environments that inspire, motivate, or challenge
them to get things done. Also, maybe the client is going around in
circles.– For almost everyone there is a way to design structures,
information, activities, etc. to bring out one’s best, and that's the
idea. Does anyone have any comments, questions, or client situations?
Rob: Where do you start?
TJL: Give me an example and I'll tell you.
Rob: I want to create an environment to write a book.
TJL: Okay. First I would say that there are a couple different ways to
write a book. Are you someone that wants to take 3 months off, or can
you put an hour a day into it, or would you like to have people read
parts of it along the way and get feedback on it, or is there some other
approach you're thinking about it?
Rob: Well, the 3rd way is probably the only way I'm going to write it.
TJL: Why?
Rob: Going off for 3 months by myself would be depressing, and the other
way about disciplining myself to do an hour a week, I can see lots of
fighting with myself.
TJL: And what's appealing about the other approach?
Rob: Interacting with other people helps my imagination and ideas to
flow more freely, and the feedback from other people gives me a dynamic
road map to follow out of inspiration.
TJL: So you're okay with that two-way interaction thing?
Rob: I think that sounds really exciting and fun and light.
TJL: I've done it that way, and it is great. So, how long do you think
it'll take you to write this?– Give me the timeframe you're thinking of.
Rob: My best guess would be between 12 and 24 months. I haven't done it
before so I'm guessing.
TJL: How would you do it?
Rob: I would do it somewhere around 4 or 5 times a week.
TJL: Okay. We'll stop here then, Rob. We could go into the mechanics
here - how to poll your subscribers, how to set up the systems for the
e-zine, how to join your R&D team, and so on. As you can see, I wanted
to find out how he felt about the other types of environments. As
coaches, the more environments we learn about, the more we can share
them with our clients. There are almost templates of environments. Any
questions about what we just did?
Rob: For me, the questions would be that you took me down the path of
what would I’d like to create, but I don't know if you want to go down
the mechanics.
TJL: Yeah, that's a different kind of call. I just wanted to talk about
setting up different kinds of environments. It's better to have the
client tell you how they work best, and then craft the environment from
there.
Bob: So then you'd refer him to resources that tell him how to set up an
e-zine, etc.?
TJL: Yes, and that's what's great about CoachVille. We have some
information about that on the website, and as we get more resources, we
continue to add it to the website.
Sally: What if you had a client who you had no idea what kind of
environments you might suggest? What if someone had something they
wanted to do and you couldn't think of any environments?
TJL: As you coach more, you'll know of templates that can be adapted to
almost any situation. If you didn't have that, I’d try to educate the
client to having useful or supportive environments in general. If a goal
is one that there can't be an environment to support it, then I would
question the validity of that goal.
XXX: I'm working with a woman who wants to do a one-woman show. I don’t
think she wants to make money from it, but she just wants to create
that environment.
TJL: I think hanging around with common interest groups, people with
similar interests, etc. is the best way to do this. If people resist
that, perhaps the goal is a pipe dream and I often question their
motivation.
Donna: I have a client who's 5 years into her business and can't do it
all anymore, so I've been introducing the concept of supportive
environments. I've suggested she have her employee come up with the
concepts , but it seems she’s used to doing everything herself. Even
with the employee there's just too much to be done at one time.
TJL: A lot of entrepreneurs don't have the makeup to properly delegate.
Just because someone says they're too busy and have to hire someone, I'd
question that. In terms of the environment, I like your suggestion. You
could actually become an environment for both of them. Have them both
come to the call and design the workload together and put yourself in
that role of being the environment for the next three or four calls.
Donna: I was going for that tack because I was trying to find a way to
help rather than just giving her one more thing to do.
TJL: When they're at the maximum of their time and effort, it usually
takes a person to help walk them through it. Giving them a plan or
checklist may not be the optimum solution. I think you're doing the
right thing, and you might just want to go farther with that.
Barbara: I have a client who is recently divorced, and doesn't have many
friends. She wants to initiate more friendships with women. How can I
use environments for that?
TJL: Different environments include having common interests or ideas -
even nature is an environment. [Hey! Jude, I’m thinking this last phrase
should be dropped or changed, the change I would make would be “even the
environment is an evironment.” This sounds a little more witty or
pointed . But how it is doesn’t really sound right to me. What do you
think?]Generally, anyone who is single has a couple of options. There
are common interest groups, neighborhood groups, divorced partners, etc.
Would that person resist this, do you think?
Barbara:
Where that is a problem, is there anyway to create an environment to
give them the motivation to do that. There is reluctance present.
TJL: It's tough because there are so many things our clients could do or
want to do. Generally, when someone's resistant like that, it's so much
energy to bring them out - it's just a tremendous amount of effort on
the coach's part. I don't go there.
Barbara:
So I should work on something else?
TJL: I would say pick something else that she can accomplish. If she's
not a social butterfly, you're going to spend the next 20 years working
on that. There may be other areas in which you can be very effective,
and you might want to let them work this out on their own. Anyone else?
Harry: I have a situation that worked out very well. I had a client who
wanted to quit work for a year, go to Paris for 6 months, paint, and do
music. We worked out ways to bring Paris to the person. He took French
lessons, listened to music every day, and painted every day. He's there
now, and it wasn't so much of a shock when he got there.
TJL: That's a terrific example. Dreams aren't zip code limited, are
they?
Judith: I had a client similar to the one described as wanting more of a
social life. I looked at it and finally suggested to her that she might
be an introvert and might be more comfortable doing things one-on-one
She then started reaching out more one-on-one after hearing that
“truth,” if you will.
TJL: Can I convince anyone - is anyone ready to get their arms around
having so many environments?
Valerie: Yes, I can. It sounds really fun.
TJL: What's intriguing for you?
Valerie: One thing I've been thinking is that it can make you more
comfortable looking at people as your environment.
Curt: I think creating an environment almost magnetizes your attention
to a topic - it inspires you and draws your attention to where you want
to be, without having to place it. It's almost automatic.
TJL: Because you're in that environment. Great. Thank you.
Susan: I think we think of environments as adding to what we have. When
I was talking about my friends the other day, maybe pulling back from
environments is good too.
TJL: You're not really rejecting, but perhaps simply redecorating.
Donna: By looking at everything as an environment, it makes you not
tolerate things that don't sustain your environment. It forces you to
look at everything differently.
TJL: Keep talking. I'm your cattle-prod environment! (laugh)
Donna: It forces you to see everything around you as either a
sustainable environment or the opposite.
TJL: Yes, every environment is going to affect you in some way. As you
look at environments, you also notice which way the energy is flowing.
Anybody else?
Valerie: I think about Victor Frankl who was in the Holocaust where
everything was taken away. It speaks to the environment that you create
internally.
TJL: Yes, environments aren't just external, they can be internal. Some
people find it easier to start with the external environments.
Valerie: When you talk about becoming reaction-free, to me that's an
internal environment.
TJL: You transcend reactions. Exactly.
Susan: You can take something you or your client is struggling with, and
look at a way to design an environment to resolve that completely.
TJL: And often, they call it a marketing system. For example, if someone
wants to get clients, they can go to networking meetings, make cold
calls, or simply invest in an e-marketing system. That's the trick -
often coaches spend their time taking direct action, rather than setting
up systems that will pay off for a lifetime. That's the idea of an
environment as well.
Susan: What's the distinction between your personal foundation and your
environment?
TJL: They're similar. Foundation is like one aspect of your environment
- it's a base on which you can stand, where an environment might
surround you.
XXX: A coach can become an environment coach.
TJL: Definitely.
XXX: And everyone they attract as clients are part of their environment.
It's so much fun thinking about having this kind of relationship with
environments. It's a fun way to be.
TJL: And to be willing to be affected by those environments keeps you in
the present. It's very orienting.
XXX: In the original definition that you started with, it talks about
fail-safe structures to support the environment.
TJL: Let me read it for a moment. The structures support the success.
XXX: I'm not clear what that means. Is there a difference between
environments and fail-safe structures?
TJL: Fail-safe structures are an aspect of environments. The better you
design your environments, the more fail-safe they will be. I would say
that today, my environments are fail-safe. They've been tested and
proven.
Mike: I specialize in working with clients with ADD...
TJL: You're an expert in environments then, aren't you?
Mike: I realized how much of a paradigm it is today. I also realized the
importance of deliberately developing habits to support you.
TJL: And what's the reinforcer of that?
Mike: Well, for example, we came up with a simple checklist to help with
tasks in the morning and the evening. They got to work today on time for
the first time in over a year.
TJL: Great. Anybody else? What was new, what was a mind-opener?
Suzanne:
Thinking of intangibles as environments.
TJL: Yes. Who else?
Freda: One thing that comes up for me - in designing environments, it
takes the 'gotta fit you' out of it. It's a safe place for the person to
be.
TJL: Yes. Rather than saying you have a weakness or a fault, maybe you
haven't designed the environment to take the pressure off of you. It
puts less pressure on the client.
Harriet:
It's an easier way to describe things that may take far more words. I
have a personal one - I'm a morning daily communicant and I go to a
coffee shop at 6:30 in the morning. That's my morning environment. It is
a ritual, but it really is an environment that allows me to start the
day.
TJL: Environments can do so many things for us if we're willing to let
them.
Travis: I like the notion of talking about it as 'Does your environment
support you?'
TJL: Yes. Anybody else?
Sally: I just appreciate it as one more tool when you're working with
clients. It's one more way to get at things with people. It was great.
Thank you.
Susan: She brings up a good point. I had a coach who wanted to design an
environment when I don't think I was ready for it.
TJL: Yes, and you want to check out with the client whether it's an
appropriate time to try it. It's a bit of a learning curve to craft ones
that serve you really well.
Mike: One thing I find helpful is to remind clients that we're trying
things out or experimenting. We're not setting things in concrete for
the rest of their lives.
Barbara: I want to say that being with CoachVille and on the R&D team is
a very good environment for me. I'm learning things in little chunks,
and it's great.
TJL: CoachVille was designed to be that kind of environment, so thank
you for that. Anyone else? Well, your environment is now complete. Thank
you all.
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