Had your mind blown lately?
How a mind-blowing training course helped
launch Finest Hour
When was the last time you left a work-related training course honestly being able to say your mind had been blown?
Instances like this come along far too infrequently in our careers, and as it’s becoming increasingly clear this course is likely to trigger a transformational chain of events; sharing the impact of some of the learnings seems like the least to be done.
Having been drawn to informal forms of coaching and mentoring since starting this leadership journey back in 2000, the opportunity to be trained by professionals in the art of coaching wasn’t one to be missed.
The entire training cohort were strangers, with very few even sharing the same industry background. Doubts abounded as to the ability of the coaching process to generate new insights, discover new ways of thinking, and improve overall performance with no prior knowledge of the industry or the person being coached.
How could it possibly work? Coaches didn’t know their counterparts or the complex, contextual backgrounds of the issues looking to be solved. What possible solutions or disruptive thinking could be discovered?
It turns out a well-trained coach doesn’t have to be an expert in our chosen field. Or even an amateur for that matter. In fact, they needn’t have even heard of us or our field at all to make an immeasurable difference. Why?
Because it’s us who are already experts. It’s us who already have the ideas, the solutions, the new insights, and the pathways to finding the impossible answers. All that’s been missing is someone to help us get out of our own way, help separate the signal from the noise, and unscramble the ‘idea-eggs’ rattling around our own heads.
Despite the person opposite being a complete stranger and lacking any prior context or background, there was visceral astonishment after each exercise, from the uncovering of more and more answers to our seemingly unsolvable professional challenges.
To experience how coaching can draw out untapped potential was frightening in its effectiveness. Not in a terrifying way; simply that the sheer magnitude of ideas, inspiration, and forward momentum lost by leaders each and every day left the cohort quietly contemplating in their own lives “What if….?‘” long after the sessions had finished.
Simple, but not easy tools and frameworks, applied by a coach with a genuine desire to make an impact meant the professional challenges felt smaller and more manageable, and the list of sustainable but meaningful actions generated more progress within 2 weeks than the preceding 6 months of wheel-spinning and inaction.
Will the doubts and insecurities over the decision being contemplated ever be reduced to zero; or will the path, while now much clearer, ever be entirely free of obstacles? Of course not, however as humans it’s only when we manage and confront our often crippling doubt when staring into the abyss we make the most significant breakthroughs and leaps in understanding.
Has the seemingly impossible task become more clear? Have new connections between existing packets of knowledge generated workable ideas and solutions? Have existing support structures and resources been cleverly mobilised to give feedback even if they weren’t in the room? Absolutely they have.
Through the use of carefully curated coaching tools, founded by a genuine desire to help, this training cohort along with the master coaches made such an impact that it’s not only generated this post after such a long time off but it’s also provided the nudge that was needed to take the leap into that unknown and build the wings on the way down.
And for that, I will be eternally grateful.