on Tue, 12/23/2014 - 21:06 by Anonymous (not verified)
Thanks Brian,I agree with all that has been offerred on this great subject. I think we are cheating our clients if we can't find a way to offer advice through provocative questioning.My clients hire me to be direct with them, and they don't have time to waste. My work is to build their capacityto solve issues themselves, so I like to find a way to offer "real-time" exercises or solutions that they can "try out" as"anonymous" suggests above. My executive clients expect to be stretched and expect me to have had the businessexperience to help them see solutions that they had not seen before. Soooo-- I do sometimes have to offer advice,but do it through questions that sometimes are leading. (Being really truthful!) The executive coaches that I've mentored, who also have a background in business, see this as a key to support for "walking the thin line" between giving a new solution and traditional powerful questioning to help their clients gain new skills as leaders. Those coaches without a business background, trained by good coaching schools, may see itdifferently, but I like to think they gain from my own experience as we work together.
To give or not to give.....advice
Thanks Brian,I agree with all that has been offerred on this great subject. I think we are cheating our clients if we can't find a way to offer advice through provocative questioning.My clients hire me to be direct with them, and they don't have time to waste. My work is to build their capacityto solve issues themselves, so I like to find a way to offer "real-time" exercises or solutions that they can "try out" as"anonymous" suggests above. My executive clients expect to be stretched and expect me to have had the businessexperience to help them see solutions that they had not seen before. Soooo-- I do sometimes have to offer advice,but do it through questions that sometimes are leading. (Being really truthful!) The executive coaches that I've mentored, who also have a background in business, see this as a key to support for "walking the thin line" between giving a new solution and traditional powerful questioning to help their clients gain new skills as leaders. Those coaches without a business background, trained by good coaching schools, may see itdifferently, but I like to think they gain from my own experience as we work together.