Wheelhouse, experts in coaching, training and facilitation launch Creativity Workshop

Wheelhouse, the specialists in executive coaching, training and facilitation, conducted a workshop on “Coaching enriched by creativity” at the recent Oxford School of Coaching and Mentoring (OSCM) 9th Annual Perspectives Conference. The workshop was run in partnership with Creative Edge UK.

Following on from a recent article on the use of creative approaches in coaching, published by Wheelhouse in the journal Coach & Mentor, this workshop explored various methods of enhancing coaching and its models through the use of creativity. The central premise was that creativity is a powerful tool to help people have a deeper understanding of their lives and work. The workshop explored various creative techniques from story and metaphors through to photography, visualisation and drawing.

The creativity workshop was a high energy, interactive session, giving participants the opportunity to experience first hand three different creative approaches. Participants coached each other using postcards as props. They engaged in discussion using a river journey proforma with a structured approach to questioning. And they created 2x2 grids to draw pictures in response to questions around a difficult time at work.

Each of these creative approaches gives coaches a stimulating and non-threatening way of encouraging coachees to discuss and describe a difficult topic. They enable coachees to be more descriptive about their experiences and associated feelings.

The workshop facilitators, Neela Bettridge and Milly Sinclair, described their experiences of using creativity in their work: “For us, as we have witnessed again and again, creativity has been a vital key in the unlocking of human potential. For our clients, creative coaching techniques have been a powerful way of enabling them to express their thoughts and feelings about issues they are facing and helping them to understand what approach is needed to find a resolution. We believe creativity and mentoring/coaching are interconnected at a fundamental level: transformation, metamorphosis and change.”

Neela and Milly stressed the importance of understanding the learning styles of individual coachees before attempting to employ these creative approaches, and others like them, in a coaching programme. In their experience, however, when used appropriately creative techniques can be employed in any type of coaching situation.

If you would like to learn more about creative coaching techniques and how you might use them in a coaching session, go to www.wheelhousecoaching.com and enter the Articles page of the View from the Sea section.

Interested in finding a more effective way of embedding responsible business (CSR) practices in your organisation but not sure what to do and where to start? Need to enhance the leadership and performance skills in your senior management team? Want some information on how to align the values of your organisation with the individuals within it? Need practical examples of how other companies have used coaching, training and facilitation to achieve sustainable business success? Wheelhouse can help you.
To find out more… go to www.wheelhousecoaching.com.
Copyright Article 13 – June 2007