Creative Coaching for CSR-An Update from Wheelhouse, experts in coaching, training and facilitation

Wheelhouse’s teams of executive coaches have used creative approaches extensively in their coaching programmes and have found them to be a powerful tool, providing coaches with an alternative way of engaging with people, which in turn better enables coachees to express themselves and coaches to elicit more detailed responses on difficult issues. Creative techniques are not designed to replace traditional methods of coaching, but simply to add an extra element to the coaching process and bring the models to life in a way that is relevant to the individual being coached.

The creative techniques used range from story and metaphor through to photography, visualisation and drawing. They draw on the full spectrum of learning styles – somatic (learning by moving and doing), auditory (learning by talking and hearing), visual (learning by observing and picturing) and intellectual (learning by problem solving and reflecting). If used thoughtfully, creativity can be used alongside any coaching model including, for example, action learning, behavioural and solution focused.

Wheelhouse has devised a resource library of creative tools and the coaching models each one is most successfully matched with. Different creative approaches will bring the models to life in different ways. For example, rather than simply asking coachees to describe verbally the facts, interpretations, decisions and consequences relating to a particular event in a behavioural-based coaching model, the coach might ask them to draw each stage with crayons or perhaps even sculpt them with their body. This process gives the event added clarity and detail, above and beyond what a simple verbal description would give it, and puts the coachee at ease. The subsequent conversation, therefore, tends to delve deeper into the issues, often in a less threatening way than is the case with traditional methods.

The key to integrating creativity into coaching is ‘comfort’. A coach must feel comfortable with the techniques they choose to employ and the coachee must feel relaxed about the process with a clear idea of the intended purpose and outcomes. It is not recommended to initiate a coaching programme with a high concentration of creative tools. It is more important in the first instance to have developed a coaching relationship based on trust and to have a clear understanding of a coachee’s learning styles and personality type. In this way, coaches can make an informed decision about whether to utilise creative techniques in the coaching sessions and, if so, which creative technique is best suited to the individual.

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 – July 2007