Co-vision promotes professional and personal growth by reflecting on and learning from experience
Executive Coach, Master Coach Supervisor and Counsellor
.jpg)
Towards Mastery
A Whole Person Approach
'Becoming expert [is] an unending process with an elusive goal' (Kneebone, 2020)
Edna Murdoch has said "Who you are is how you coach/supervise". Yet 'Who I am' is a narrative we create and can alter; and it may be useful to do that. But to effect deeper change, I find it more helpful to focus on the coach's felt experience of 'How I am', and how that translates into observable behaviour*.
Whatever our intentions, it is through our words and actions that others experience us. We deepen our sense of 'How we are' through: feedback from those around us, particularly our clients; reflection on our own or with trusted others, including co-vision; and mindfulness practice (see Awareness page). We notice how our beliefs and the thoughts, feelings, memories, hopes, fears, beliefs and values, and self-stories or narratives we weave around them, play out in our behaviours from moment to moment; and how these can change when we feel under pressure. By continually refining those beliefs in the light of experience, we both become more authentic and grow in expertise.
This model, which applies irrespective of the particular approach, tools and techniques you may use, draws on the energy of the co-vision relationship to stimulate growth by using the mind's capacity for surprise to develop more empowering beliefs, leading to more effective ways of thinking and behaving**.
The effectiveness of the model depends on working directly with our remarkable capacity to adapt because of the brain's neuroplasticity. To do this takes commitment and determination. The elements are:
-
Attunement: To come together as equals in an open-hearted learning partnership with a clear aim and agreed professional boundaries (see Power page); and at each meeting, to reconnect to each other's mood and feelings and re-establish a 'safe haven' and a 'secure base' (see Attachment page).
-
Purpose: How do you want to grow as a coach or supervisor? How does that align with your life purposes? Your answers will give direction and meaning to our work.
-
Inquiry into issues and dilemmas arising from your experience of, and reflections on, your client work. What was unexpected, took you by surprise? How did that make you feel? What did you think and do or not do? How did the client respond?
-
Insights: What insights have emerged from our inquiry? For example, might there be any more constructive beliefs and associated behaviours that could increase your coaching effectiveness? What would they look like?
-
Action: What 'mini-experiments' can you do to try them out? What might stop you?
-
Test & Refine: What did the experiments tell you? Do the new behaviours need refining?
-
Embody: To reinforce the new belief through repeated small behavioural successes until the associated neural connections are fully established and it becomes a habit.
-
Integrate: To integrate the newly-embodied belief into the internal model that drives your 'How I am' in the world - ready to go round the loop again!
Each newly embodied belief will take you a step further on the ongoing journey towards Mastery.
*For my CaW article, see https://www.co-visor.com/post/not-who-i-am-but-how-i-am
** Adapted from Dan Siegel's work on interpersonal neurobiology
and from John Dewey's pragmatic theory of inquiry.