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Coaching Through Uncertainty

Posted on June 5, 2020November 20, 2020

Coaching through difficult times can be just that- difficult. This “new normal” feels anything but normal (especially the normal we had come to understand) and has truly upped the ante elevating us to a new level of difficulty. Outlined are key pillars we’ve found to support coaching through uncertainty and encourage you to adapt them to your coaching style.

To look through the lens of the client; usually, when they’re facing a difficult dilemma, transition, or period, they’re the main one’s impacted (or a handful of people within their system), however, it’s rare that everyone in their ecosystem (and let’s be honest- the world) is also experiencing difficulty at this unseen heightened collective level…and coaches, we’re no exception. Currently facing the second “once in a lifetime” financial crisis, racial inequality and upset, and one’s health and safety threatened at every corner or sneeze, and waiting for the inevitable “other shoe to drop” or in this case another spike in COVID cases and all of the other familiar pain points.

It begs the question, “How does one coach through uncertainty?” with the added dash of… “When they themselves may be dealing with that uncertainty as well?” This little cocktail of uncertainty can feel overwhelming, that’s why it’s recommended to have a strong sense of self-care, which can consist of breathing exercises, a guided meditation, or a simple walk around the block (or due to COVID a couple of laps around the living room). These rituals, along with others act as a foundation to ensure you are taking care of yourself, so that you may be available to support your clients. Think back to when getting on a plane (back then it was taking you to your destination, not to a hospital room), the flight attendant would share the safety precautions and guidelines and in the event of turbulence or loss of elevation, they always instructed for you to put on your oxygen mask before you assist others. A golden rule, for life and death, both of the physical and emotional.

Once you have created a self-care practice, the next step is normalizing. For them, for you, and for the bartender who created that cocktail of uncertainty. By normalizing the uncertainty faced by the collective whole, it sets the path to start removing those blocks and start getting to the root of the pain. 

A fundamental piece to this equation is holding space (see our previous post discussing Holding Space for more information). You may have already experienced this for yourself, where the scales have shifted a bit from sessions of the past, that were more focused on accountability and being action-oriented to now holding the space for your client. It’s not to say accountability and action steps have gone away- not at all! It’s more about being present with your client and letting what emerges navigate the session.

The remaining two pillars to support you in coaching through uncertainty revolve around you as a coach, more specifically fine-tuning and adding to your skillset and engaging in a network with other coaches. These two pieces, education and networking will support you through this time, as coaching right now is needed more than ever, it’s crucial that we lean on one another and create dialogue, to understand what other coaches are encountering during their sessions and to learn from one another. It’s one of the highlights of coaching, what separates it from other industries, this is a community, a collective intelligence, use it, add to it, nurture it, it can act as a lifeline, like phoning a friend.

The Story of Kintsugi Training

The centuries-old Japanese art of Kintsugi challenges us to reimagine what we define as beauty. The process involves rejoining pieces of broken pottery with gold particles in the adhesive, transforming the imperfections to a beautiful one-of-a-kind work of art, therefore making it complete.

In the same way, this art shows off the beauty in the fragmented seams; In the world of Kintsugi Training Institute, we believe imperfections make people naturally whole and complete. The beauty lies, not in perfection, but rather in the imperfections – beautiful not despite, but because of.

In our training classes, we teach the next generation of coaches to see their clients as naturally whole because of their imperfections. Also, we help them see their imperfections as what makes them unique and gives them their unique coaching style.

Our Philosophy, who we are

The core of the Kintsugi Training Institute is built on Agile values and principles, which allows for seamless integration of those values within our training materials and connection with our participants. From content creation to business operations, everything embodies agility. Agile is not just a process or methodology, it’s a mindset that we believe can transcend any workspace.

Our goal is to support our participants across multiple regions, being mindful of different time zones and schedules while they are on their Agile Coaching journey. Because of this, we intend to have a variety of offerings to accommodate our clients and will adjust as needed based on feedback. We hold our clients as whole human beings and believe they embody creativity. We value open communication, feedback loops, and the natural intelligence of our clients who take our courses.

Our training style at Kintsugi

At Kintsugi Training Institute we believe in an immersive learning experience. Our courses are led by our expert facilitators that together have multiple decades worth of knowledge to be shared. Those that participate in our courses will be active participants who engage with our trainers. All of our courses include printable workbooks and are built with multiple activities and use interactive tools such as Mural and FunRetro.

We utilize the existing knowledge of our participants, combined with the knowledge and expertise of our trainers to create a more immersive and impactful learning experience. This brain-based, adult learning style allows for transformational learning to take place that can immediately be applied and have a lasting impact.

Our Core Trainer’s Credentials

Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC), Project Management Professional (PMP), AgilityHealth Radar Facilitator (AHF)

ICAgile Agile Coaching (ICP-ACC), ICAgile Agility in the Enterprise (ICP-ENT)

Training from the Back of the Room Certified Trainer (TBR), AgilityHealth Radar Facilitator (AHF), Professional Certified Coach (ICF-PCC), Co-Active Trained Coach, ORSC Trained Coach, Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC), Certified Team Coach (CTC), Brain-Based Certified Coach (BBCC), Results Trained Coach (RTC)

ICAgile Coaching Agile Transitions (ICP-CAT), ICAgile Agility in the Enterprise (ICP-ENT), ICAgile Agile Coaching (ICP-ACC), ICAgile Agility in Marketing (ICP-MKG)

Other TRAINER’S CREDENTIALS

Co-Active Trained Coach, ORSC Trained Coach, Kotter – Leading Change trained, Alchemy trained facilitator, Training from the Back of the Room (TBR) trained, Bikablo Graphic Facilitator

ICAgile Coaching Agile Transitions (ICP-CAT), ICAgile Agile Coaching (ICP-ACC), ICAgile Agile Team Facilitation (ICP-ATF)

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