In Greek the word ‘to follow’ not only means ‘to walk in the
footsteps’ of a master but also to accompany, to be with (Jean Vanier).

Life-coaching is ‘in’: anyone (thinks they) can do it; there are no
universally-accepted certification/standards (yet) – although at least
one Baptist seminary in the U.S. (Golden Gate in San Francisco) began
offering a Doctor of Ministry degree in Christian Coaching, starting
2008.

Google now has 10 million hits on the topic, headed by umpteen Life
Coaching Institutes and Academies, especially in the U.S. – but
everywhere else as well.

Life Coaching is not quite the same as mentoring. A mentor, in my
view, has ‘been there done that’. Life coaches, on the other hand,
need only one major/basic skill: asking the right questions, so that
the ‘coachee’ (yes, that’s a word!) can affirm their own reality and
envisage possibilities for their life and relationships and career.

Two books about Life-Coaching and one on Leadership have just arrived
on my desk.

1. Let’s begin with the light-weight Making Shifts without Making
Waves: a Coach Approach to Soulful Leadership (Edward Hammett and James Rice, Chalice 2009). These two professional life coaches (and
trainers of others in life-coaching) have previously written another book with the intriguing title Reaching People Under 40 While Keeping People over 60 – every mainline pastor’s dream.

Making Shifts is about empowering people to facilitate and own change – in organizations secular or religious. (There’s hardly any religious stuff here, and no Biblical material that I recall: which is a
blessing in disguise, because Christian management people often use
Sunday School-level examples if they haven’t done a degree in
theology: but that’s one of my peeves, so ignore it if you like).

The book connects Life-Coaching skills with postmodern thinking.
(What’s Out – telling, top-down etc. What’s in – conversation,
peer-to-peer etc.; propositional is out, experiential is in etc.).
Some of the richest resources are the non-threatening sets of
questions a life-coach might ask. (Like: ‘What would you like to talk
about today?’ ‘Which piece of what you shared is the most critical
now?’ etc.). And some of the corniest are the acrostics (Coaching
around Barriers: Bullet-proof (stubbornness), Avoidance, Resistance,
Roadblocks, Impulse, Ego, Resentment, Sabotage).

The Epilogue is inspirational, and in my view almost worth the value
of the book. Beginning with the story of the January 16, 2009 ditching
of a plane into the Hudson River by Captain Sullenberger, the authors
ask ‘What has been transformational?’ in each others’ lives, and how
have they used those experiences to help others?

2. A book with more substance is Rochelle Melander’s A Generous
Presence: Spiritual Leadership and the Art of Coaching (Alban
Institute, 2006). She’s been coaching individuals and groups for a
decade, and has a website about it: LifeRhymeCoaching.com . Again: her
questions/prompts are excellent: What keeps me up at night or gets me
up in the morning? What do I daydream about doing? What would I do if
I had only one year to live? What has been my persistent life dream
since I was a child?

Offering a rationale for life-coaching she quotes Rabbi Marc Gafni:

As long as the human being is lonely, all of the good of creation cannot sate him. As long as the human being has no one with whom to share her experiences, as long as the human being feels alienated, separate from, and empty, then all of the objective goods of the universe will be irrelevant. That is the experience of loneliness – to feel apart from, severed from, alienated and empty.

There are many resources listed here, and especially useful are those
in response to the question ‘Where do I find a coach?’ (For example –
International Coach Federation, Christian Coaches Network – easy to
find via Google). There’s also a brilliant list of good books under
the headings Coaching and Communication Skills, Personal Growth,
Narratives; and Inspiration.

(On a personal note, when I began Life Coaching 30 years ago – we in
John Mark Ministries called it Retreats or Counseling or Mentoring – I became
surprised at the number of high profile Christians who’d never
seriously walked (in both senses) through their life with anyone. None
of the hundreds who’ve come to our two-day retreats have ever had someone reserve two days of their life just for them. It’s a sad commentary on the anomie of modern life in Western society, eh?).

3. The easiest-to-read of the three is Timothy Geoffrion’s The
Spirit-Led Leader (published in 2005, and therefore doesn’t mention
‘Life-Coaching’). I’ve read many Alban Institute publications and have
attended their seminars over the years. This offering’s about the
least complicated (the academically-inclined might also call it
lightweight) of anything they’ve produced that I’ve seen. In a
sentence: the most important aspect of leadership is the leader’s
character – or spirituality.

The author – a pastor and director of a ministry called Family Hope Services/Treehope based in Minnesota, likes James Collins’ Good to Great (but the book’s too early to note that some of these great companies have gone ‘pear-shaped’), Stephen Covey, Richard Foster (Celebration of Discipline), Dallas Willard, Brother Lawrence, Bill Hybels, Rick Warren and (with some reservations) Brian McLaren. The style is hortatory, and for young pastors it would be a good book to get them going in terms of developing an authentic devotional life, and a desire to be utterly committed to the will of God.

A couple of useful resources I found in the Endnotes:

* Spiritual leaders ought to be aware of various dimensions of
spirituality favored by the people they lead. Corinne Ware (Discover
Your Spiritual Type, Alban Institute 1995) says there are four, which, oversimplified are learning (knowledge), feeling, contemplating, and activism/serving.

* Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice of the
Learning Organization outlines ways an organization can tap into the ideas and potential of every member within it, rather than depending on ideas coming only from ‘top-down’.

Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher

http://jmm.org.au/

August 2010

***

Coach Training Required Reading List

(Supplied by my friend Anthony Venn-Brown
www.anthonyvennbrown.com
www.lgbttraining.com )

Life Coaching will be a constant learning process. You will learn of course from the training sessions you attend, by the experience of coaching and also by your own self paced learning. We believe this required reading list would be fundamental to understand the basics of being a successful life coach. As you read through these books you will often find the same thing being said over and over again but from different perspectives (the basis for successful coaching i.e. giving options).

The list has been centred around coaching itself and you will find many books that will be helpful on subjects like Doing a business plan, financial management, health and fitness, spirituality, personal development, psychology, networking, communication, etc. We encourage you to read constantly to increase your knowledge base and therefore make yourself more valuable to your clients.

1. The Complete Guide to Coaching at Work
Perry Zeus & Suzanne Skiffington
McGraw Hill

If ever there was a textbook on coaching then this would be it. There is a good overview of the various forms of coaching, excellent contrasts made between coaching and other disciplines, lots of case studies, models and the skills required to coach effectively. Easy reading.

2. It’s Your Life What Are You Going To Do With It – Coach Yourself
Anthony Grant & Jane Greene
Momentum

Even though the title is a bit of a misnomer this is a very practical, down to earth explanation of human behaviour and covers all the essentials you would need to move clients forward in their lives. Anthony’s claim to fame is that he established the worlds first university based Coaching Psychology Unit at the Department of Psychology, University of Sydney. Anthony & Jane write with that wonderful Aussie perspective that is real and “no frills”. You’ll get some great insight here……my book is covered with underlining and personal notes.

3. Coaching for Performance
John Whitmore
Nicholas Brealey Publishing

This is an excellent book on coaching with practical examples and case studies. The GROW principle of coaching is explained. This is an important tool for you to use in those sessions when the Action for Life Manual is not relevant for an emergency coaching session. John Whitmore obviously is very passionate about coaching and goes to great lengths to ensure people understand the technologies that differentiate coaching from other models. This is a valuable resource to assist you in coaching clients in and out of a corporate environment.

4. The Heart of Coaching
Thomas Crane
FTA Press

Thomas Crane is even more passionate about coaching and communicates this very effectively. His process of coaching is rather technical but can be highly effective in a corporate environment. There are several models and lists that are very useful. A must read for anyone who intends coaching in the corporate world.