When coaching became a profession, we lost something. It has become,step by step, shaped by those who treat it as a route to improved performance more than personal coherence.
We are the poorer for it.
Coaching has existed forever. At its heart, it is a way of paying attention to another person, seeing what they may have lost sight of, potential waiting to be teased out of hiding, connections made to people and ideas that will nourish them.
Then, fifty years ago, coaching crossed the “species boundary” from vocation to profession and from philosophy to profession. The bridge was Timothy Gallwey’s “Inner Game of Tennis”, an elegantly simple book that linked the finite game of performance in sport to the broader realms of organisations and business. It rightly remains a foundational text. Then, John Whitmore, Graham Alexander and Alan Fine developed the GROW model (Goal, Reality, Options, Will), and we were off. We could train coaches in a process. We could certify. We could cage and tame what is, at its best, an insurgent approach that develops people into what they might become and, instead, shape them into what the organisation wants them to become. Coaching as a three-ring circus with HR as ringmaster.
However, Outside the Walls of the circus tent, the soul of coaching is just fine, quietly doing the work that matters. Rather than professional sport as its comparator, it leans gently into something more generative. Observers whose skills draw our attention to the understorey, of those waiting patiently and preparing for a gap in the canopy, with stories told compellingly by people like Ciarán Duggan, a forester who has probably forgotten more about the subtlety of coaching than I have time to learn, or Sue Heatherington, whose poetry sneaks under our defences in a few short verses to draw our attention to what matters, or Steve Done, whose understanding of horses enables him to offer insights that can stop us in our tracks. Then there are those whose skills lie in bringing these strands of insight together into something tangible. Joiners of Dots. People who like puzzles. People who can help us orient to what we are facing and understand it in ways we can work with on our own terms.
There is something homoeopathic about this sort of coaching, where a little does a lot. Instead of the artificial fertiliser of much performance coaching, it feeds the understorey, nurturing stories of what we might do when a gap in the canopy appears, knowing that there will be one, just not precisely when. Coaching that encourages connections within the understorey - people, ideas, conversations and an appreciation of it for what it is.
The understory is all about being ready, not forcing our way into places others want us to occupy in their interests. Poetry points us to the spaces we need when words alone fail, and the infinite wisdom of horses gives us perspective. With enough observations shaped by orientation, decisions and actions become more effortless and carry far more heft.
A little less coaching, a little more conversation please.
Coaching, like any other profession that measures itself in money, has a bias toward monopoly. Marketed skillfully, it's easy to overdose and become dependent. Conversation, on the other hand, is free. Moderated and lubricated by coaching as part of the mix, it can bring together everything we need to grow: Engineers and Poets, Designers and Artists, Scientists and Farmers. Think of your own polarities of choice. When we take an obsession with performance out of the frame, the insights and connections we seek appear, often when we least expect them.
In his book The Quiet Before, Gal Beckerman argues that significant social movements often begin in quiet, secluded spaces where a small group of people can freely discuss and refine their ideas. These private environments allow radical thoughts to incubate before they are broadcast to a wider audience.
The Quiet Before is a space for artisans—those looking to create something beyond the frantic urgency of performance. They thrive in spaces that are not predicated on specific outcomes but rather thoughtful consideration of where we are now, where it might be taking us, and whether we’re happy with that.
The Quiet Before doesn’t have influencers, celebrities, any particular profession or any of the furniture of social media. It connects companions in conversation, hosting ideas and nurturing the understorey.
Timing will take care of itself.
A Question
One of the joys of meeting virtually is the preparation for meeting in person.
, a.k.a, The CEO Whisperer will in over in London from Australia on 13th/14th November, and that would be a good excuse for a meetup.Here’s a poll - if you like the idea, let me know and we’ll work something out.
And, in the way that things wotk, loved the Gaping Void post this morning, with one addition. Organisations dont have mindshifts people do. Organisations are vehicles, and the vehicles we use to bring our minshift to practice is a choice.
https://mailchi.mp/gapingvoid/why-being-called-worthless-can-change-everything?e=d093601e94
I’m still away travelling otherwise would say yes. Spoken with Anthony before and love his work.