豐悅國際企業教練 PeopleFirst Coaching Coaching Power Tool : Adventure vs. Conservative By Coach Tina Huang “Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it.” – Jules Renard, Author Origin In PT109 Action and Delay, it states that we could make the change in our life when we put our plans into actions without delay. Reflecting on the learning of Action and Delay, some questions come to mind: “what might happen as our clients are in the process of taking action?”, “what potential challenges exist for both coach and client in the process?”, and “how could we as coaches support our clients to move forward in the process of Action”? This Power Tool, Adventure vs. Conservative, provides solutions supporting coaches to empower themselves and clients in the process of taking actions. The content includes the following sessions: (1) The Essence of Life is Adventure (2) Adventure in Coaching Process (3) Coaching with an Adventurous Client (4) Coaching with a Conservative Client, and (5) Conclusion & Reflection Exercise. Definition  Adventure (Resource: Wikipedia.com) An adventure is an activity that comprises risky, dangerous or uncertain experiences. Adventurous experiences create psychological and physiological arousal, which can be interpreted as negative (e.g. fear) or positive (e.g. flow). Adventurous activities are typically undertaken for the purposes of recreation or excitement, such as multi‐sport adventure racing or a traveler's adventure tourism. However, an adventurous activity can lead to gains in knowledge, such as in the case of the numerous pioneers who have explored and charted the Earth and, in recent times, traveled into space and to the Moon. As a more modern example, adventure education makes use of challenging experiences for learning.  Conservative (Resource: Dictionary.com) Conservative is defined as (1) favoring traditional views and values and tending to oppose change, (2) traditional or restrained in style, (3) moderate and cautious, (4) disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc. (5) to restore traditional ones, and to limit change, and (6) cautiously moderate or purposefully. ® Copy Right Reserved ‐ 1 ‐ 豐悅國際企業教練 PeopleFirst Coaching The essence of life is adventure The journey of life is constructed by a series of decisions for actions. When we make decisions it is as if we are standing on a cross roads and considering which direction could take for our next step. Each of decision would lead us to different destinations. At the moment of making a decision, we deliberate “Which one?”, and consider possible influencing factors for deriving a relatively better solution from different alternatives. Questions arise in one’s mind such as “What are the risks? What are the threats? What are the possible obstacles? What are the opportunities? What are my resources? What are my strengths? What are my values? Who are my partners?” Based on the integrated conclusion, we may perhaps settle for an adventure with more risks and move on to a new challenging path, or perhaps take a conservative path with relatively lower risks, the secured road ahead. Which one is better, adventure or conservative? There is no right or wrong answer. The crux is that when we tend to be adventurous, we are consciously aware of the choice being made, and when we are conservative, we also know not to loose the best timing in the process of taking action. Adventure in Coaching Process The entire coaching process is also an adventure as both client and coach take risks in making decisions to support the client to achieve his/her desired goal. Neither a coach nor a client would know what will happen exactly in the coaching dialogue. Each coaching session has its unique momentum. The map of each coaching session is created / drawn by the participation of coach and client. A coach helps the client to face the challenges, to make decisions and to take actions on the cross roads of life’s journey. When time goes by, the relationship between coach and client is built with trust and security. The mutual experience and trust make them partners in the adventure of coaching. Coaches support and accompany clients to experience adventure in the coaching process together. Coaches acknowledge clients’ courage to open their hearts to perceive, to reflect, and to find the possibilities in life and the potential/ inner power of themselves. Step‐by‐step coaches and clients create a safe environment. The ultimate goal is to help clients to move on and ultimately to smell the flowers and treasure the sceneries on the journey of life. When clients accumulate positive, delighted and successful experience, they automatically contribute and commit themselves more to enjoy the coaching adventure and the life adventure. ® Copy Right Reserved ‐ 2 ‐ 豐悅國際企業教練 PeopleFirst Coaching Reflection 1. Describe an adventure in your life. Why do you define it as an adventure? 2. What were the challenges and how did you solve it? Please define the strengths and resources you adopt for the challenges. 3. From that adventure, what do you learn and experience? Is there any place that you could do it better? Coaching with an Adventurous Client During the coaching session, according to the proactiveness of a client’s attitude, a coach can tell if it is comfortable enough for the client to adventure, to be ready to take some more risks or challenges to make a change by taking a bold move. If clients are ready, they sound confident and excited. They look forward to a fresh experience and have courage to face the uncertainty. There are sparkles in their eyes. At this moment, a coach can ask more direct questions to encourage the client to probe and reflect during the conversation, so that the client can get more insights out of the information that s/he expressed and further amend their actions from A to A+. The adventurous person takes actions to attain their goals, but sometimes they will dismiss something important because they move fast, like a high speed train. Sometimes, they might overlook the details of a comprehensive plan. Sometimes, they might also neglect the feelings of people around them. At that moment, a coach should support the client to slow down a bit and review the whole action plan from diversified perspectives. A coach helps the client to think twice and amend the action when needed, helps them to be discreet, and remind them to take care of others’ points of view and feelings. The adventurous person will often take the initiative in doing something to move forward. They are more proactive, very practical and goal oriented. They always know what they want in their life or career. Therefore, the dialogue in the coaching session will be more vivid and full of energy. A coach can in such cases give hints for the client’s instant inspiration. There’s always a milestone or a conclusion set in the process. This momentum of “a‐ha” moments empowers both coach and client. Coaching with a Conservative Client A conservative person might be perceived as over‐confident or as lacking confidence. The over‐confident type presents that he knows everything and has already evaluated the opportunities and threats/risks carefully. He believes in his own ability and judgments. He ® Copy Right Reserved ‐ 3 ‐ 豐悅國際企業教練 PeopleFirst Coaching wants to control the whole situation by reducing uncertainties. He feels contented and determined about his conclusion and solutions. Therefore, the decisions he makes might be reasonable for him but somehow might be viewed as a comfortable and easy action by the others. His decision might therefore accidentally limit the opportunities for him to learn and grow. On the contrary, the type of client who lacks confidence is too cautious about his ability to undertake bigger challenges. He would presume the opportunities before him to be difficult and risky. He might be afraid that he is not able to take more responsibility or be more committed when he achieves the milestones of his action plan. When obstacles occur, he might easily draw back from further action. Besides, he may also spend a lot of time to ponder over and over again until he makes sure he is completely ready and comfortable with moving on. The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. If clients are more conservative, a coach should step back and create a space for them to understand and be understood. A coach should respect clients’ needs and feelings. Do not push them and use more silence to further comfort and encourage clients to share their opinions or concerns. Clients are given the space to say what they want to say or moreover explain their thinking or decision‐making process. A coach will just be there to accompany and actively listen to them. It always takes time for conservative clients to release anxiety, stress or fears first in order to gradually open up themselves to other information or ideas. When clients are sharing, a coach could acknowledge clients’ achievements up to the present, and further ask some questions to inspire different perspectives on the current situation. Coaches should ask permission from clients and further encourage clients to take a bigger step to extend their comfort zone. To better support conservative clients, a coach must think with more consideration about what kind of question will awaken them and stimulate an “aha” in them. Once conservative clients do something to take more adventure in action, a coach should take chances to celebrate with clients to further empower them and deepen the relationship with them. Conclusion As Abraham H. Maslow mentioned in his book, “The Farther Reaches of Human Nature”, if we treat our life as a journey built with a process of making many decisions, the moment of self‐achievement is when we choose to grow and develop. In other words, we take risk to adventure by opening ourselves to experience new things and new challenges, but not by searching for a familiar security. ® Copy Right Reserved ‐ 4 ‐ 豐悅國際企業教練 PeopleFirst Coaching When clients take the courage to take action to obtain what they want, the coach should support them to move forward in the process of taking the action. Client might be adventurous, might be conservatives, or might be a mix of both at different stages. Just like a balance, coaches help clients to moderate their pace of action to achieve balance. For conservative clients, it is important to help them “power up”. For adventurous clients, a coach helps them “take breaks”. The ultimate goal of this Power Tool, Adventure vs. Conservative is to support our client to grow and to develop by creating a positive experience and enjoying the adventure of life’s journey. Reflection 1. How do you define Adventure and Conservative? Why? 2. What factors would make you become adventurous or conservative? 3. Which choices in your life could support you to become more adventurous? 4. If you are adventurous, what could you learn from a conservative person? 5. If you are conservative, what could you learn from an adventurous person? 6. Once you make a choice – what do envision will happen? ® Copy Right Reserved ‐ 5 ‐