March 23/17
Another mini quest has been completed and this event was attending John Maxwell Training in Florida. This learning was intense and very fulfilling. I will never forget the feeling of being in a room with over 2800 like minded people and how the energy in the room was alive. My renewed goal of daily providing value to each person I communicate with is now amplified. So if you happen to bump into me, you will be either attracted to seeing value in yourself or not.
I would like to share a story about a thought pattern and how true it is when we think we cannot do something. That mind set stops our growth and with the lack of growth the slow slide of death begins.. This growth mindset is built in us from the moment we are born and is one of the laws of nature. I have learned that when I am being stubborn to have an open mind and to be grateful for others that still keep pouring knowledge into me.
My story is on one of the recent training sessions on the power of coaching others. At the beginning of the session all the audience were asked to stand up if they did not see the value in coaching or perhaps not interested in it. I quickly stood up proudly and with confidence with the thought that I could never coach something that I was not an expert in. I believed I had to be an expert in a subject in order to coach people to increase their value on what they are wanting to become better at.
As I confidently sat down and whipped out my pen to write notes I waited to see what I could learn. That is when I noticed a set of juggling balls at the table and wondered what those could be for. Well folks unfortunately I found out right away what the balls were there for. We were to partner up with someone at the table. Once that was complete to coach each other how to juggle.
Now those of you that know me you could say I was not blessed with keen juggling skills. So I rolled my eyes, stood up and tried to juggle and my partners job was to coach me on how to juggle. Keep in mind my partner could not juggle either. Well you can imagine the task of juggling was a complete failure for both of us.
As I sat down the teaching lesson started of how to coach people even if your not a subject matter expert. I sat captivated as the teaching knowledge rolled into me like a river flowing over a desert floor. I was overcome with emotions about the positive information getting down loaded into my conscious mind. So at the end of the teaching we were all asked again to repeat the same exercise on coaching someone to juggle.
We then applied the new learning in the effective way to coach people on the task of enabling people to juggle. The secret that I learned that day is all learning and the ability to learn is within all of us. By asking questions will allow others to teach themselves and the learning cycle will be much quicker. I had also learned the value of if I do not know the answers to not provide false information to others. To be mindful if I am not competent on a skill to ensure I am not giving instructions that will only confuse others. As the first round of giving the traditional instructions on how to juggle and I had no clue on how to juggle myself which ended up in failure. I realized that was a another way of impacting people in a negative way with my words.
So on with the second round of the juggling story and we set our goal before we started the coaching session. Keep in mind neither one of us has successfully juggled ever before in our life. This time we did juggle through our own mind set and with the power of coaching. This coaching created an environment where our own thinking process taught us how to juggle. This all happened in about 15 minutes.
At the end of this session we were all asked to stand up once more and asked again do you think you still cannot coach? I sat down knowing now that I am able to coach others and to provide more value. Once again I was moved to tears to realize how much is out in the universe and the ability to grow is in all of us.
As the session was over I debriefed with my partner and both of us were moved by the power of asking questions. How by simple questions will induce a complete change of mind set so quickly. I am so grateful that the wise teachers continued to present their voice even when many were stubborn to the fact of change. They continued to provide value and did not give up.
My take away of the value of not giving up in coaching people as long as the person is still in the room. I also learned about the value of humility of thinking I knew all the answers and I was wrong. I also have a renewed focus of keeping my internal compass on course and constantly adjust as required. I want to have a mind that is open for learning and opportunities that come my way.
What choices are you going to make going forward? Are you going to remain standing after everyone has sat down and moved to a different learning lesson?
The time is now to learn in grow. If I can do it I know you can.
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