Coaching and Experiential Learning with Creativitypar C. Rudzinski / C. Katz
How does our exploration and understanding of Creativity, intuition, inspiration, innovation and play help us coach? We believe that delivering coaching with a Creative approach has a powerful effect on our clients. It is through experiential learning and processes that we can achieve a shift in perception and thereby reach our goals.
The question for all coaches is “How to help our clients reach clarity?” We have discovered that creating a safe place to ‘play’, to explore the issues and challenges within a designed process, has a profound impact on the group and the individuals involved. Experiential learning is tactile, visual, visceral and somatic.
The ICF defines Coaching as a thought-provoking, creative and collaborative process, designed to help clients maximize their personal and professional potential.
Creativity is defined as a mental and social process involving the discovery of new ideas or associations between existing ideas or concepts and is fuelled by the process of either conscious or unconscious insight.
We believe that the creative process is a way to help clients reach their goals. The same motivation found in the best organizations that actively seek out processes to address challenges, works as well for individuals. There are huge benefits in gaining breakthrough results to stay competitive or reach personal achievements.
Where do you think ingenuity and imagination come from? It does not exist in a vacuum! Some believe that creative people are passionate people, and are a tremendous asset. We believe we are all creative and that by nurturing this, we become an asset to our families, friends and community. For us, this is about being authentic and celebrating your uniqueness, this is not about talent.
Ten years ago, most companies hired a coach to help fix some toxic behaviors at the top. Today, coaching is mostly about developing the capabilities of high-potential performers. Coaching, as a business tool, continues to gain legitimacy, but the fundamentals of the industry are still in flux. So this is what we believe:
Everyone is born with the potential to be Creative. We teach this at the earliest age. When we observe children, we can notice. This is innate, this is fun, this is play!
Albert Einstein said “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
The intuitive mind is making connections, is creating new possibilities. Not allowing this innate ability to blossom, only honouring the rational, has kept most of us stuck.
Edward de Bono recognized that we are in love with our rational minds and we get stuck thinking in the same ways to cope with our challenges. He developed the study of ‘How’ we think, in order to facilitate new ways of thinking. His concept of Lateral and Parallel Thinkings has had a great impact on modern cognitive thinking and philosophy.
There is a scientific reality to our brain structure: scientists can physically locate where we store our thinking ability. This is a fundamental human trait.
Being Creative, intuitive, using our imagination, being inspired and innovative is all about generating ideas, breaking out of familiar ways and patterns, becoming flexible, seeing things from different angles and invoking analytical - outside the box - thinking while invoking new associations.
But as you know, we tend to get stuck in old thinking habits or we try to persuade others to adopt our point of view. Since the time of Socrates, the dialectic method of reasoning has triumphed. Winning the argument is the goal, certainly not by listening or being collaborative or co-creating as the coaching profession advocates. We are indeed at the crux of a paradigm shift!
The reality for most of us is that in order to be productive in our daily lives, we need to work together and get unstuck to move forward! Most importantly, being courageous and encouraging your clients to be unafraid, try new things, not worried about being wrong or ‘good enough’ or appearing foolish.
Combined with coaching, Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hat method permits clients to shift and direct their thinking. In groups, this promotes the participants to be on the same page at the same time: which is Parallel Thinking. The advantage of Parallel Thinking is that the energy used for resolving challenges and reaching goals is not wasted in arguing or convincing others, but in co-creating results.
The technique is simple. Depending on the color of the hat, the focus is directed in a specific direction: positive, negative, emotional, Creative, factual. The focus is directed by the Coach position. As the participants wear each hat – white (facts, neutral), red (emotions, feelings), yellow (positive), black (negative), green (Creative, imagination), or blue (holds the space, the focus) – they all must think a certain way at the same time.
During a workshop each of the participants can experience exercises that enable them to leave their comfort zone while emphasizing the importance of listening, communicating, sharing, being in the here and now and collaborating.
As coaches, we help our clients express their imagination and Creativity, which are independent of talent. Their willingness to participate in the Creative process can be extremely rewarding. It’s a way to discover new solutions and options. It helps to reconnect to the pleasure of play and the importance of fun. Creativity helps us discover different options, learn to generate a variety of solutions and connect to new ideas. It helps us become more aware, present and in the moment. It can help us notice our filters and the paradigms that control us so that we can help our clients achieve their highest goals.
