by Liza Waters, DLCC Writer
Spending many hours a week writing like a life coach has been quite an experience! Most people who know me know that I am not really a life coach-y kind of gal. I am practical to a fault, and would rather just give advice than spend time exploring options and blind spots. I swear a lot, and a large percentage of the world drives me crazy. However, I have also come to appreciate the positive effect that coaching can have on individuals and teams.
When I started working for Darcy a couple of years ago, I realized that it is very different to work for someone who has spent years studying about organizational development and coaching, and now teaches it to others. For many years, I worked with academic economists, who are definitely not known for their interpersonal skills. When I moved from there into the community development sector, things definitely got more relational, but there was a lot of dysfunction around communication and roles. So, coming to work for someone who thinks a lot about how people work best together has been a big change. And while nobody can practice what they preach all the time, there are definitely a few key differences I have noticed and appreciated, even if they have taken me out of my comfort zone.
Expect a lot of questions.
Not surprisingly, Darcy asks us a lot of questions. This includes big questions, like what you want your role to look like, and smaller ones that help make things work better day to day. In many workplaces, management is very focused on telling people what to do, rather than asking them to come up with possible solutions, or allow their input on how things could be different. When you work for a coach, you can expect to get asked what you think, and have your answers listened to and respected.
Prepare to be held accountable.
Here’s a fun fact about Darcy – she has a terrible memory. I mean, exceptionally bad. Because of this, we all take a lot of notes at meetings, to help her remember. However, this also takes another page out of the coaching playbook, since coaching provides accountability. Basically, at the end of a coaching session you agree on something that you’ll work on, and at the next session you’re going to get asked about it. Darcy will say that there’s learning there – whether you do the work or not. While coaching clients might get to explore why they didn’t do their homework, for DLCC team members homework is not really optional. But, all of our tasks are documented and assigned to a single person, so you can’t really get away with saying you didn’t know it was your job. This helps keep things moving forward, and makes roles and responsibilities really clear which I definitely appreciate.
Get ready to have hard conversations.
I often describe myself as ‘problematically non-confrontational’. I avoid conflict like it’s my job. However, when you work for a life coach they really want to talk it out. This means I have had to talk through things much more than I am used to, which definitely is healthier but can still make me itchy. I have learned that talking things through early on, rather than waiting until a bunch of resentment has built up, is definitely the way to go.
Bringing just a touch of the non-coach approach
I like to think there are also advantages for a coach to work with non-coaches. I can help remind the team that not everyone understands questions like where are you stuck? And while getting feedback and asking questions are great, sometimes it’s just time to make a decision and move on, and I am not afraid to say so. Fair warning to all my friends: the coaching mentality is a little contagious, so I might start asking you a lot of questions about what you want and how you could get there. But don’t worry, I’ll still swear while I do it, and commiserate about all the ways people are terrible.
