Peace of Mind Organizing

Coaching, anyone?

12 April 2007

Earlier this year, I made the smart decision to take a nine-week telecourse, The Coach Approach for Organizers taught by the fabulous uber-organizer and coach Denslow Brown and the equally fabulous ADD coach, Cameron Gott.

The nine weeks just ended; we had our last class yesterday. It’s got me thinking about what I’m going to do with this newfound knowledge. In this class, I learned general coaching skills, I learned about organizing people with ADD and I learned about coaching people with ADD. Fascinating stuff, particularly since so many chronically disorganized people have ADD.

One of the distinctions I see between coaching and organizing is that organizers are hired to help solve problems for their clients, while coaches help clients come up with the solutions themselves. In our classes and practice sessions we were encouraged to squelch our “expert” and instead guide the client to their own insights. I think all of us in the class had a little difficulty with that, since we’re so used to being hired for our expert opinions. But we all saw how powerful it is when the solutions to problems come from within the client.

So what am I going to do with knowledge I gained in this class? I’d like to offer coaching to my organizing clients. I can see weekly phone coaching, for example, used to keep the client going between hands-on appointments. I see using phone coaching to work with organizing clients who live outside of my geographic area. And I can also see integrating coaching skills, particularly the potent one-two punch of powerful questions and accountability, during my hands-on organizing appointments.

As I figure out what I’m going to offer, I’ll be adding a coaching section to my website. I’m really excited about using these skills…and gaining more skills…to help my clients achieve lasting peace of mind.

Tagged with: add, coaching

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