When I worked for a corporate and we were discussing setting up a coaching function, one of the managers said that the coaches would be expected to work with eight thinkers per day. One thinker per hour for the whole working day – back to back, no breaks, no preparation time, no reflection time.
She had a metric in mind that was about chargeability (being able to charge for all of our time, not just a portion of it). But coaching is not about being productive. It’s not like any normal meeting (albeit that those shouldn’t be scheduled back to back either if we want people to bring their best to each meeting).
Productively
But I notice that some coaches do schedule high numbers of sessions per day in order to feel productive, though I don’t actually know of anyone who schedules eight in a day, that’s just an exaggeration for effect. That is a residue from corporate days, where time needed to be used productively. Productively meaning fitting as much in as humanly possible, earning as much as possible.
We need to be careful not to be driven by earning more money if that means that our thinkers get a lesser presence from us. What would it be like for the eighth person in a day – or even the sixth?
A different kind of energy
The problem with fitting in as many people as we can per day is that coaching takes a different kind of energy. It’s not that we work especially hard as the coach – that is the job of the thinker – but to be totally present for our thinker takes a different kind of energy. I doubt that we are that present in many other meetings (we know that people multi-task for example, when they are on virtual calls).
Keeping focused on our thinker means that we cannot work with eight people, one after the other after the other. We need some downtime in between.
Downtime
That downtime enables us to clear our mind of the previous thinker, so that we can focus on the next one. We might use the in-between time to write some reflections of what has gone before, and to then get ourselves into the zone for the person we will be present for next. Answering emails and catching up on our to-do list does not give us that refreshment that we need. It might feel satisfying to tick things off the list, but it’s not giving us the energy we need to be fully present.
Pause
This pause is like defragging your computer. Clearing space.
It will be a different pause for you compared to what it is for me.
My pause time consists of making a cup of tea or coffee, centring whilst the kettle boils, enjoying that drink whilst sitting and doing nothing but savouring it. It will usually also involve doggy cuddles.
I also build in weekly pauses, taking a morning or afternoon to step away from the computer, to immerse myself in something creative or spend time with a friend.
And I am starting monthly pauses too, reading weeks during the New Moon period, when rest is most needed.
Then there is the yearly pause. I actually do this twice a year, once at my birthday and once between Christmas and New Year, reflecting on the year to date and planning for the next period. Holidays are a great pause too, but we all know what it’s like to push through, push through, push through until that time off, as we simply crash or get ill in our downtime if we do that.
In amongst these pauses, we also need to pause for reflective practice and coaching supervision.
This layering of pauses (Robert Poynton) gives me a higher yield than I would ever get if I pushed through and saw eight clients per day. When I say yield, I don’t mean efficiency, I mean effectiveness (Covey). We cannot be driven by the clock, we must be driven by what is most important. What is important in coaching is being fully present with our thinker, so that they can do their best thinking. That is why the International Coaching Federation looks for more evidence of Coaching Presence than any of the other competencies.
How do you layer your pauses to enable you to be fully present for your thinkers?
References:
Do/Pause: You are not your to do list, Robert Poynton.
The seven habits of highly effective people, Stephen Covey.
