We access the wisdom of multiple intelligences, not just the cerebral rational intelligence.
Be prepared to get creative in coaching. Your cerebral, rational intelligence will not have all the answers, or it might get stuck or be lost for words.
Your coach may invite you into experiments that might feel a little different from the “norm” of talking. For example, you might be invited to draw the situation to see what you see in that medium (and it doesn’t matter if you are not Picasso, as this is not a contest).
You may be invited to use objects to represent the situation, laying them out in front of you and again noticing what you see that was not obvious when you were simply talking about the situation.
Maybe your coach will invite you to stand to see the situation from a different angle – you’ll be surprised how much this simple act of standing can shift your thinking.
Or your coach might ask you to move to a different place in the room, again to see what new thinking that offers you (because sitting in the same chair that you have always sat in will give you the same old thinking that created the issue in the first place).
Or you could go walking coaching, either together or apart on your respective mobile phones. Walking and talking can lead to a 60% increase in creative thinking, according to researchers at Stanford.
You might be invited to discover what nature tells you about your situation or to use other metaphors to shed light when all was previously dark or foggy.
Or your coach may ask you where you are feeling something in your body and what your body’s wisdom is.
I could go on. There are a multitude of ways that we can access new thinking.
So even though it may at first feel strange, I encourage you to roll with it to see what new thinking you can access. That said, if it’s really uncomfortable or you are in a space that doesn’t allow for privacy, feel free to say no or counter-offer.
And if you are an artist or a musician or a walker, don’t wait to be asked into an experiment; suggest these things to your coach, as these are likely to be ways that you access your very best thinking as that is how your brain works.
