Week 2 Coaching Assignment - Part three: Reflective entry

by Muriel Guillod 

After my first coaching session, I took some time to reflect on this – for me – completely new experience. After some deep thoughts, I’d like to share my personal comments on it.

First of all, I liked how easy and straightforward the communication between each team member was. Even though we didn’t know each other a few days ago, when we started sharing our point of views and entered into the coaching process, it felt really natural and open. We didn’t have to work hard on building an environment where we would feel safe to talk. Of course, we still decided to isolate ourselves into a small room, where we wouldn’t be disturbed by other students or people passing by, and so that we would be able to fully engage into active listening throughout the whole experience.

One thing I was a bit surprised but very pleased about at the same time is that everyone really directly threw themselves into the role play wholeheartedly. The coaches were always listening carefully to their coachee, taking notes, nodding and encouraging the coachee to speak. No one interrupted the conversation curtly nor raised his voice to make his point. Furthermore, while every coachee talked about the essential elements in coaching, all of them were able to come up with new points that the others haven’t mentioned, which was really enriching. As coaches were engaging into active listening, they were all able to come up with very interesting questions, which aimed to truly deepen the conversation, while also helping the team members to get to know each other a bit better.

All in all, this first coaching session went really smoothly and was a very agreeable and enjoyable experience. I am looking forward to go a step further in this process.