The Importance of Context

As a coach supervisor, a very large portion of my job is to really understand the culture or context in which my coachee, or my supervisee and their client, live and work.
When a client says they feel ‘angry’ about something, it is very unlikely that their ‘angry’ is exactly the same as my ‘angry’. There then takes place an exchange where I risk looking imbecilic as I ask question after question in order to establish just what the feelings, echoes and implications of that emotion are for the individual sitting in front of me. 

This is Socratic questioning. It is the dissolving of assumption and presumption about another’s experiences, in the service of making informed decisions that will help them, and not ones that are based on my own experiences and thus may only be in service of myself. It’s is work that takes real concentration as I endeavour to walk in another’s shoes for a time.
This level of attention is also essential regarding a client’s work context. Having worked cross-sector and in a variety of cultures in my life, I am only too aware of the impact differing environments can have on people. Once again I must risk looking like a fool in order to get near to the truth of someone else’s experiences. I need to question over and over to understand that implications of the hierarchy, the levels of communication, the implications of appraisals and industry specific crises. I need then to hold this unique individual, with all their learning and personality type preferences, sitting before me and, place them in the vision we create in the space between us.
Only by being really curious about people and places and the way they intersect and interact, can I even begin to ‘get’ the feel for what action might be fruitful for my client. In this manner I can comprehend just what nudge, tweak or adjustment in the thought process might smooth another person’s way through their working week.
It’s intense. It’s certainly not in service of my ego. It’s equally a real joy to collaboratively hit on a solution, however big or small that changes someone’s world. Take the time to identify the right action and the ripple effect can be huge. 

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