Integrated Coach: Silence
from Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life Hosted by Michelle Burkhard
Silence is a tool, not a virtue. Michelle closes the week at Level 5, the Integrated Coach, where more silence does not automatically mean better coaching. The question is always what this person needs right now. Michelle walks through several versions of a follow-up conversation: one where the coachee is ready for structure and planning, one where a long silence means she has simply lost the thread of the question, and one where the coach offers a reflection and then creates room. She also speaks to a silence many coaches rarely talk about, the coach’s own silence when they don’t know what to say, and the honesty that can replace performance in that moment. The week ends with a larger lesson: silence exposes a coach’s relationship with uncertainty, and the Integrated Coach learns when to protect it, investigate it, break it, or simply sit in it. Have a question or a coaching moment you’d like Michelle to explore on the podcast? Email [email protected]. Wherever you are in your coaching development, there is a next level of growth. Join us for the Coaching Academy in January at CA.GrowBy1.com. Reflection Questions What would help me decide whether a silence needs protecting, clarifying, breaking, or simply holding? How could I check whether a coachee is thinking or has lost the thread of my question? When might offering a reflection and then creating room serve the coachee better than silence alone? How honest am I willing to be when my own silence comes from not knowing what to say? What does my response to silence reveal about my relationship with uncertainty in coaching?
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