Maintaining Presence Requires Taking No Notes When I Coach

The Truman Capote technique, letting our senses remember the most important bits of a conversation, (which I learned in journalism school at UC Berkeley) works surprisingly well in coaching. I realized this four years ago, when I tried taking notes amidst an early boom in my coaching business. Writing and then trying to read afterwards notes from ten sessions in one day was futile. So I stopped. And I let my memory serve me instead. Which it did, beautifully. Over the last five years, I've coached over 10,000 sessions purely off of presence and curiosity. By memory, with no notes, I type up and share with my coachee a crisp, story-like summary after. It takes me one to two minutes, in deep flow, to write up what I recall, in ways where clients feel tender and heard. I even remember details years later, if we reunite for friendship or more coaching. I'm convinced the reporting system I've devised helps connect us through the written word long after the coaching conversation ends, and that's what I'm sharing in these short essays, which I read for you in this week's Competency No 5 episode. [Publishing soon to Substack.]Your show hostDebbi McCullough is an Economist and Financial Times-trained journalist who became a Master Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation and a communications coach for newly-promoted or promoting Fortune 500 leaders. Book her for coaching, training or ICF mentoring here.   Train with her on Maven here.