Coaching the genius

Hi, it is Carlo Perfetto again!

Over the past few weeks during mentoring and training sessions, I have repeatedly discussed the maintenance of the coach's role as a "non-expert" throughout a coaching session.

From the conversations we had, however, I realised that transforming the concept of "non-expert" into observable behaviour may not be straightforward, especially for those new to coaching... imagining what the behaviour of a "not-something" consists of can be a bit counter-intuitive and so, in keeping with the Solution Focus principle of "if something doesn't work, do something different", I tried to play with a different metaphor and asked myself: how would you behave if you had to coach Albert Einstein?

Imagine that Professor Einstein himself asked you for a coaching session to help him get unstuck on a complicated quantum mechanics calculation, on which he has been stuck for days... Of course he knows that the coach is not exactly an expert, but he knows that he has a great curiosity and is able to listen carefully to what is being said.

What behaviour would you adopt throughout the coaching session? You would probably try to show both respect for his enormous knowledge of the subject matter and curiosity about how he intends to approach the situation. Below I try to share some thoughts, certainly not exhaustive.

You would make him choose the process to follow in the session.

From the outset you would be curious about his thought process to proceed towards the session's objective. You would avoid taking initiatives in terms of direction but respect his way of thinking. Questions such as: what is the best way for you to move towards your intended outcome, or how you normally deal with these types of situations, might help you.

You would try to understand how he wants to receive support from you and what role he expects you to play.

Considering the extreme (at least for me, sigh...) difficulty of the matter, you might be curious to know what kind of support Professor Einstein might expect from you, both to understand if you are really able to support him in the way he imagines and in what direction you should move your curiosity. What kind of support you expect or what role you want him to play in this conversation could be useful questions for this purpose.

You would constantly refer to him to identify what the next step in the session might be.

Right from the start you would constantly ask Professor Einstein how he wants to proceed, providing alternatives in case he says 'you tell me...'. What is a good next step or what would you like to explore at this point would probably help.

You would make your observations while maintaining the utmost respect for his experience and knowledge.

In case, as you listen to him, you think that an error or inconsistency seems to be hiding in the things he says, or if you think you have something in mind that might be useful to him, you would first ask if he really wants to hear my observation too, and once authorised, you would share it on the premise that it could of course be wrong and that the assessment of its usefulness will be yours alone...

In fact, all these (and other) behaviours we would enact in such a situation would simply stem from the respect we would accord to a person with so much knowledge and experience in the specific field... but shouldn't this always be the case?

Isn't it always the case that we consider our client the real expert in his situation?

Then perhaps remembering to behave in front of the client as if we were in front of Professor Einstein, may be a good way to activate all those behaviours we have summarised above... or not?

And you, what other behaviours would you hold to show the client that you recognise him/her as an expert? If you'd like to share your own ways and hear others, come to one of our Free Coaching Meetups or meet us here!