In the last posting, I discussed two of the principles I adhere to when coaching people as they move on their journey to change:  1.  Making no assumptions and   2.  Listening with one’s eyes, heart, gut, and ears.

Today, I will discuss a third component, drawn from Cesar Milan’s concept of “leader of the pack” dog/people training:  maintaining a certain kind of energy while in the presence of the person I am coaching–what he calls “calm, assertive energy.”  This involves monitoring posture (relaxed yet energized), tone of voice (neutral without being disengaged), eye contact (intense but not intimidating), and facial expression (interested without protraying unnecessary reactions or excessive expressiveness.)

Some people can maintain a “calm, assertive energy”  instintively; for others it is a learnable skill.  For others, particularly for those with very high energy levels, it is almost impossible to achieve.  But it is a worthy goal, whether working with people……OR dogs…..cats are another matter.

Next time, I will discuss the ability to “find the story beneath the story,” one of the most important coaching skills we can acquire.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 2:40 pm and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.