I was recently blessed to share C4USM's two-day Mission Coach Training with a cohort from the California-Nevada-Hawaii (CNH) District. It was a very positive experience serving with coaches-in-training and experienced coaches from CNH. I could go on and on about their great hospitality. The people were outstanding, the facilities were excellent, and I had the opportunity to eat some really good street tacos.
Speaking of opportunities, check out the Galatians verse written above. I'm especially impacted by the phrase, "as we have opportunity". Each and every time I lead Mission Coach Training it's a reminder that Christ-centered coaching isn't simply reserved for formal one-on-one coaching. Key coaching skills like using discovery listening and asking powerful questions apply to many formal and informal coaching opportunities throughout our daily lives.
Let me share three proven ways to coach to get you thinking about your coaching opportunities. First, one-to-one coaching relationships are helpful when a person needs special attention to pursuing goals and in an effort to create a culture of developing emerging leaders. Second, coaching clusters (4-7 leaders) provide intensive time for dynamic group leadership and for individual focus. Third, coaching triads (3 leaders) increase care and attention and provide maximized peer-to-peer effectiveness.
A story shared with me about Robert Logan, who is the co-author of coaching resources that we use in Mission Coach Training, emphasizes the importance of maximizing coaching opportunities. Bob was coaching a group with a misconception that coaching was to tell others what to do. Bob was supposed to help them design a coaching program, which was culturally and theologically a foreign idea. With an hour and a half left in the session he took a five-minute break and cried out to God, "one-on-one won't work and neither will clusters. What am I supposed to do? I need a third option!" The word "triad" came to his mind. So, he explained one-on-one and clusters to the group as coaching options, they dismissed both ideas. Then he introduced triads, which they loved. These twenty-one pastors formed triads, and six of the seven groups continued to meet with great success. It's the only design that was totally right the first time and has not changed over time. It works.
Here is one proven way that triads work. Three people meet monthly for ninety minutes. Each person gets thirty minutes to be coached. The other two leaders listen and ask good questions.
As they finish the coaching time, they have the person being coached articulate what God wants her/him to do next. They pray for the person being coached to close the thirty minutes. After that, they rotate to the next person and repeat the process.
It's your turn to take action
. What coaching opportunities do you have? How can you use one-on-one coaching, coaching clusters, coaching triads, or your own creative coaching design to empower leaders? How will you maximize coaching opportunities?
I'm here to help. Please let me know if you want to discuss coaching methods, train as a mission coach, get connected to a coach, or discuss C4USM coaching resources further. You can contact me at (920) 393-3532 or
ewenger@livingraized.com
.
You can also follow this link -
http://www.centerforusmissions.com/coaching
- to find coaches and additional resources in our coaching network.
Joy in Jesus!
Eric
