DoWhat!?
Support & Inspiration for Taking the Road Less
Traveled
Reading Time: 5 Minutes
In this issue:
- Look While You Leap
- Courageous Career Roundtable
- Clearness Committee
- Holiday Gift Suggestions
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Group coaching is both fun and daring: You lay it on the line
with a group of like-minded people, develop a community of support,
and get the benefit of group members’ varied experiences and
perspectives. It can be challenging and comforting – AND a fast lane
to change!
Coaching hasn’t cornered the market on this kind of group
work, though. Group process has a long history. Indeed, the Quakers
used a form of “group coaching” called a Clearness Committee as
early as the 1660s! I read about this and said, “Hey, that’s
coaching!” And it’s been in use for hundreds of years.
So this month we talk about the power of groups.
First, I am excited to share news of TWO new group programs that
I will facilitate in the new year:
- Look While You Leap a group for women who want to gain
confidence, spice and a sense of passion and direction while in
career or life transition
- Courageous Career Roundtable for highly motivated
professionals who are READY for career change in 2007 and wish for
accountability through the process
So if career change
factors into your 2007 plans, check out these two different flavors.
I bet you'll find one that suits you.
We'll also talk about the Quaker’s simple yet powerful
tradition of group work, and how you might apply the concept for
yourself.
May you find a group to help you move powerfully forward on
the road less traveled!
Happy Holidays!
Laura
Look While You Leap
An unconventional coaching group
I realized the other day that I was not “walking my talk.” I
encourage others to take the road less traveled and do the things
that they know are right for them, yet I was ignoring my desire to
create this program. “Later,” I kept saying. Well, why not now!
So here it is...
Look While You Leap is a group program for women in
the DC metro area who have the desire to stretch themselves
physically and emotionally while they are searching for their most
fulfilling next career or life steps.
This is an UNCONVENTIONAL career coaching program. A small
group of women will co-create their own challenges to gain a sense
of power, confidence and, well, spice! Because, after all, it
is this passion and spice that we are looking for in our careers,
right?
This experiential program will help you tap into that passion
and thus inform your career path with your knowledge of just how
freakin' powerful you are!
Click
here for more information on this group...I dare you! :-)
Courageous Career Roundtable
Walk through the challenges and successes of your career
exploration with others who are also going through it
Join a group of motivated people who are ready for a more
fulfilling career, and become part of a smart, insightful and fun
support team.
The Courageous Career Roundtable is a coaching group for 4-6
people hand picked to work together: all are facing similar
challenging career questions; all are ready to make serious strides
in the first quarter of 2007. The group meets on the phone for a
minimum of 3 months and is facilitated by me. I offer both proven
exercises to support your process, but also the flexibility to
create what you need in the moment. The group will be highly
interactive with discussion and homework at each group call, as well
as "buddy" work with team mates and one-on-one coaching with
me.
To join you must be ready to participate fully, be held
accountable for your work toward your goals, and maintain the
confidentiality for the group.
The Courageous Career Roundtable is ideal for you if you
are...
- A high achieving professional who is actively thinking about
next career steps;
- Not entirely sure or trusting what those next steps should be;
and
- Ready to invest energy to make strides toward your goals in
the Q1 of 2007.
You don’t have to do it alone! If you are ready to move
forward powerfully in January, contact Laura to discuss this
group.
Click
here for more information and to apply for the Courageous Career
Roundtable
Clearness Committee
When I started coaching, I thought group coaching was
something new. A technique hatched as part of the coaching industry.
Boy, was I wrong.
The Quakers have been group coaching – in a very modern way –
for hundreds of years. The particular tradition that caught my
attention is the Quaker’s Clearness Committee – an approach that
honors an individual’s resourcefulness while recognizing that it is
sometimes hard to see our way through an internal conflict
alone.
To convene a Clearness Committee a person faced with a
difficult decision or dilemma gathers a small group of trusted
friends in a private meeting. The “focus person” describes her
problem to the group, whose members then begin asking questions. No
advice, opinions, judgments, stories of their own experience – just
questions. The focus person answers each question, leading to other
questions, and so forth, as a deeper understanding of the situation
is revealed.
The beauty is that the Clearness Committee bypasses the
muddle that comes from being bombarded by others' values and
well-meant advice. The group untangles the issue through the use of
powerful, thoughtful questions that act like spotlights shining into
dark corners.
A basic premise of the Clearness Committee is that the focus
person already has the answers, but simply needs help seeing through
to the roots of the issue. I love this because it mirrors one of the
basic cornerstones of my coaching: all clients are naturally
creative, resourceful and whole. As a client you do not need to be
fixed, and you have the answers although you may need objective help
to bring those answers to light.
How might you use this concept in your own life? Just about
any time you feel deeply conflicted or stuck can be an opportunity
to try this technique. How about asking a committee to help clarify
whether you should go to grad school? Should you take the new job?
Or move? Or get married? Possibilities abound.
If you choose to gather your own Clearness Committee, follow
the link below to excellent guidelines from Friends General
Conference, a Quaker resource organization.
(http://www.fgcquaker.org)
Enjoy!
