Cultivating a positive and supportive environment
As coaches, our role is to create a positive and supportive environment. When we surround ourselves with positivity, it supports our coaching in many ways.
-Create a sense of accountability
-Increase awareness of strengths and weaknesses
-Incorporate more positive behaviors into their life
-Build relationships that promote healthy behavior change
So what does it take to be a coach? To understand how this works, think about the type of relationship you want your clients to have with you. Is that relationship balanced? Does one person have a stronger voice than the other? If you want to be a successful coach, then you need to create an environment where everyone has a chance to be heard and valued. Here are some simple strategies for creating a positive and supportive environment.
Bottom-Line
Coaching relationships are like any other relationships--they need balance in order to flourish. By creating an environment where everyone has a chance to dialogue openly, coaches will have the chance to learn from their clients and their clients will feel more comfortable responding honestly. You can use these strategies to create a supportive environment that will lead to better coaching, healthier clients, and greater results!
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Cultivating a positive and supportive environment - Journeys in Coaching , by Amanda Reynolds, LCSW, CAC 01/08/2016 12:00AM EST
Exercise: 3-Minute Gratitude Journal Entry
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." - Melody Beattie, The Language of Letting Go
What are the blessings in your life? What makes you smile? I write down one thing that I'm thankful for each night before bed. It's sometimes a bit difficult to think of things to be thankful for on a daily basis. This journal entry is a quick exercise that will help you connect with 'the everyday' blessings in your life.
3-Minute Gratitude Journal Entry #1
Write one thing that you are grateful for today.
Take a few deep breaths.
Journal Entry #2
Think of one thing that you are grateful for from this past week.
Take a few deep breaths.
Journal Entry #3
Think of one thing that you are grateful for from this past month that may not have happened if you hadn't encountered some other experience or person in your life.
Write about it.
Take a few deep breaths.
Journal Entry #4
Think of one thing that you are grateful for from this past year that may not have happened if you hadn't encountered some other experience or person in your life. Write about it, and your reaction to this experience.
- Acknowledge the things that you are grateful for today, this week, and throughout the past year. Take time each day to think of one thing to be grateful for. - Be grateful for the things that are right in front of you. - Acknowledge people for their strengths and efforts. - Be grateful to your past experiences and the people in your life.
- Thankful for my family, friends, clients, and pets.
- I am thankful for my wife. She has been extremely supportive of me starting a blog and pursuing personal growth activities; she told me to write what I wanted today. - I am thankful for counseling clients who have been open to some new ideas and have generated some interesting conversations with me during therapy sessions this week. - I am thankful for my clients who are making positive changes in their lives. - I am thankful for my faculty supervisor who has helped me grow as a counselor and provided some great advice. - I am thankful for good food, good music, and books that capture my attention. - I am thankful that my dog keeps me entertained when I'm home alone with him. - Forgiving was hard to do today, but it is something that comes naturally to me once I can breathe again. - My wife set out a candle in our kitchen along with a card from my daughter; these little things help me feel loved.
- I am thankful for the time at the gym this week, where I have been able to explore some new movements and routines. - I am thankful for the guidance that my professor has provided me in my professional development. - Today was a great day: it was 75 degrees, and little to no rain; I got to eat outside with my wife; I found a new way to keep myself occupied when she is busy; and ended up spending some quality time on Facebook while out for lunch with friends.
- There have been quite a few good restorative days recently. The weather has been beautiful, it's beautiful outside, and things happened which allowed me to get work done without interruption.
Conclusion
We tend to focus on the things that we're having problems with. In a lot of cases, we overlook the things that are making us happy. It's important to acknowledge the blessings in our life, so we can appreciate them and be grateful. It does take some effort and concentration at first, but if you make something a habit, it becomes easier over time.