Coaching on Palmerston

The sun broke through just before 10am as I set up my coaching booth with my wonderful helper (who brought along homemade ginger snaps, coaching testimonials, and mad skillz in public outreach).

Planet Palmerston was a great success – the final tally is still being totalled, but organizers think they easily exceeded their goal of raising $1000 for Habitat for Humanity.

At the coaching booth, passersby were puzzled, curious, and some a little intimidated at our offers to try a ten minute sample of life coaching. The brave souls who did try it were a real joy to work with: they were willing to be honest and open about things they wanted to change in their life. It was a wonderful experience to coach outside in the sunshine on patio chairs, sitting under the trees, with neighbours walking by. The person at the next house, once he realized we were having coaching conversations, cranked some mood music (jazz – apparently jazz is good coaching music?) out of his window to provide some ambience for the coaching.

My favourite quote during the day came when someone finished a coaching session, stood up, and exclaimed, “That was waaaaayy better than therapy!!”

(Not that I recommend coaching for people who would be better served with therapy – the two practices are definitely different. In fact, I’m training as a psychotherapist too, because I realize it enables a whole other kind of growth).

I’ll definitely be interested to bring coaching out into the public arena more often so that people can get a taste of it and learn about what coaching can do. In that spirit, there’s an upcoming event (June 12) in Toronto where you can try out a 25-minute coaching session for just a $5 donation. Check here for more info.

On a final note, I want to confess that if it wasn’t for the fact that I work with a coach myself, I would never have had the nerve to set up a coaching booth on my own street as part of a community event. Going through coaching training, watching coaching, and being coached have all increased my ability to be visible, put myself out there, and own and share my skills. It’s been an exceptional gift. 

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