Do you know THIS online coaching tool?
I didn’t either until our colleague Raf and I developed it in one of our conversations while our participants were in the breakout rooms (just in case you wondered what we were doing during that time).
Raf was telling me about how he uses drawings and images in his coaching process and we were commiserating how it is so sad that it is a bit difficult to do online. I told him about one coaching “tool” (I prefer to call them “moves”) that I saw in a narrative workshop and really liked:
You take two pieces of flipchart paper, glue them together on the short side so that you end up with a long rectangle. You invite the client to lie down on this paper and trace the body outline with a marker. The client can then draw on the flipchart:
- things they like about themselves
- skills they have that are represented by areas in the body (for example: a good eye for detail, a good nose for opportunities)
- surrounding the body the aura of who supports them, who is important for them
- etc.
This exercise can also be done in groups. It is especially useful when clients have questions around what they would like to do in life or when they are pondering a career change.
How to do that online? Not possible right?
“Hold my beer”, she says. As an online afficionado and virtual guru, I was set on finding a way. And here it is:
Ask the client to send you a photo that shows them in their strengths, a happy moment or a great memory. You can then use a filter to convert the photo into outlines or even leave it as it is. Import the photo into Mural or Miro where you can use sticky notes to “draw” into the picture. Not as nice as playing with colors and paper, but it works! You can even use it for group coaching and give everyone a corner of the Miro / Mural board to upload their own picture. This could also be good for team building (maybe with questions like: what do I bring to the team?)
Let me know if / when you try it!
To experiment, learn about our classes come to our free meetup and exchange — or if you are really keen, book our “creative note taking for coaches” course, in which you will learn a lot about inventing your own visualizations.
