but alas, in the world of coaching, interruption may be a very useful and necessary skill to use. That's right, I wrote "skill"! It is important for mentors, and of course coaches, to know that interrupting a protege or client is beneficial to facilitate the learner's growth.
In the book Mentor, Daloz interrupts his students on several occasions when they seemed to get lost in their own thoughts or are unable to make sense of their direction. The reason interrupting is important is that the coach or mentor is often able to observe and recognize the client's desired direction before the client can. While it may sound strange and feel awkward at times for the coach, it is crucial for mentors to express what they are observing at key moments in order to facilitate the client's growth. Sometimes we, as students (and yes, I am a lifelong learner and will always call myself a student of some form of study or another), are so lost in our own thoughts we have a hard time being jolted from them. A strategically-placed interruption is often a respite from our whirlwind thoughts, providing momentary clarity and the opportunity to come back into the present moment.
"The reason interrupting is important is that the coach or mentor is often able to observe and recognize the client's desired direction before the client can."
ReplyDeleteFrom whose perception? The mentor's or the student's? The student may be on the track to a major internal break through - should the stream of consciousness be interrupted? Could the mentor observe, take notes and when the student comes up for air - interject with an inquiry question, redirect, re-grounding, etc.
I'm not comfortable with the idea that a mentor (or anyone) is in someone's head and knows where a stream of consciousness is heading. We can have common themes, etc. that lead to typical conclusions/actions; but I would probably have the tendency to allow the individual to come to a nature pause.
This is billable hours - right? :-)
Linda...great thoughts, and I understand exactly where you are coming from. The importance of interupting is to do so at strategic moments. The coaching interaction requires that the coach be in the moment--so much so that "blurting" may occur. As I mentioned in my post, I always thought it was rude to interupt, and you can run the risk of interupting at an inopportune time or of appearing rude. Nevertheless, the coach should be trained well enough to know when he or she is hearing a common theme or sensing hesitation in the client. It is more about hearing what the client isn't saying than anything else and bringing it to the client's attention.
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