Ideals in Motion

Leading From Behind

NOTE: This is an extract from my soon to be published book "Three Dimensional Coaching"

Leading from behind is often a very foreign notion for many coaches. This is particularly true when dealing with the performance coaching issues that are typical of much of the coaching that takes place in organizations today.

Typically, the manager/coach has become aware of a performance breakdown and needs to have it corrected. The client may or may not be aware of the breakdown. How does a coach lead from behind in such a scenario? This is where the somatic distinction of CFEEB (center, face, extend, enter, blend) comes into play. The key to leading from behind is rooted in the Extend portion of the CFEEB model. As discussed earlier, in order to extend effectively the coach must bring curiosity to the conversation.

The outcome of effectively extending is that the coach is able to “feel the pulse” of the client. It is the feeling of the client’s pulse coupled with a healthy dose of curiosity that allows the coach to begin to lead the client to addressing the breakdown. The coach leads through the use of high quality questions – questions that are tied into clarifying the coach’s interpretation of the client’s pulse and the link to the trajectory of the client’s behavior.

Consciousness Is An Experience Junkie...

I had a wonderful conversation today with Elias Admidon of The Open Path. We have been exploring and discussing the nature of abiding non-duality and I was relating to him a recent experience I had while I was in Hawaii. The net of the experience is a realization that I am nothing more than an interpreting mechanism for "consciousness". This realization was catalyzed by a meditation I've been doing around the Latin phrase Momento Mori - literally translated as remember you must die.

Actually, I've already died...I just haven't arrived at that time yet. What a cool thought to entertain as a way to determine what experiences to pay attention to. Indeed, time may only exist to ensure that everything doesn't happen all at once.

If all there is (and all that I really am) is consciousness then what is the purpose of my body, my thoughts, my feelings or my life? The best that I can come up with is they are all contributory to a fascinatingly creative mechanism through which consciousness gets to experience aspects of this reality. Having and interpreting (making meaning) of this experience is a function of this form called Blaine.

Consciousness is an experience junkie. It has "created" about six billion human interpreting mechanisms (not to mention all the other organic and inorganic interpreting mechanisms that populate this universe) in order to experience this reality that we perceive. All will return to consciousness; the river will empty into the ocean. Free will is about what I do while on my own river. How do I navigate it, what do I attend to that I find in and on the river? I can do this mindfully or not. That's ultimately a function of how awake I am to this possibility. I get to make it all up! And, I don't get to not return to the ocean.