Hi guys, some weeks ago I discussed the “Coding Dojo” topic, the post can be found here. This week I want to explain how you can apply the same concept to coaching. This is something that I have been thinking of organizing in Munich.
A coaching dojo is an activity where coaches gather together to practice their coaching skills. These sessions are a great way for coaches to improve their skills. It´s an opportunity for them to apply the “Arc of coaching” or to be aware aboutwhat are their thoughts while coaching.
Everything starts with a pre-selection of a problem selected by a coachee. The dojo runs with two people working in a pair in front of an audience, one of the persons acts as coachee, the other as a coach. The coach tries to help the coachee with a problem. The topic should be professional topic, here you can find the reason why you should not take chose a personal topic. During this time the audience observes how the pair is conducting the coaching session.
A session takes between ten to fifteen minutes, after that the audience is invited to provide feedback about how the coaching was conducted. When the session is over, a person from the audience switches with one of the pairs. The remaining person changes the role in order to be a coach and a coachee. For the first session you might want to keep the same pair and ask them to change positions after the session in order to enable both persons to try different roles. This will allow everyone in the room to participate in this activity.
I believe this is a great way to help coaches to practice outside of their professional environment.
