These skills become more available the more we practice them, and at some point can even become the dominant neural pathways in our brains. This means that even if you grew up with less than great communication in your family, and/or have a bit of a default to wanting to fix people, lots of judgment, or not truly listening, using your coaching skills helps your brain become wired in more positive ways.
We also know that mindfulness is one of the most powerfully beneficial things we can do for our brains. The research on long-term meditators shows amazing changes to the brain’s very structure, from creating a thicker corpus callosum (the connective “white matter” between our right and left hemisphere) to increasing the size of areas associated with both compassion and positivity.
I mention this because the definition of mindfulness is actually quite broad. It doesn’t mean only sitting in Zen meditation, but includes any time we are actually present, aware, and paying attention in the moment. I know for myself that I can’t coach unless I am fully present. When my mind wanders, I lose track of what my client is saying, not to mention what they are not saying and where their energy is. Thus, I have trained myself to stay very present in a coaching session, and this also spills over to day-to-day life. When I talk to people, I am present with them.
We don’t have the brain scan research (yet) but I think it’s possible that this practice of being right here, now, in each moment fully with our clients might have similar impact in our brain as meditation. It would certainly be an interesting research study!
The impact of Coaching
Coaching is much more than a fun career; it gives us access to, and practice with, powerful communication skills and possibly even rewires our brains. The skills and tools of coaching provide a road map to being more effective as a leader, parent, sibling, friend, manager and human being. •
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