What Students Are Saying
Illinois Leadership Coaching Philosophy
This is a very interesting perspective on coaching that accurately describes our best Leadership Certificate coaches. The excerpt is taken from Masterful Coaching: Extraordinary Results By Impacting People and the Way They Think and Work Together by Robert Hargrove:
"A great teacher or coach often displays simple virtues like clarity of mind, basic goodness, basic wisdom, or fairness in dealing with others. When we meet people who possess such virtues, they automatically become coaches for us, whether they are teachers, bosses, or janitors. These people often distinguish themselves in our eyes because of their extraordinary genuineness. Sometimes, these people can be do direct, so real, and so true. Or they can have a big influence on us without saying very much at all.
The Japanese have a work called "korokoro" that has to do with perfecting one's inner nature. To be a great swordsman or tea master or Kojiki dancer, one must not only master the technique but perfect the way of being that is consistent with the discipline.
In the West, we tend to underestimate the importance of a person's way of being. We focus instead on his or her knowledge, skills, or techniques. Yet, whenever people stand out in a particular domain, they are recognized for "being" a leader, "being" excellent, "being" creative, "being" effective, or "being" understanding.
In most cases in our society, people don't ask the question, "How do I be?" when it comes to learning. They think in terms of "What do I do?" and "How do I do it?" This makes sense in teaching simple skills or practices. But it becomes limited when we try to apply the same principle to learning certain roles like leadership or coaching. Though we may be able to describe or explain what great leaders, coaches, or teachers do, the source of their actions often lies beyond such descriptions and explanations".
In serving as a Leadership Coach, how to "be" is just as important as what actually fills one's time with a Certificate student. Therefore, spend time thinking about how you are role modeling good leadership in your own life and in your coaching, and you may find that the "what" and "how" of good coaching follows naturally.
If you'd like to learn more, check out a book at the Leadership Resource Library , attend a Coach Connections session, or contact staff at the Illinois Leadership Center.
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All students registered for an Illinois Leadership Center i-program or Leadership Workshop Series will need to read and consent to the following cancellation policy prior to registration.
