Action vs. Delay #1

The first class for this course was held on Monday, May 07, 2007. This is the last of the Power Tools classes that I have to take. I’m excited to keep seeing the attendance spreadsheet get filled up.

We discussed action but defined what elements are important in ‘action’. One thing that was discussed was that the action needs to be purposeful. It’s easy to get into action for action sake but it may not be moving us toward the goal. We don’t want to wear our clients out by put them into action that isn’t helpful to the goal.

We also talked about timing of action. Delaying action because the timing isn’t right is ok. Delaying action because of fear or procrastination is what we want to move our clients away from. Is everything in place to support and enable the client to reach the goal? What steps might they need to take in order to get the things in place that will support the movement toward the goal?

As we discussed the fact that people delay because they aren’t good at it or don’t like it. One example was handling money in their business. We talked about helping the client to realize the reason behind the ‘delay’ (not being good at it or liking it, for example) and then identify ways that they can handle that weakness (outsourcing, delegating, learning, etc.).

We talked about how UAC’s effect this area of our clients. UAC’s can either move clients into action or they can cause delay. As a coach we don’t want to spend too much time analyzing the clients UAC’s this would be handle with a therapist. Rather, we should, as a coach, acknowledge the UAC and use it (whatever it is) to move our client toward their goal. I have not yet taken the class on UAC’s. I have the first class on Wednesday and I am anxious to learn more about this concept so that I can better understand how they fit in with coaching in general.