October 5, 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Hampshire apple sits on Tim’s desk as inspiration.  Soon to be eaten.

 

 

 

 

 

A google search for “facilitation tips” brought up these links:

 

 

· Full Circle.com

 

· 3M Meeting Network

 

· The Thiagi Group

 

             Additional freebies from the Thiagi Group

 

· Think Smart

P. Tim Martindell

 

Coaching Facilitates Greatness is a weekly support newsletter from The Houston A+ Challenge for new CFG coaches. Questions and comments are welcome at tmartindell@houstonaplus.org. 

 

 

 

 

             This past Sunday as I picked apples in a rainy New Hampshire orchard, I looked skyward, searching through the trees, examining each limb for telltale signs of optimum ripeness.  Living in urban Houston, Texas, these past 24 years, I have grown accustomed to the mealy, bland tasting, but visually appealing—uniform, highly polished-supermarket fruit, and have almost forgotten the crisp, tart tasting, mottled and bumpy apples picked fresh from a tree.  I spotted a likely candidate, reached up with my long-handled apple picking tool, and grabbed it.  I grasped the apple between my thumb and fore-fingers and bit into the freshly picked macintosh.  Sweet and tart, that apple had to be the best I had tasted in 20 odd years.

            

             That contrast between the apparent perfection of the store-bought apples and the bumpy reality of the orchard fruit reminds me of my own coaching process.  Just as the orchard owner must occasionally prune, feed, and spray the trees to grow the best crop, I must be constantly learning and reflecting on my personal coaching practice.  Key to my own growth are the relationships with critical friends who daily question my actions and push my thinking—in essence, constantly coaching me. 

            

             In his book, Masterful Coaching, Robert Hargrove writes that a “masterful coach stands in the Impossible Future people are committed to and encourages them to act boldly in the present.”  Having critical friends who masterfully coach us supports the Herculean work necessary to assure equity for all students.  As coaches you are the apple farmer who tends the orchard knowing that the harvest may bring wonderful pies, ciders and sauces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Double click on Hargrove’s book to order.

For details and registration, go to:  http://www.nsrfharmony.org/wintermeeting.html

Tasting that first apple.  October 1, 2006