Learning Into Action: The coaching catalyst

‘Coaching has turned on my inner sunshine’! This was a comment from one of my clients in a recent coaching session, in reference to their experience of the process. I thought this was great as a way of thinking about coaching outcomes, that there is an inner sunshine that needs to break out, to shed light on issues that need to be addressed.

Coaching as a support system has become an integral part of our approach, particularly in translating knowledge into action. The lessons that take place in a class setting are useful and they are then enhanced through the process of listening and engaging the learner in their process of unpacking and implementing their learning. This listening and engaging process is at the core of what coaching is about and the SBVP project understands this as a critical component of building capacity. SBVP has the overarching objective of transforming social ministries run by Catholic Sisters into sustainable social enterprises. This idea of enterprises is fairly new for most of the Catholic Sisters who are often focused mostly on charity work, although some of the charity works also have an entrepreneurial perspective by their nature but with a social aim as a central focus. The common approach for sustaining their charity activities has been the donor-funded approach, but this has had many challenges in the recent past and this has given rise to the need for self-reliance. This is where SBVP comes in to support Catholic Sisters’ initiatives in their journey towards self-reliance. First, to build capacity for social entrepreneurship technical skills, and then to support their social entrepreneurship leadership and management endeavors. This is through knowledge sharing and then knowledge translation into action through coaching support.

Coaching supports the ability to gain an awareness of self as well as an understanding of working with others towards achieving a common goal. The coaching partnership with the Catholic Sisters is full of many interesting stories of successes as well as challenging ones, but all culminate in happy endings. One congregation came to the programme to get support to access more donors to fund a school project. After some class sessions that included one on resource mapping and management, and further coaching conversations, they realized they were sitting on a huge asset of over 300 acres of land. The result was that this congregation was able to establish that they had significant wealth in their hands and are now exploring ways of turning this around for the benefit of their social ministry. Challenges exist in the process too, such as conflicted concerns about faith and enterprise. In these instances, clients are given a chance to express their feelings and thoughts, and this is discussed in the context of their belief to support them to address those concerns and better understand the role of enterprise in faith.  

Coaches often encounter clients with different types of concerns about the coaching process and that becomes one of the first tasks to deal with. The idea is to listen and let the client express themselves in their own way. Listening is at the core of the coaching and is useful in the reflection process to help the client dig deep to find the solutions that exist within themselves. This is seen as an opportunity to get the inner workings a chance flow, to reveal the inner power and confidence that can often remain hidden. Professional coaching is about helping clients reach their full potential, create an impact in their environment, and nurture a safe environment where they fearlessly manage their lives and their work, embrace change, and have an impact. The SBVP focus aims to support clients as they navigate the world of social entrepreneurship, and this requires a reflective process to help the client think through what is required to be done and to put together a plan of action. Coaching has been an effective catalyst in this process.

Coaching for SBVP has been a wonderful encounter for me as well as for other coaches in the programme. The comments shared with us by the clients have included reference to building trust, influencing their team, ability to be physically and mentally presented in their activities, developing increased confidence and assertiveness to engage in difficult conversations, renewed commitment to self-improvement, and clarity about own abilities. My belief in coaching rests in its potential for power to transform both the coach and the client as they explore ways to impact their lives and as they make discoveries together, and work towards ‘turning on the inner sunshine!

Article by Dr. Nancy Njiraini