Unlearning to Learn: My First Day as a Coach
Unlearning to Learn: My First Day as a Coach
Some beginnings feel familiar. Others mark a clear turning point. In this poetic reflection, Mihaela Stoenescu captures the emotion, doubt, and wonder of starting her coaching journey… not just learning to coach, but learning to be.
A New Kind of School Day
A new first day of school. Colleagues, teachers, emotions. A thousand questions are in line. Expectations? Who knows how many … but listening better, let’s see what’s next. A notebook with many white sheets waits for each one. “This is your manual … today starts a journey in which you will discover your coach.”
I admit, rarely have lived such a school start. And there were a few … What the coach teacher wanted to say, I was wondering, looking at the white sheets. Do we each have a coach in ourselves, just waiting to be revealed to us? No, it must be a metaphor to encourage us. Hmm, or is he reading something in us. Oh, maybe I just came in the right place. Nothing is accidental, is it, say an inner voice.
Unlearning Before Learning
“What you are starting today is a transformational process. Over 9 months there will be a gestation on the being level, not “knowing”, the teacher said once again. I can not digest well – “to be”, not to “know” … How many inner explorations can be done only on this theme. But, wait, we are now here because we want to know … I come back in the presence: “First of all, it’s about unlearning, then is about learning.” Aha! “A course about doing coaching consciously.”
Coaching Is First About Presence
“Coaching is a journey, an experiential interaction. First we look at ourselves, we become acquainted with ourselves … Only then will we learn how we use this discovery in interacting with others.” Fascinating, I say, this is the greatest teasing message I’ve ever heard. It’s just not teasing. I look at the others and I wonder how metamorphosed the expectations that accompanied him on arrival. Expectations? From now on you can see .. Finally, one live and see, a thought passes in speed.
A Journey That Has Just Begun
And I lived the first module in this rhythm. What am I saying? Much more intense. Client, coach, observer. Dialogue between and beyond words. Authentic experience. Oh, many aha.
To learn (to coach) coaching with authentic coaches, 100% present, is a unique experience. You can not afford a lost second. “It is coaching as experience,” as the teacher said at the beginning of the School. And that’s just a page. The journey is just beginning.
A new first day of school. Colleagues, teachers, emotions. A thousand questions are in line. Expectations? Who knows how many … but listening better, let’s see what’s next. A notebook with many white sheets waits for each one. “This is your manual … today starts a journey in which you will discover your coach.”
I admit, rarely have lived such a school start. And there were a few … What the coach teacher wanted to say, I was wondering, looking at the white sheets. Do we each have a coach in ourselves, just waiting to be revealed to us? No, it must be a metaphor to encourage us. Hmm, or is he reading something in us. Oh, maybe I just came in the right place. Nothing is accidental, is it, say an inner voice. “What you are starting today is a transformational process. Over 9 months there will be a gestation on the being level, not “knowing”, the teacher said once again. I can not digest well – “to be”, not to “know” … How many inner explorations can be done only on this theme. But, wait, we are now here because we want to know … I come back in the presence: “First of all, it’s about unlearning, then is about learning.” Aha! “A course about doing coaching consciously.”
“Coaching is a journey, an experiential interaction. First we look at ourselves, we become acquainted with ourselves … Only then will we learn how we use this discovery in interacting with others.” Fascinating, I say, this is the greatest teasing message I’ve ever heard. It’s just not teasing. I look at the others and I wonder how metamorphosed the expectations that accompanied him on arrival. Expectations? From now on you can see .. Finally, one live and see, a thought passes in speed.
And I lived the first module in this rhythm. What am I saying? Much more intense. Client, coach, observer. Dialogue between and beyond words. Authentic experience. Oh, many aha.
To learn (to coach) coaching with authentic coaches, 100% present, is a unique experience. You can not afford a lost second. “It is coaching as experience,” as the teacher said at the beginning of the School. And that’s just a page. The journey is just beginning.
Mihaela Stoenescu, Alumni and Certified Coach One2Coach
Author
Mihaela Stoenescu is a certified coach and One2Coach graduate. Her poetic presence and clarity shine through her reflections, revealing the depth and beauty of coaching as a lived experience.
Mihaela Stoenescu is a certified coach and One2Coach graduate. Her poetic presence and clarity shine through her reflections, revealing the depth and beauty of coaching as a lived experience.