by Iulia Sorescu (Romania)
Coaching is a dance of powerful questions and answers which ultimately lead to goal achievement and positive change. Ideally. But as powerful as a question can be, there are times when there’s no “ahas” and no clear-cut action plans. So, what can be done to overcome blockages within a coaching relationship? How can a coach help the client get to the necessary insight when questions don’t work their magic?
The good news is that coaching leaves a lot of room for creativity. We can bring in different tools and techniques and we can adapt our coaching strategy according to the situation. Guided meditation, vision boards, tools from gestalt therapy (such as the empty chair) can sparkle the session. Every coach has its own style and preferences.
My preferred tool is to bring photographic practices into coaching. Not only because I am passionate about the power of images myself, but because photography is at hand. Everybody has access to a wide range of pictures. And almost everybody is taking photos. Today, photography is just one smartphone click away. It is creative and empowering. But it is subtle and nonintrusive at the same time.
This article is aimed as a personal account of photographic practices in coaching. As there is not much literature on coaching and photography, my arguments are purely experiential and should be treated as such.
Source: iCN Issue 23 (Coaching Tools, Tips & Techniques); pages 61-64
About Iulia Sorescu
Iulia Sorescu is a certified coach and trainer. She brings coaching and photography together to help people find their values, live their way and create positive change for them and their communities.
She believes that in this time of disruption, it’s our responsibility to build the world we’d love to live in. And we cannot do so unless we create the best version of ourselves, and then ask how we can make things better around us. Uprise Action is her answer to “how can I make things better around here?”.
Website: https://www.upriseaction.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/upriseaction/
She can be reached at iulia@upriseaction.com.
