UPDATE – 04/2013
Marie-Claude Lapalme and Manon Dulude delivered a 2-day Coaching Fundamentals training to 16 people from Handicap International Haiti. Mostly Haitian and male, they hold diverse responsibilities in the organization such as logistics, purchasing, finance, security and physiotherapy.
The training was a tremendous success! The group was very engaged, enthusiastic, reflective and willing to share their mindsets and be challenged around them. They showed a level of intelligence and sensitivity in their questions and comments that we rarely encounter in our work. Very quickly, the group understood the power of the tools (ex; active listening, powerful questions etc..) and were enthusiastic about giving them a try. The short coaching demo felt like it opened a whole new world for them on how to interact powerfully. And interestingly, the whole idea of the client being complete, resourceful etc. really resonated with them because that is how they approach the handicapped population they treat!
The end of day Marie-Claude offered a very interesting dialogue on whether a person could truly be coached by their manager. Would there be enough trust that the information shared would not be held against them? Also, the director shared concerns around developing such a culture in light of the regular changes in management. What would happen if the next director had a completely different management philosophy?
Day 2 offered the last tools and mainly a lot of practice. Each round showed that they were integrating the approach, some sharing that they had felt like a professional coach, some struggled with self-management, a concept we had not specifically covered but their awareness led them there, and others could not wait to try these things on members of their family! By the end of training on Friday, we had difficulty bringing the training to an end because people had so many comments and insights to share. One gentleman helped us by starting to sing a song with the letters of the word Thank you, and everyone followed.
The director’s feedback was that he was literally stunned not only by the level of participation and engagement, but by the quality and depth of opinions and comments shared, uncovering the amazing potential of his group! He also mentioned that this training was more rich than anticipated, and that he now saw how it brought the team together. He will get us in touch with the head of training at Handicap International in their head office in Lyon, France and we will strive to capitalize on this momentum.
Finally, we shared how this project was a true reflection of the collaboration within the coaching industry. Some had contributed with funds, others with their time and translation ability, and that many of these volunteers we did not know. Whatever contribution you had to this project, trust that the ROI on that contribution is of such magnitude that it would be impossible to put a number on it. On behalf of the group, my colleague in this adventure Manon Dulude, and the founder of CGV Patrick Williams, we want to extend our warmest thanks for your support.
