Lesson 2 Preparation

Coaching Relationship Skills

We hope Lesson 1 meets or exceeds your expectations! Lesson 2 focuses on coaching relationship
skills, especially the three core coaching skills of Mindful Listening, Open-Ended Inquiry, and Perceptive
Reflections.

Please complete before Lesson 2:

1. Using the Vision Coaching Tool coach at least one person (your coaching buddy or others) to
develop a personal wellness vision:
• For the purpose of this exercise, the Wellness Vision is a brief, life-giving statement
which includes:
• The health-promoting, life-giving behaviors that will be demonstrated consistently
• A picture of the vision including the key elements
• The values that support the vision
• The motivators that make the vision important
• The challenges you have to deal with on the way to reaching the vision
• The strengths you can draw on to achieve the vision
• The supports that can help you to realize the vision
• Focus on using the core coaching skills: Mindful Listening, Open-Ended Inquiry, and
Perceptive Reflections.
• Note what worked and what didn’t work. Come prepared to share your observations in
class.

A note about practice coaching at this stage in the training: By Lesson 7, we will begin to
encourage you to identify practice clients so that, by Lesson 11, you can begin to practice full
coaching conversations (such as the Wellness Vision conversation or Weekly Coaching sessions)
with a practice client (someone who is not a friend, family member, or co-worker).

Until then, for Lessons 1-10, we simply encourage you to practice the skills in your everyday life.
For example, practice open-ended inquiry with your manager, or reflections with your best friend.
For now, simply look for the ways that you can bring these new coaching skills and behaviors into
your everyday conversations, as a way to integrate them into your being.

2. Read Chapter 2: Coaching Relationship Skills

3. Write down your thoughts on how trust is developed and broken in coaching relationships.

4. Read the following articles: Understanding, Building and Repairing Trust, Listening Essays,
Mindfulness: What is Called for Now?

5. If time permits, listen to member classes, on Trust, Listening, and Mindfulness.

Trust Member Class: Trust Part One, Trust Part Two

Listening Member Class: Listening Part One, Listening Part Two, Listening Part Three

December 2011
 Mindfulness Member Class: Mindfulness Part One, Mindfulness Part Two, Mindfulness Part
Three

Be Prepared to Discuss:

• Your experiences in practicing the Wellness Vision Coaching Tool.

• The “relationship” as the “heart of coaching” and “trust” as the heart of relationship.
• The three core coaching skills: Mindful Listening, Open-Ended Inquiry, and Perceptive
Reflections.
• Your observations of the coaching demonstration conducted in class.

December 2011