news from the aep…
the art of paying attention
Hannah Robertshaw introduced us to the creative parallels between our work and coaching practice on day 2 of the Skills Exchange.
the art of listening
The things that emerged from this session are valuable for all of us to consider for ourselves, as well as for our practice with others:
- Listening – REALLY listening, and giving space and time for the person to resolve their thoughts, is a different experience to partially, distracted listening
- Holding the space (a theme that has arisen already during our week) invites the contributor to feel safe in their expression
- Being alongside someone in their thinking, can men physically, in emotional terms or both in the creative setting
- The principle of our creative work aligns with the coaching belief that a person has it inside themselves to find the right way, path, or answer
- We are there to support a creative experience, not to make decisions about which way to lead someone down a specific path
- Directing a process does not mean deliberately pointing in one direction
- Sometimes allowing space and time, is more powerful than filling every moment
- Coming to our own conclusions, helps us to commit to the answers we discover
- It can be hard to get beyond pleasing people when making creative direction choices, but moving beyond our initial responses gives us space to find something else – ask what next, or what else of your practice and of those you work with