Coaching Outdoors book review by Coaching Perspectives Journal
Our book, Coaching Outdoors; The Essential Guide to Partnering With Nature in Your Coaching Conversations has been reviewed by Coaching Perspectives - the global magazine from the Association for Coaching.
COACHING OUTDOORS
Clare Manning road tests a practical gem of a book that shows us how nature can enhance our coaching sessions on multiple levels.
Well, this is a delightful book if ever there was one. Just reading it makes you feel more connected to nature, and that's before you step outside and try one of the many activities offered in it.
It is full of beautiful quotes, such as 'Nature is not a place to visit. It is home', by poet Gary Snyder.
Lesley Roberts helps us to understand our time-honoured place in nature and to recognise that this connection has been eclipsed by our current way of engaging with the world; she reassures us that, thankfully, people are beginning to reconnect with nature, particularly since the Covid pandemic, where outdoor spaces were safer than indoor ones.
Roberts proposes that we are wired to protect and defend what we love, so if we can help clients reconnect with nature by experiencing it during coaching, they are more likely to want to make changes to save the planet - yet another way coaches can contribute to the climate change agenda.
She clarifies there are many different dimensions to coaching outdoors. It can be as simple as moving your conversation from indoors to outdoors, all the way through to allowing nature to co-create the session. Either way, the minute you step outside you are in a three-way relationship, with nature sharing the load. A session can be delivered sitting or walking outside, or through a combination of the two. You can be together in the same outdoor space for face-to-face sessions or apart and outside for telephone sessions.
The book is full of useful, simple activities to use when self-coaching or with clients. These are all aimed at helping us draw on the innate wisdom of nature as we reflect on our goals, challenges and behaviours. I decided to road test one called what is nature offering you?' So, I set off on my daily walk, lightly carrying a current challenge with me... Firstly, I recognised I had been hiding from my challenge - just like I had been hiding from the weather. I'm a blue skies and sunshine kind of walker, and today had dished up a snow blizzard, so I had to dig deep and stride out. Then, I noticed it really wasn't as bad as I'd feared. I wasn't that cold, that the birds were still singing that and there was no one else around. Finally, I noticed how transient the weather is. Yesterday I was reading this book in a sunny garden. Today, I'm surrounded by snow. Tomorrow: who knows... but it can't snow forever.
So, is my challenge solved? No. Does it matter? No, because I now have a new perspective on it and feel fine about facing it as it unfolds. Best short walk in a while - thank you Lesley!
The book is written as a complete guide to getting you up and running. Roberts encourages you to assess your own relationship with nature and create a portfolio of walks before inviting clients to experience a session outdoors. It contains checklists, back-up plan reminders, a risk assessment template and more, so readers will feel secure with their preparations and therefore able to focus fully, in the moment, with their client.
I really appreciated the way this book has been written and structured. It has inspired me to shake up my practice and offer outdoor sessions to my clients. I highly recommend this thoughtful, uplifting, practical read. See what you think.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Clare Manningis an experienced coach, supervisor, mediator, trainer and facilitator. She has been working in the field for over a decade and specialises in leadership development, intercultural communication and wellbeing. She is co-editor of Coaching Perspectives.
Coaching Outdoors; The Essential Guide to Partnering With Nature in Your Coaching Conversations is available at http://amazon.co.uk/Coaching-Outdoors.../dp/1788603427
#coachingoutdoors #coachingoutdoorsbook #coachingbook #coachingresearch #coaching #wellbeing #nature #CPD
