In this interview, Corinne Visscher, of Bridge Barn Consulting, discusses how coaching helped her to both embrace and use her creativity.
Karyn: Corinne, can you tell us a little bit about your background and the current project you’re working on?
Corinne: I live in Squamish, British Columbia (Canada). It is from here that I provide remote and on-site healthcare consulting support at the invitation of First Nations communities.
In my work, I have learned that a continuous improvement way of thinking has the potential to be a strong force for bringing about positive change. There is no cookie cutter approach for how organizations incorporate it into their daily operations – and that is the exciting part!
Access to affordable, culturally relevant education about continuous improvement in remote communities is a challenge. It is for this reason that I decided to develop a distance education course: Gathering and Using Data for Continuous Improvement.
Karyn: When you and I first met, you were having some trouble getting the project started. Can you tell us about that?
Corinne: Video editing and online course development was all new to me. I had researched and purchased my camera, microphone and back drop. I knew that Camtasia, YouTube and Moodle were resources I would need to use. The trouble was, I didn’t know how to get from where I was to the final product of having a course to offer. It was scary, unknown territory.
Karyn: How has your understanding of ‘lean’ changed from doing this work?
Corinne: When I first met you, Karyn, I had a good base of understanding about lean, but I was starting to dislike it because it felt too rigid. What I have learned is that lean is more of a framework for structuring thinking, and that framework makes space for an environment of creativity and free thinking.
Karyn: How has focusing on creativity helped you?
Corinne: For starters, I’ve redefined my perspective of creativity – I think of it more as openness to trying new things, doing things differently or thinking in new ways. With this definition, I have the freedom to be creative every day.
Focusing on creativity has given me the courage to develop filming scripts, record and edit videos, and use resources like Camtasia, Moodle and YouTube. Things don’t always work out like I expect, but then I try something else. I feel like allowing myself to be creative, has given me the freedom to try new things.
Karyn: What have been the biggest benefits & challenges of working with a coach?
Corinne: Working with a coach has helped me to incorporate the habit of thinking from a learning lens. She has helped me to embed a PDSA way of thinking into every step of the project that I am working on. Although I haven’t finished developing the course, I have the mindset and the tools to get me there.
My coach is a phenomenal role model for effective time management. Unfortunately, I am not nearly as disciplined with time management, and so things take longer than I expect. I guess the challenge is that having a coach creates an accountability relationship and an expectation that you WILL get things done. You have to be really committed to working with a coach. You can’t just “hope” to get it done – because as Karyn will say: “There is no such thing as hope – what is your plan”.
