One of the things that we, as lean coaches do, is help make our learner’s ‘thoughts and mindsets’ visible. We do this by asking questions and listening for the answer our learner gives: Does their answer match what we expected them to say? What’s missing from their answer that we didn’t hear? We also watch to see what our learner does – or doesn’t do. Again, does it match our expectations? If it doesn’t then we can ‘see’ where the gap in thinking is, and adjust our coaching. As coaches, making our ‘thinking and mindset’ visible to our learners is just as important, but sometimes overlooked. How do you know if it’s possible that you might not be making your thoughts and mindset visible? If your learner doesn’t complete the actions and activities that came out of your coaching session, or if they did so in a way that wasn’t what you expected, then one possibility is that they didn’t understand something: either what you expected of them, the deadline, or something else. Sometimes, as coaches, this frustrates us. But it shouldn’t. Because that frustration is the signal for us to look and listen more carefully. And ask questions of our learners to make sure that they are clear about what we, their coaches, are thinking, asking and expecting of them.
