Barnabas File

In  Missional Renaissance , Reggie McNeal observes, “Genuine spirituality lives and flourishes only in cultures and relationships of accountability.”  A reality check on this statement comes from the Barna organization which has found that only one out of ten believers have an accountability structure.  This provides a significant challenge for coaches, especially as we work with believers.   Although many Christians think of their personal relationship with God as their primary accountability structure, we are called throughout the New Testament to be active and engaged members of the church, the Body of Christ.  As part of a worshiping and serving community of faith, we are part of a group of sisters and brothers who challenge and encourage us. Hebrews 10:24 states, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (NIV). This provides an accountability structure that clients and their coaches often fail to recognize and utilize. ...

In our   Introduction to Coaching   class at Summit Coach Training, we invite participants to write their “elevator speech” on who they are or want to be as a coach.    If you don’t know the term, an elevator speech is a clear, brief message or “commercial” about you. It is something that you could share on a short elevator ride with another occupant. My elevator speech as a coach is, “I help individuals discover their growing edge and to live into it.”   What’s a “growing edge”? Your growing edge is the boundary between your present status, role, or self-concept and the demarcation point to possibilities beyond that present reality.  It is a choice to move beyond the status quo to something new.  I believe that one’s willingness to address their growing edge comes out of one or more the following characteristics and questions.   Curiosity— “How can I learn more about this topic.”  Something has attracted my attention, an...

In Celtic Christianity, Christians often seek out “thin places” where God seems to be especially close. These are physical sites where there is an undeniable connection to the sacred. This idea is portrayed in Exodus 3:5 where Moses is told by God, “The place on which you are standing is holy ground.” These are not always places of peace, however. In Genesis 32, we read the account of a “thin place” where Jacob struggled with a stranger and came away saying “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” (v. 30) Out of his struggle came peace and direction.   We are especially blessed when we encounter such places, but in practice, they are not always geographical. These are places where we encounter God and come away with new insight, understanding, and purpose. They may be present in our prayer time, our conversations with friends, or even in a coaching conversation. More than once I have had a client talk about the coaching conversation as a safe or sacred spac...

One of the concepts that has expanded my understanding of coaching is that we don’t just coach individuals, but we coach individuals who are part of a system.    Coaching typically focuses on individual development, but a broader perspective recognizes individuals as integral parts of a larger system. As one person observed, “It is time to move from egocentric coaching to ecosystem coaching.”   I am not yet sure how to do that effectively, but a recent article on the Fast Company website stimulated further thinking on my part.   In his new book, You  and We: A Relational Rethinking of Work, Life, and Leadership,  Jim Ferrell focuses on helping people apply relational approaches to leadership and organizational life. This certainly has implications for effective leadership coaching and for coaching teams.   Ferrell observes that, “The idea of a separate individual is a myth, and because it’s a myth, the strategies that mistake it as true generate system...

Each coaching client is unique.     As coaches, we each have a philosophy of coaching, a code of ethics, strategies, curiosity, and intuition.     We have our own experiences and inclinations that inform us but (we hope) do not limit our effectiveness.    Even so, we must be flexible, ready to adapt to the personality, expectations, and individuality of each client.   My observation is that all my coaching clients (past and present) have certain characteristics in common, however.   They are smart.   Most are in leadership roles that are only given to professionally and vocationally competent people.  They have both training and life experiences to draw on.   They are gifted.   We define spiritual gifts in various ways, but I believe that God has gifted each person with special abilities.  These gifts may not always be fully developed, but they are present in the individual.   They know a lot more ...

The 20 th   century industrial model thrived on a tight command and control model.     It increased production, but it often fostered an “us” versus “them” approach--industry versus labor union, employer versus employee, “boss” versus workers.       In his New Leadership Paradigm , Steve Piersanti picks up on this in calling for a shift from the old paradigm of control to one of collaboration.  The control approach depended on coercion, dominance, and secrecy to “keep people in line.”  The new paradigm calls for collaboration.  Piersanti describes collaboration in this way: “Leadership is exercised through invitation, request, dialogue, persuasion, respect, openness, kindness, integrity, and partnership, without compulsion.”   This is the way that the church was intended to function.  In Romans 12:4-8, the apostle Paul writes,   For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not ...