208 Transition

“To bring value to the participant or the client, we need to design our efforts to support learning at the expense of teaching.”
— Peter Block, Flawless Consulting

Last weekend I finished my AFC B Diploma in football coaching — a significant step in my coaching journey. Like my undergraduate social work degree, the course blended practice with theory over 12 months. My “practical” was an undefeated 16/2 Girls team and a development squad of 12/1 Boys.

Alongside PROSCI — another course I’ve self-funded this year — this has all been about getting better at something I care deeply about. Organisational development, people development, change, transition, and football are things I love.

There have been wobbles. On the weekend I felt a wave of imposter syndrome. I don’t coach a National Premier League team like some of my fellow candidates, and my consulting work has had its bumps this year. I asked myself: is this continuous learning worth it?

At 6:45 a.m. on Sunday morning, I felt like giving up.
I didn’t.

Because I have a genuine and deep love of learning. Learning has been my companion since forever. It has carried me through the lean times — not necessarily through the certificates (though they’re nice to have), but through the process: getting together with people, sharing experiences, debating ideas, aligning and adjusting with others in the “classroom.”

This is what Peter Senge and Peter Block mean when they talk about learning as opposed to teaching.

The B Licence offered a very real metaphor. Most coaches tend to direct — sometimes yell. It can get results, but it also strips the player of their decision-making agency. The same dynamic plays out in the world of work. In change management, good intentions about building capability are often suspended at the altar of the deadline. “We know learning is important, but …”

Reflect on the impact this has for your employees — and then repeat it over and over again.

In moments like these, I often come back to a few questions:

• Am I creating space for others to find their own answers?
• What might I learn if I resist the urge to control?
• When was the last time I learned something new about myself through someone else’s experience?

My challenge over the last few years, and most pointedly this weekend, has been to develop my identity as a coach who creates the conditions for learning. Managing the tension between my urge to control and my desire to question and allow for mistakes.

Mistakes, after all, are powerful learning tools.
Identifying them and owning them might be as good as we get as human beings.

In the end, learning remains the thread that connects everything I care about — people, teams, and the courage to keep showing up.