Humour in coaching?
Having recently completed the NLP Practitioner course hosted by @nishith , @karin and others; when we came to the end of the course we had breakout sessions for us all to provide feedback to our fellow practitioners; by and large my feedback was positive, however the one topic that nearly all of my practitioner colleagues fed back to me was my use of humour throughout course.
After a few days had passed this had started to niggle away at me I wondered if this was a positive or negative attribute to have?
I’ve always been able to see the ‘funnier’ side of life…probably to do with my upbringing in a heavily industrialised town in the West of Scotland, humour could save you from a ‘doing’ on a Saturday night or occasionally getting you one! But, the ability to laugh at one’s self, can in my humble opinion allow you to connect quickly with people and this should be of a benefit in any future coaching I might provide.
This ability to laugh at myself also benefited me through some of my ‘dark times’ following two Strokes I experienced in 2017, I have a video of my son messing around with me in the Hospital ward…if I didn’t laugh I would cry and just fell sorry for myself. If anyone is interested the video can be viewed here STROKE RECOVERY – Upper Limb Stroke Rehab
Being very new to this I reached out to @nishith for a discussion on this matter and he kindly pointed out that he uses humour in his coaching as well, so I should be okay with this…but, it still niggled me!
Now a few weeks later I have just completed reading @Sue Knight’s NLP at Work, and the last chapter is entitled ‘Coaching with humour (Provocative Coaching), now having read this I now know there is a place for humour when coaching (in the right circumstances).
So, I shouldn’t be afraid to interject a humorous story based on life experiences.
Question for the experienced coaches on this platform, do you use humour during your coaching sessions?
- 4 Replies
Hey Paul,
I believe humor to one of the best attributes to have along with the ability to laugh at oneself. I have turned to humor during some of the darkest of my life and it has helped me cope.
I enjoyed our banter in the break out rooms during the prac program.
And yes, i do use humor during my coaching sessions depending of course on the situation.
Thanks Sridevi,
Anytime we were in the ‘breakout’ rooms your warmth a good hearted nature shown through, I’m not in the least surprised when you say you use humour in coaching (in the correct circumstances).
Like you, it was (and continues to be) one of the methods I use to come out of my ‘Dark Times’ especially after my Strokes.
I look forward to seeing and reading your future posts.
Thank you for your feedback.
Paul
Thank you so much for sharing this Paul! Using humor as a tool when facing challenges like these is so powerful! There is definetely so much I can learn from you here…
Thanks for the feedback Karin, in my humble opinion the use of humour whether mildly self-deprecating or seeing the funny side of serious ‘issues’ can relieve stressful situations.
By the way learning, should (in my humble opinion) be two way; as someone involved in martial arts, one should always consider themselves as a white belt, as we continue to learn throughout our martial arts journey or even life’s journey.
Even to this day I still continue to learn in my day to day job, keeping the mind open to continued learning.
Regards
Paul
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