I was sitting in a Zoom call feeling awkward. (moreso than usual)
It was a new engagement. I had been invited to a meeting where teams coordinate their work. I was watching them work. And I was silent.
I started to feel self-conscious. “I’m new here. And I’m not saying anything. Are people wondering why I’m here? Are they wondering why they hired me? What am I supposed to be doing?”
And then I thought about coaching.
Coaches don’t jump in and play the game.
Instead, they observe. And then they take their observations back to the players to help them improve.
Because coaches aren’t there in the game physically moving players to where they need to be, the coach must instead hope be a voice in the players’ heads. In a given situation within the game, players are reminded of the coaching they’ve received, including questions they might ask themselves or each other in this situation, or responses to the situation that they may have seen modeled by the coach.
And then the players have a choice – and this is where it can be hard for a coach. They can choose to listen to that voice. Or they can choose not to.
After I’ve left engagements, I’m often told that there are still moments in meetings or in people’s heads where they go, “What would Season say?” Past my initial awkwardness of feeling like the ghost in the room, I feel grateful. I’ve helped the team adopt a mindset of questioning that doesn’t require me to be in the room. And, spoiler alert, although the questions may have come from my voice, I’m just reflecting back what the team’s been saying all along.
There are enough people talking in Zoom calls. And maybe not enough people listening. To each other. Or to themselves.
Sometimes it takes someone who isn’t playing the game to help those who are.
Photo by Jeffrey F Lin on Unsplash