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Interrupting is simply assaulting someone’s thinking
One of the positives for me of the way we are now meeting and connecting is that a vibrant group has come together under the banner of “Caymanians Overseas”, which (for Caymanians Overseas OR in Cayman, meets weekly on zoom and is a great mix of socialising, networking and learning for those of us who are Caymanian or have ties to Cayman). For more on our weekly “Virtual Yard” meetings, click here.
Now, one of our group, also based, like me, in the London area, is Claire Foy. Claire is currently on a journey into coaching and is documenting this eloquently and brilliantly on her blog. Most recently, she wrote about the challenge that all of us as coaches face of listening and NOT giving advice. This particular excerpt stood out for me:
In those early coaching sessions my advice monster was just dying to jump in and ‘help’ even save people, explaining exactly how ‘I’ would solve the problem if I were them. Of course, I am not them, and this is not coaching. This is giving advice, and usually with such urgency and lack of patience, you don’t even listen, you certainly don’t listen to learn. You simply listen to respond, and are often so desperate to ‘help’ you jump in with both legs, arms and a fully body swing and interrupt.
A good friend from the group, one day said he’d heard that “Interrupting is…
