Learning from the gas fitter

Last week I had a new boiler fitted in my house and during the somewhat traumatic experience I was reminded of some useful learning experiences.

The people who came to fit the boiler, a gas fitter, a plumber and an electrician clearly fitted such boilers more or less every day. They kept telling me everything was very straightforward and there wasn't anything to worry about. Even when they made a hole in my kitchen ceiling, that wasn't to worry about and the leak ? No nothing to worry about either.

The lesson here of course is that telling people something is easy .... when to them it looks difficult is completely pointless. More than that, it can make a difficult situation much worse. I was furious that I had a hole in my ceiling and would have liked an acknowledgement that this was a problem which needed solving ..... not something to sweep under the carpet.

And so it is for coaching. If a client thinks something will be difficult they need to know they can break it down into do ables, they can take their time and that I'm here to support them at each step on their journey.

The second lesson was about asking the right questions. I've been given a very clever thermostat timer gadget which is now working well. However its taken a week because I wasn't asking the right questions. The electircian did answer all the questions I asked but as I wasn't framing them well the information wasn't helpful.

And likewise in coaching. A great coach will frame questions so as to pinpoint exactly what it is that will help the client move forward. some questions will be big open ended requests for free thinking, some will be smaller with a clear focus to provide a hand hold on the climb.

so now my centrsl heating is working efficiently and I learnt a lot from the gas fitter.