Questions We have already seen, in Key Coaching Skills, that questions are one of the hallmarks of the coaching style of management. They are also key drivers of creative endeavour. Many great creative discoveries and inventions have begun with questions - What if we did things differently? What if we could travel to the moon? What happens if we start connecting up all these computers?
Looking and listening In his classic book on creative thinking, A Whack on the Side of the Head, Roger von Oech quoted Nobel Prize-winning physicist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, who said: ‘Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different’. We all spend a lot of time looking at each other, yet it is surprising how little we often see. Much of the time we are too preoccupied with our own ideas and needs to really focus on the other person. Coaches spend a lot of time looking at people and listening to them carefully - and noticing little clues in the way they speak or act. These clues can be the difference between success and failure in a working relationship - particularly when dealing with notoriously complex and sensitive creative types.
Different perspectives According to F. Scott Fitzgerald, ‘The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function’. Combining multiple perspectives is central to creativity - and to coaching. Good coaches are able to empathise with coachees and see the world from their point of view - even if they don’t necessarily agree with their opinions. Many classic coaching questions prompt people to examine a situation from new perspectives, e.g. ‘What would person X say about this problem?’, ‘What’s good about being stuck?’, or ‘What’s the view from Mars?’.
Exchanging information and ideas Related to different perspectives is the importance of exchanging information and ideas for creativity to happen. The most obvious recent example is the massive surge of creativity and innovation facilitated by the growth of the internet, perhaps the ultimate information exchange. Creative exchanges are integral to coaching, a conversational medium that facilitates better communication and the sharing of ideas.
