Comments on: Coaching: The Perfect Rational Argument

By: GeePawHill

GeePawHill — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:28:47 +0000

Heh. Funny about that Socrates thing, huh? It turns out that people only like the Socratic method when it’s theoretical. Easy to see how he got in trouble: too many damned questions.

By: Thomas Nilsson

Thomas Nilsson — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:42:39 +0000

Very good post! I often work as an agile coach and much of the changes I want a person or a team to make is based in their own belief. Over the years I have learned that you can not convice an another person by facts, it is their own insight that makes them take a decision to make the change happen. I suppose that’s why I’m sometimes accuse of not aswering questions, just asking questions back.

By: GeePawHill

GeePawHill — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:14:41 +0000

Wow. I think your last para there is perfect.

They *are* looking for someone to be calm and cheerful to help them create a workplace that works for them.

By: rubytester

rubytester — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:29:39 +0000

Very good post, I think this post here is a new twist on “solve their problems not yours” from the last post, no?

I mean; Here we are in a world of a ‘Coach’ who is perplexed; the ‘rational argument’ won’t work, why? The ‘Coach’ is resorting to ‘rational explanations’ since he has already noticed that ‘they won’t do what you want them to do’. Next he’ll try ‘pity’? some ‘persuading’? maybe ‘guilt trip’? or ‘oh, come on guys,give me a break’!!! style of ‘coaching’.

I might even say that ‘rational argument’ does not even begin discussion. They’ve stopped listening before you arrived at ‘rational argument’, no?

Being ‘thrown’ the first thing I would want a coach to do would be to bring some calmness, start from scratch and interview me to find the ‘commitments’ that drive the coaching relationship. I think that’s a ‘rational’ way to proceed.