Unfinished Poem
“I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.”
― John O’Donohue
Individual Coaching
Coaching for Leaders, managers, and interpreter educators who seek to maximize synchronicity by aligning tools, time, and strategies for pending opportunities
Synchronicity matters. Bringing things into the light matters. Addressing what is and taking action with appropriate tools, mindset, and intentions to move forward
Recognize yourself in any of these?
Not enough time?
Interpreter educators and academics in general are constantily running from creating content, teaching, grading, meeting, advising, researching, writing, and serving. It is easy to lose sight of why you do what you do.
Not enough tools?
Limited time also means limited time to research and/or develop new tools for new and old problems. It is easy to get stuck in a rut and keep doing the same thing, not implementing new knowledge
Not enough direction?
You need time and a guide dedicated to YOU and your journey as a leader, manager, and/or interpreter educator and/or academic. This direction will make a difference in your work life and in the quality of your students, ideally.
Meet your Reflective Practiioner Coach
- Academic Coach
- Master of Arts in Interpreting Pedagogy
- English/ASL Interpreter for 20+ years
- Reflective Practitioner, Teacher, Consultant, & Artist
My Coaching Philosophy
I believe that the coach is present to serve as a reflection tool – reflecting back patterns, statements, questions, circling back, reflecting back desires and intentions. A static and stable force to bounce one’s ideas off of and think through with care – reflecting toward wholeness
Coaching is putting things on the table, bringing them into the light to be addressed, looked at and acted upon (or not) in a meaningful way.
What do I offer? Belief that change is possible. Belief that questions are amazing tools for interrupting our patterns of thinking and believing that opportunities abound -nothing is final for all time.
What is Coaching?
ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential, which is particularly important in today’s uncertain and complex environment. Coaches honor the client as the expert in his or her life and work and believe every client is creative, resourceful and whole. Standing on this foundation, the coach’s responsibility is to:
- Discover, clarify, and align with what the client wants to achieve
- Encourage client self-discovery
- Elicit client-generated solutions and strategies
- Hold the client responsible and accountable
- This process helps clients dramatically improve their outlook on work and life while improving their leadership skills and unlocking their potential.
**above and below from ICF website – https://coachfederation.org/faqs
What does the coaching relationship look like?
My Responsibilities as the Coach
- Provides objective assessment and observations that foster the individual’s or team’s self-awareness and awareness of others
- Listens closely to fully understand the individual’s or team’s circumstances
- Acts as a sounding board in exploring possibilities and implementing thoughtful planning and decision making
- Champions opportunities and potential, encouraging stretch and challenge commensurate with personal strengths and aspirations
- Fosters shifts in thinking that reveal fresh perspectives
- Challenges blind spots to illuminate new possibilities and support the creation of alternative scenarios
- Maintains professional boundaries in the coaching relationship, including confidentiality, and adheres to the coaching profession’s code of ethics
Your Responsibilities as the client
- Creates the coaching agenda based on personally meaningful coaching goals
- Uses assessment and observations to enhance self-awareness and awareness of others
- Envisions personal and/or organizational success
- Assumes full responsibility for personal decisions and actions
- Utilizes the coaching process to promote possibility thinking and fresh perspectives
- Takes courageous action in alignment with personal goals and aspirations
- Engages big-picture thinking and problem-solving skills
- Takes the tools, concepts, models and principles provided by the coach and engages in effective forward actions
A. R. Smith Studios 