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I was impressed how Nancy Kline’s Thinking Space enriched my coaching practice and my personal relationships, so I was excited when a friend recommended The Listening Space by Tamsin Hartley.

Based on clean language and incorporating mindfulness, it is a process of using metaphors on a path to personal discovery. I am three weeks into The Listening Space course and finding this a quietly powerful technique, to help people find new perspectives and shift their thinking that makes a difference to how they feel about the topic being explored.

The style is a bit out of my comfort zone, as it is not solutions focused, and unlike anything I was taught at university. For example, I was always encouraged to use only open questions, so coachees cannot answer a monosyllabic ‘yes’ or ‘no’, which could scupper in-depth investigation.

However, in the context of the Listening Space, using only a specific set of questions, including closed questions, works effectively.

Even in letting go of the need to find solutions, they often emerge easefully. I wonder what else in life we strive at and yet if we just let go of expectations, the solution would effortlessly appear? : )

What I also appreciate is the client is referred to as the ‘explorer’, which sounds much more fun and adventurous, compared to the more corporate or impersonal terms of client or coachee.

You can find out more about The Listening Space on Tamsin’s website and more details on the course I mentioned can be found here.

Onwards and funwards in adventure and exploration xXx