Don’t you just love Lego, and all sorts of kids' building blocks that really, we're 'too old' to mess about with these days? 

Recently I had occasion to visit Copenhagen, and was pleased to find a Lego shop there, full of wonderful colourful possibilities for all kinds of models and creations.  You have all these lovely bricks and components in all shapes and sizes and you can make pretty much anything out of them. I’ve seen for example the football stadiums of the UK, Buckingham Palace, the Taj Mahal, dinosaurs – the possibilities seem infinite. And it’s such fun playing about with Lego!

I then got to thinking, how might this be a metaphor for coaching? Some forms of coaching can feel a bit like a Lego construction kit; here are the materials, here are the instructions, and now, this is what you do. This is the process, step by step, and if you follow the process, success is assured. 

Well, it can be like that sometimes. We might just need another perspective on what’s facing us and when we put our thoughts out there and view them from the outside, the way forward often just falls out and it’s obvious what we need to do.  And a systematic inquiry into all parts of our concern can be really helpful.

So far so good. 

Yet there is ‘a deeper magic’, to quote C S Lewis, when we start with no preconceptions, no kit, no instructions or model – just an openness and alertness to the person before us. They may simply have a vague sense that something needs to change, but they are not clear on what it is. Careful listening, skilled questioning and the unhurried use of silence can create a space in which real innovation and creativity is possible. And I guess the people who dream up new Lego models might work like this, and say, we need such and such a new part to make this creation work! 

Coaching is not a one size fits all activity – there are different levels according to the complexity of the issues you start with. And one can lead to the other, back and forth, in an iterative, generative spiral.