{"id":385,"date":"2011-08-30T11:03:07","date_gmt":"2011-08-30T11:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/?p=385"},"modified":"2021-06-09T11:04:55","modified_gmt":"2021-06-09T11:04:55","slug":"the-art-of-measurement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2011\/08\/30\/the-art-of-measurement\/","title":{"rendered":"The art of measurement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have recently questioned the number of networking events that I have the opportunity to attend \u2013 and more specifically the\u00a0benefit of many of them. There are some beneficial ones that I attend \u2013 where I learn and develop \u2013 and there are others that appear to be run for the benefit of the few organisers, and are marketing events thinly veiled as networking events. Unfortunately, in my view, too many of them are leaning towards the latter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consequently, at the suggestion of another self-employed colleague, she and I loosely organised \u2013 \u2018set up\u2019 sounds too grandiose a term \u2013 a \u2018Walk and Talk\u2019 event. The intention was that there would be 6 or 7 mile walks in areas of outstanding beauty where we could chat, theorise, contemplate, problem solve, reflect, and seek the counsel of other like-minded individuals. I am pleased to say that these have really taken off now \u2013 as we walk, smaller groups of 2 or 3 will chat for a while, and then, perhaps where a gate is opened or a stile is negotiated, the groups will seamlessly change and other discussions will develop. If the surface is suitable, sometimes a model is drawn and discussed (sandy, slightly damp conditions appear most suited to this aspect!). They happen about every six weeks, there are different people every time, and we have fun, develop ideas and keep fit as we go!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the last walk, I was listening to two fellow walkers discussing coaching. One of the threads of their conversation led to them discussing a definition of coaching, which was \u201c\u2026 the art of facilitating the performance, learning and development of another\u2019<\/em>. The provider explained that the quote is by Myles Downey and that he likes it because it implies an intuitive art to the process, as well as the mechanical deployment of skills and techniques. He added that the most important word to him within the definition is \u2018art\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This set me thinking. As some of you are aware, I don\u2019t generally have a lot of time for qualifications relating to the acquisition of people skills. There is too much measurement of outputs, and insufficient valuing of outcomes. As a prospective employer, I really don\u2019t care whether you have a trainer\u2019s qualification or not \u2013 what I care about is whether you can demonstrate that you have used sound learning and development principles to bring about or contribute to improved and quantifiable organisational performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coaching is the same. So you\u2019ve got a qualification. That\u2019s positive in that it demonstrates a commitment to learning and a desire to improve oneself, but it may not tell me whether you have assisted in improving a person\u2019s performance through your coaching skills. And so do they really help a customer who is seeking a
competent coach?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If coaching is an art, can a qualification measure what is an art? Mozart, Lennon, Dali, Rodin, Rowling \u2013 did they have qualifications relevant to their arts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps there is a place for qualifications at a basic level within an art, but surely there comes a point where the skills are beyond the realms of being broken down into competencies?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benjamin Bloom presented us with his Taxonomy of learning within the Cognitive Domain many years ago. As you may well be aware, a taxonomy is an \u2018ordered list\u2019, and Bloom identified 6 stages we have to pass through in developing our knowledge of a subject or field of expertise. These levels are Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A coaching qualification can, I accept, measure a person\u2019s ability to the Application level, but can it measure it beyond this level? The top quality coaches who I have had the pleasure and fortune to witness exhibiting their skills are beyond this level. They use their feelings, their sixth sense, their intuition \u2013 that\u2019s why they are the best. They are true artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the Walk and Talk, I was so involved in these personal reflections, I was only walking and contemplating at that time. But that\u2019s fine \u2013 and that\u2019s what makes it so good. Everyone has the space to do what they want, when they want to do it and how they want to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, even better, people bring their walking boots rather than their business cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have recently questioned the number of networking events that I have the opportunity to attend \u2013 and more specifically the\u00a0benefit of many of them. There are some beneficial ones that I attend \u2013 where I learn and develop \u2013 and there are others that appear to be run for the benefit of the few […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,5,8,13,29,30],"tags":[177,178,217,408,35,409],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":387,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385\/revisions\/387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}