Week 4 Posing

This week's coaching assignment was primarily around the four player model and that lent itself to some very interesting conversation.  I enjoyed speaking about how I viewed myself and then helping others think about how they viewed themselves.  This is the fun part of group projects because you are learning about others while also learning about yourself.

Speaking with Jennifer, we had a really interesting conversation based around the similarities of our situations - she is a teacher and I am a coach and the differences that we have due to our personalities.  She categorized herself as a follower while I am much more of an extroverted leader mover.  At first I thought it was strange that she thought of herself as a follower even through she was a teacher.  Yet the more we talked the more I realized how powerful this could be.  As a follower she could effectively ask others their experiences and opinions without coloring their perspectives with her own.  Too often there are teachers in the world that insist on telling their students how to think.  I could tell that Jennifer was good at this because throughout our conversation, even though I was the coach, she asked many questions and always wanted to get my perspective on things.  This is a powerful trait to have and I appreciate Jennifer as a fellow student even more.

I tried to help Jennifer think about how she had played all four different roles in the past and how she had success in each of these situations.  It's unfair to think of anyone as just one thing or another.  We are all movers, followers, bystanders and opposers in different parts of our lives.  I can think of ways I am all of these things almost everyday.  Last week I started the fitness program, CrossFit.  I have never been much of a weight lifter and, believe me, I am a novice in every way there.  I am a follower at CrossFit and that extends into the dialogue. The way that I speak there I am totally submissive to the people that know what they are doing and are good at it.  This is just one example of something that is totally different than how I operate in my everyday life.  I think I am an opposer by nature and that much of this is due to my upbringing and my current household.  Arguments and conflict in my house are a daily occurrence and we love it!