Guest article provided by: yournaturaledge.com
Naming the elephant in the room, after the initial gasp, can very quickly cause it to shrink. Naming a problem is a great first step towards solving it. Naming a feeling, beyond just an uneasiness, can shed light on what is actually going on. (is this joy or nervousness or just indigestion?) Naming is a vital step toward ‘clarity’. Sometimes in order to name ‘it’ a person needs to step back, lift their view to use a wider lens, exhale and just listen. The one who can do that effectively gets things unstuck, finds solutions, can set a useful goal, recognizes the silver lining in the cloud and can see the valuable part of any person.
When I Coach I ask people to bring the topic for the Coaching. I am asking them to ‘name’ what they want to get closer to, and understand better. When the topic is named, we can most quickly get to the heart of the matter, at least that is what I have observed. The ‘matter’ can be a celebration not yet being allowed, all the way to a dire situation that has one feeling like a deer in the headlights. In order to find that topic (that name) a person needs to become more ‘still’ to, heaven forbid, stop. From stillness comes the name of the elephant, the identity of the feeling (and often its source), the exhale of recognition, that ‘ah, yes’ feeling, which is often a kind of happiness.
Without the topic for the Coaching, certainly things, good and valuable things, can still be surfaced. Thing is that much time is spent looking for the name of what is most important today. This is, in my view, not the best use of the Coaching time together. Yes, for sure, sometimes ‘I just don’t know’ is completely valid and, let us be clear, is a topic too. If ‘I just don’t know’ is the topic every time we meet, well, what is the real topic here?
The decision maker, Executive, leader, manager who takes a moment to find ‘the name’ of what is at the edge of their awareness is most likely to be more successful than a person who passes that opportunity by.
Naming is an important and valuable, powerful tool for any Executive or decision maker who wants to fulfill their true potential.
Joseph Seiler MCC