Power Tool Assessment

Name: Bill Benoist Date: June 9, 2012 Student ID: 266049 Email: wbenoist@hotmail.com
Complete your Power Tool in the space below and then email as an attachment to assessment@icoachacademy.com

 Power Tool: Imagination vs. Stagnation Reading The imagination of a child is nothing short of remarkable. A few wood chips from the garden and a zoo can be built in minutes. Add some small plastic animals, a few toy cars and the child will play for hours. Unlike many adults, children left to their own ingenuity can find discovery and in terest. Children dont need to spend money, go far places, or indulge in unhealthy activities just to have fun. Unlike adults, children seldom express boredom. Give a child a time out in his bedroom and you may find him hours later under a fortress of blankets, or totally engaged in a Harry Potter novel dreaming about adventures in faraway lands. For many children, imagination and play is soon replaced by more structural activi ties. Last years game of hide and seek may be a little league team this year. Academ ic test scores replace colorful drawings on the refrigerator. The right brain activities that predominated early childhood years are soon pushed aside by wellmeaning parents and teachers who encourage the development of lefthemisphere sided brain skills of logic, math, and science. However, if we dont continue to cultivate the imagination of our rightbrain hemisphere we risk stagnation. Our lives become tac tical rather than strategic. We see only the daytoday and not the future of tomor row. No doubt, we need to develop the left side of our brains. What would our world be like without bridge builders, without doctors, without those who could build the rockets to fly us to the moon? Not only would we be in a state of stagnation, we would likely be in a state of peril. Without the development of our leftbrains, we could easily flounder and die. However, sometimes we fail to give adequate attention to the cultivation of the right hemisphere side of our brains. Without our artistic touch and creativity, many of us would forget how to dream. Furthermore, without imagination we may never visu alize. Visualization uses the left side of our brain hemisphere to provide us the steps needed to ensure our dreams are realized. Imagine what our world would look like today had Martin Luther King not acted upon his dream, or had Kennedy never pur sued his dream for America to reach the moon. A dream without a plan will always remain just that a dream. In order for us to lead a healthy, happy and successful life, we need to depend upon both hemispheres of our brain. Without the development of our right brain, we

would struggle to understand a forest exists past the tree in front of us. Without the development of our leftbrain, we would struggle to find a way around the tree. Unfortunately, despite all the scientific evidence of the leftbrain, right brain think ing, there continues to be a strong tilt towards the development of the left brain hemisphere. Many cultures tend to prize leftside thinking more highly and take the development of leftside thinking more seriously. As we learned in early elementary grades, we are rewarded and recognized for our leftbrain achievements. However, if we fail to develop our right brain creativity and imagination, we can easily forget the importance such cultivation offers us. Imagination To imagine is to create something that has not previously existed. When we imagine we are exercising the right side of our brain. Martin Luther King imagined a culture that promoted equality among all people. This was not something that previously existed. Imagination allows us to experience situations from new points of view. We are able to mentally explore the past and future without judgment or obstacles. Like brain storming, nothing can ever be too silly for the imagination. Imagination is the foundation to invent and bring new ideas to life. Sometimes, we have no idea as to where our imaginations will lead us. A child doesnt imagine cre ating a zoo on the sidewalk and then stop short with selftalk as to why such a crea tion cannot work. Rather, the child begins to transition the zoo into a new adventure following his or her imagination. By the end of the day, the zoo may have become a space colony on the planet Mars. Stagnation Stagnation can be defined as the state of standing still. For example, water becomes stagnate when it ceases to flow. Along the same lines, when we stop using our imag ination we no longer move ourselves forward in life. We only see the tree in front of us and we forget there is a forest just ahead. If we have no imagination, or no dreams, we have trouble finding reasons to move ahead. People can become stagnated in many areas of their lives. For one person, it may be the job that offers no challenge. For another, it may be the marriage that has no ex citement. For yet another, stagnation may be a life without purpose or passion. Un fortunately, many of us know individuals like these; individuals who over the course of years even decades, demonstrate little or no change with their lives. Why do people stop imagining? For many, being stagnate is safer. Doing something new for the first time can be scary. For others, failure to succeed may be the driving force of remaining stagnated. These individuals fear what others will think if they are not successful, so they never try. After time, these individuals simply stop imag ining something different, something better, exists.

 Coaching Application Many of our clients who have come to coaching have forgotten how to dream. They no longer dream of a better job, a brighter tomorrow, or more money, because they have already told themselves those things in life were not for them. They are stuck, they are in a rut, and many cannot see the forest past the tree. Often, our clients be lieve imagination is for children and has no room in an adults life. As coaches, we need to help our clients see new perspectives and this often begins with imagina tion. Regardless of career or walk of life, imagination of a better tomorrow and the visual ization of how to make the image happen can be for everyone. Imagination helps us to get out of our ruts, to help us dream for a better tomorrow. Imagination is the foundation needed to help us change. What would our culture be like today had Martin Luther King not dreamed of a bet ter future in 1950? Once Martin Luther King imagined a culture of equality he began to visualize a path to reach this goal. Inspired by Gandhi, Kings visualization was an avenue of nonviolent resistance. In 1955, Kings visualization turned to strategic implementation with the Montgomery bus boycott (King, 1998). In his book, A Whole New Mind (Pink, 2005) the author introduces six senses to complement the learning associated with the righthemisphere brain: Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, and Meaning. Clients may benefit from exploring these senses between coaching session to help strengthen creativity and imagination. Design One simple method for building the design sense is to keep a design notebook. Each time the client sees a great design, he or she writes it down in the notebook. This simple exercise will soon lead to viewing the environment in a new perspective one with greater awareness and acuity. Story One quick and fun way to develop the story sense is to learn to write the minisaga. According to Pink (2005), the mini saga is a story with a beginning, middle and end, but unlike the short story, a minisage is exactly 50 words. No less. No more. Another option is to visit a Storytelling Festival. These events are held all over the world and can easily be found on the Internet. Finally, try interviewing a friend or family member with a simple tape recorder. Ask some open ended questions who their favorite teacher was or their happiest day in their life and listen for the stories to unfold. All these exercises will help develop the clients own storytelling sense.

Symphony This sense relates to the ability to put together the pieces rather than analyze the pieces. Symphony helps the client connect unrelated events and fields and put something new together. An excellent way to develop symphony is to have the client create an inspiration board. For example, if the clients inspiration is to travel, then each time the client sees something that reminds them of the inspiration (a photo, an article, even a piece of fabric) they attach it to the inspiration board. Soon, clients will begin seeing connections to inspire them to move forward. Empathy Before one attempts to increase their empathy sense, they should first know their empathy base line. The internet has a number of good assessment tests to measure the Empathy Quotient including Simon BaronCohen 60 question instrument. Strengthening listening skills and working to understand (not necessarily agree) is one of the best ways to increase the empathy sense. Play Play is not only an important part of personal wellbeing, but has recognized im portance in both business and work. Case in point is Southwest Airlines mission statement, People rarely succeed at anything unless they are having fun doing it. Incorporating games, humor and laughter, will build this right side attribute and strengthen the righthemisphere helping promote imagination and creativity. Meaning The sense of meaning relates to the ability to find meaning and purpose where oth ers may not see it. As coaches, we can strengthen our sense of meaning through simply exercises like practicing gratitude. As Dr. Robert Firestone writes, Youre not going to find the meaning of life hidden under a rock written by someone else. Youll only find it by giving meaning to life from inside yourself. Reflection Do you allow yourself time each week to imagine, create, and play? Can you substitute judgment for empathy and place yourself in anothers shoes? What are you grateful for this week? How about today? What about this moment? SelfApplication We cannot help our clients imagine if we ourselves fail to do so. We not only ask our clients to trust a change is within their reach, we must also believe this for our selves. Otherwise, we are truly not walking our talk as a coach. Throughout our studies of coaching we become exposed to a number of tools (like the ones above) to improve our ability to imagine. If we are already rightbrain in dividuals, the ability to imagine may be second nature. However, if we are coming to the coaching professional as predominately leftbrain individuals, we may need to work on developing our imagination and creativity skills.

 Coaching is about being authentic. We want our clients to be authentic but we must practice this too. If we cannot imagine or dream, we are not being true to ourselves. We may be able to visualize anothers dream, but until we learn to imagine, they will never be our dreams. Reflections Are you more of a leftbrain logical coach or a right brain creative coach? What tools can you use to strengthen your creativity and imagination? Do you follow your own dreams or those of someone else? References
Carson, Clayborne, 1998, Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., Grand Central Publishing, New York, NY. Axelrod, Alan, 2006, Profiles in Audacity, Sterling Publishing Co., New York, NY. Pink, Daniel, 2005, A Whole New Mind, River Head Books, New York, NY. Kotter, John, 1996, Leading Change, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.