Who Is Your Community?
Lately I have been thinking a lot about community. I have also been thinking about our standard coaching business model – solopreneurship – and I have come to an odd conclusion. That is that solopreneurship is slowly killing us. The solution, the antedote, I believe is in community and provocative conversation.
We are social creatures, even we introverts. We need external stimulation and expression. Solopreneurship, however, results all too frequently in our isolation. Since the overwhelming percentage of coaches are introverts this isolation is exacerbated when we fear marketing and that fear keeps us from engaging, connecting and being social. Despite our regular contact with clients and our own coaches, they are not a substitute for our need for external stimulation.
I re-discovered this month a remarkable thing. I had a week of having one provocative conversation a day with someone on the outside. I discovered that my energy level and enthusiasm shot through the roof. This experience was even richer when I met them in person.
I have often known of the impact of socializing and powerfully connecting with people. This was first brought home to me while I was doing my coach training with Corporate Coach U Intl. In a class called Professional Foundations for Masterful Coaching, we worked on the skills and the environments including communitie needed to become a professional coach. That class inspired/provoked me to to create a thinktank in Milwaukee to service this need and make me a better coach and more balanced professional.
I discovered through the process that one of my gifts to share with the world is building community. In Minneapolis one way I have built community is through hosting conversation circles where provocative questions and expansive thinking are the norm. It is also why I am a member of the Thought Leader Gathering. I find that these external stimuli fuel my passions and enhance my coaching abilities.
Last year when I noticed that seasoned coaches were suffering from isolation, I created the MCA Seasoned Coaches Circles as an opportunity for community, comradere and discovery for seasoned coaches (FYI the next circle is Friday Oct 21st).
The Minnesota Coaches Association is a significant part of my inspiration – Every meeting, every board meeting, every MCA SCC, every interaction with all you wonderful coaches. One of our guiding principles is being a "Provocative Learning Community." You are my community, one of many.
What about you?
Who is your community?
Who is inspiring you? Who pulls you out of isolation?
I want to know, drop me a line
Matthew Egan Rochte ~ MCA President 2005
president@minnesotacoaches.org
