What has photography and coaching has in common?
A lot says my colleague and friend Aycin Teker.
Aycin being a photographer, has realised that photography had prepared her for her coaching path and feeds her greatly on her journey.
She sees photography and coaching being connected in 4 ways:
1.Freedom:
Photography is a space for the photographer to express herself freely. In the coaching the coach creates the space for the coachee to express herself freely, without any judgment.
2. Curiosity
A photographer goes anywhere out of curiosity to discover different cultures, different people, different angles. He is always after looking different. And he is always in the moment, the world, the time, everything stops while taking photos. It is the same for the coach. The coach is there, in the moment with all her being. She listens the coachee with curiosity and supports the coachee to go after different angles.
3. Communication Skills
A photographer needs to introduce herself, get to know her subject and ask permission to take photos. She can only take the photos of the person when there is trust. So is the coach. The coach also needs to communicate, to have empathy for the coachee, to establish rapport in order to create trust and intimacy. Only then she can do coaching.
4. Discovering emotions
Aycin says as a photographer she is after discovering the emotions and communicating them through photography. A coach also works with emotions. The coach creates the trusted space and with inquiry helps the coachee to articulate his emotions so they are seen (writer’s note: and they create the motivation for action).
The principles of coaching can be seen in many other practices. This time Aycin Teker told us how photography is related to and supports coaching.
Where do you see coaching principles/ competencies in your lives?
If you’d like to know more about coaching, take a look into our upcoming events.