I am an ICF PCC coach who has been a member for 12 years. I am also on the Faculty of The Hudson Institute of Coaching, one of the oldest Coaching schools in the USA. I recently used Walter’s Choir of Brave Voices (COBV) to facilitate a Group Coaching session with ten mature leaders from an organization which is in transition. The request of me as a coach was to work with these leaders since their organization is going to be acquired during the next 12 months. Many of them are close to retirement age, and therefore we decided to facilitate a discussion on leaving a legacy, and what the next chapter of life might look like. We looked at achievements recognized, achievements unrecognized, and achievements desired in the coming months. We also wanted to help identify what might be next as they prepare for “protirement” since none of these people were prepared for a classical retirement. All of them are in their 50’s and 60’s. While they were able to identify achievements, the challenge of thinking about the next chapter left many feeling somewhat “stuck.” I had them read several articles on the Adult Journey and the Cycle of Change (developed by Frederic Hudson). We then used the cards from COBV to contribute to more reflection and it led to breakthrough thinking. I had each member of the group select a card with an image or piece of art that called out to them. We then had each sit quietly, read the comments on the card, and answer the reflective questions. I then had them work in pairs to share their responses and ask questions to their partner in an encouraging manner. Each member then publicly shared an aspirational goal for their next chapter, as well as one tiny step they might take in the next 30 days to get closer to that goal. The feeling of “stuckness” had been overcome, and the members also enjoyed sharing what it was that drew them to the particular card they had selected. It was a delightful experience to facilitate, and several members commented that they really appreciated the creative approach which contributed to some outside the box thinking. I am now keen to use the concepts from COBV (and the cards, in particular) when working with a couple of individual leadership coaching clients who are in the Doldrums and feeling stuck and drawn into their own stories. I am confident that COBV will help contribute to more reflective and breakthrough thinking.

Hello Gillian, Here’s a tale… When you first asked for volunteers to play with ‘Re-creation’, I made a start with a ‘Tomorrow’ Magic Party Activity and headed off on a walk with my phone – I took pictures from up, down, close up etc. and saved them to my laptop, intending to go back and explore my images…. Several months later, I remembered and returned to them – and decided to get close up… I put what I found in a PP presentation - (this seemed a good way to get creative, as the photos were already uploaded) I’ve saved it as a PowerPoint show- see below… For me, there is beauty in the detailed images in the photos that my naked eye may miss if I am distracted by the wider picture. Sitting at my desk and relooking at the experience through a zoom lens was a reminder to ‘future reflect’ – anticipate the detail I may wish to consider later and pay more attention to it in the moment…. (PS- just noticed that my first paragraph describes a task I set out to complete – perhaps if, at the time, I had thought more about the Why, rather than the How or What, I would have got something much more from the experience and come back to reflect on the photos sooner…. Duh!! :))

Situation The context for my example was the final celebration event of a 9 month career development programme for UK Government Policy professionals. This programme consisted of a blend of development centre assessed activities culminating in the creation of a personal development plan, a series of workshops on core policy development and leadership skills, one-to-one coaching support and action learning. I am the programme facilitator and coach and lead on programme design. The penultimate leaning intervention is the last of three/four 1:1 coaching sessions that participants receive during the course of the programme. It usually takes place 3-4 weeks before the Final Event Key coaching objectives/Intervention Participants always set their own objectives for each coaching session and for this final session, many of them wish to reflect on how they have grown during the programme. To facilitate this theme, I decided to use Gillian’s poem ‘Unsent’ (page 191) and the accompanying visual as a tool for the client to reflect on the parallels between their milestones and that described in Gillian’s postscript. I introduced the poem and the painting within the coaching session, gave the client time to absorb and respond to both, then asked the clients to consider the answers to a few questions before the Final Event took place: If I were to write a letter of motivation to myself that would arrive on the day of the Launch Event 9 month’s earlier, what would it say? How could I keep these words in mind as I completed the programme (and beyond?) How could I be a better friend to myself now and in the future? What visual/auditory/kinaesthetic metaphor might they use to symbolize their experience of these insights? I gave the client a template to capture answers to these questions and bring to the Final Event. The event was also attended by participants line managers and senior Policy Staff. Participants are asked to come prepared to deliver a presentation on how they have developed during the programme. The presentation brief emphasizes growth in capabilities, career progression, promotion and personal development. In the past these presentations usually focused on information designed to impress the audience, but the effect of the ‘Unsent’ activity added a richer, more in depth component to the personal development content of the presentation. In the final section of the day, when the senior staff had departed, I facilitated a Paired Activity, in which participants shared their answers to the questions above and their own ‘metaphors’ for their experience. Results Client’s had strong emotional responses to the both the poem and the picture when it was first introduced in the coaching session. The contextual story behind how and why Gillian had created these pieces added value for some clients, giving them an explicit link to their own experience. For others, the examples themselves were all that were required to stimulate reflections about their Beliefs, Values & Identity (Robert Dilt’s Logical Levels), and how these might have strengthened or changed during the course of the development programme. Reflections/Ripples Reflections on Specific Example - Although the Final Event had always included a self - reflective element, I previously felt that this component was secondary to the client’s preoccupation with demonstrating to others how much they had achieved, and how the organization had benefitted from this growth. The addition of this simple metaphor based activity triggered a higher level of learning for the participants about who they are as they step out into new challenges and what internal and external resources/support they can use to support themselves on their journeys. The poetry/picture format was a much powerful and instant stimulus than a series of questions, no matter how well phrased they might be. I had also noted that when I first came across ‘Unsent’ in COBV, it was the words of the poem that provoked the biggest reaction for me, whereas, for this example, the painting had less impact on me. I was reminded of workshops where participants selected different visual metaphors to describe the same feeling. This prompted me to offer clients choice over the metaphor they might use. During the final event, some had stuck with the original picture, whilst others had picked different ones, or a piece of music, video, or a tangible object. Wider Ripples - As an executive coach, I often work with private clients, where I feel that I have complete control over how creative I can be with coaching methodologies and tools for self-insight. However, the example I have shared was in the context of a corporate development programme where I now recognize that I have often been self-limiting on how much ‘creativity’ I believe this Government Client can tolerate. The positive client reaction to ‘Unsent’ has transformed my thoughts about the design of this programme. I am about to launch the next two cohorts of this programme and I am introducing selected activities from COBV for group Launch, Mid-Programme and Final Event. For example, the poem ‘Play’ and its Inkblot picture (p. 194-5) will feature at the launch event as a metaphor for managing expectations and dealing with surprise… On a wider note, I regularly present/share expertise at regional coaching network meetings in the UK, including Association for Coaching Co-Coaching Meetings, Coaching Associate Networks and the occasional EMCC 5 Day Accreditation Challenge. I often share expertise on NLP based interventions that add value in the coaching context and more recently I have shared my experiences of working on Clean Language, Metaphors and Symbolic Modelling in the Coaching Context, drawing from the work of James Lawley, Penny Tompkins and Marian Way. Although my interest in these topics pre-dated my discovery of Gillian’s Book and Cards, it delighted me to find such a rich repository of artistic activity to draw from for adding richness to the client experience. With Gillian’s permission, I’d like to share my experiences of using her work when I am asked to speak at coaching network meetings (my next is in September and October 2022). I have also agreed to join a group of coaches, therapists and educationalists to ‘play’ with activities from Gillian’s second book, offering feedback on my insights. Gillian’s work has been inspirational for me as a model of how to be your unique self. Both the examples and the postscripts model the power of bringing one’s unabridged story to a body of work, whilst never forgetting that the book’s primary function is to support others to ‘connect with their Brave Voices’. The book seeks to support anyone on a journey of self- discovery – and this includes those of us in the coaching community. It has presented me with a tangible body of insightful and transformative activities that I can adapt and share with my clients in both one to one and group coaching contexts. It has also reinvigorated my motivation to creatively live my unique self through my coaching practice.

I had an idea of using the Choir of Brave voices cards as a way into playing with an invitation So, I centered myself, closed my eyes and picked a card. See below for the outcome I went in search of the Moment Invitation and was very happy to find that Moment was inviting me to a Pottery Party. Again, the evidence of my delight is below I had hugely enjoyed Will Medd’s webinar and I looked forward to getting my hands on the clay again, So, I prepared a space for being messy. Took our some of my precious sealed air-drying clay and started to reflect on a conflict to work on. As I reflected, a conflict quickly came to mind. Not with another person but within myself, between my two main professional activities, one which sings to me most of the time and the other which keeps the family afloat! The picture to the right above is of the 2 pots which emerged to represent the two activities; the wide open one, the stuff that sings to me and the tighter narrower one the stuff that pays. The extraordinary thing was that once I started handling the clay, the shapes just emerged! The picture on the left, taken from a height above the table gave me a different perspective. I began to see more similarities between the 2 pots and through that between the 2 activities they symbolise. I also began to recall that the need for the stuff that pays will decrease going forward This is result of the after party squashing together of the 2 pots. I am absolutely ASTONISHED as to how much more integrated my professional activities now feel because of my Pottery Party !

This took me 10 minutes! My emotion was ‘curiosity’. The point for me to get really curious, was when I realized how relaxed I was when drawing with the non-dominant hand, eyes closed. As soon as I switched to right hand and started filling in, selecting colours, boom, the brain came on. Suddenly, not running over the edges was so important 😉 As materials I used an art project that I did not use for its intended purpose but did not want to throw away and some markers. I feel intrigued! And I am amazed about the cascade of thoughts this launches. I want to go to Kindergarten!!

I spent a good 45 min on this exercise, the shortest amount on painting (10 min), the longer on reflecting. You need two pieces of paper, some colored pens (I used watercolor) and scissors When reflecting on the third face, I realized how it perfectly captures the extreme poles I am living between – and this on so many levels. It invited me to ponder about the third face- is it balanced, is my life balanced? It invited me to examine my approach to life and reflecting on priorities and signposts.

This took me 10 minutes and one hour of drying in the sun! I dipped the string in coffee, pressed it between the two sheets and then put a heavy book on top. Then I pulled the string out. Attention if you use coffee… it can be a bit messy. Then I used a few dabs of watercolor – but this was not really needed. The coffee image in itself was interesting! I then used one of the papers as note pad preparing for a joint run meeting (partnership!) that required some reflection. It was lovely! My thoughts were grazing on the coffee landscape. Materials used: Two scrap sheets of paper Cup of cold Coffee :o Old string from my drawer Dabs of watercolour dabbled into the still wet coffee I feel so inventive- my coffee- teehee!! Writing on the paper with the evocative image created by the coffee felt inviting!

After being restless, I took 60 min to take a good walk, reconnect with myself and find some goodies in nature’s store. I took some photos and used the image of the tree for meeting notes in a meeting that I was not really looking forward to - and which I then ended up enjoying as I was using the tree to extend the branches on some connections made in the meeting and some ideas that came up. I also used a photo of a wood stack I took to reflect on how I could sort my thoughts more like the wood in the photo, and arrange them like logs, one neatly placed next to the other. It calmed the whirlwind in my mind. Materials- phone, paper, for print of tree, I removed the background - Word Function: Remove Background in < Picture Format> menu I feel calmer. My thoughts are more coordinated and not so random. Being out in nature made me feel energized, joyful, grateful, alive, and it helped me to put some things into perspective.

This arose following my picking of a card from Brave Voices cards. The card I picked (eyes closed) was 'Journey'. I then eagerly sought out the corresponding invitation (overleaf) from the Choir of Brave Voices Recreational Journal. I read this and was fascinated by the idea of dividing my life into 5 periods. And then shopping in each period for the resources that may have emerged for me! I then let all this sit with me for a couple of days, until I had time to play with journey's invitation So, on a Saturday afternoon I sat down with some coloured pens and drew my lifeline (As can be seen from my drawing, I got my arithmetic a little askew initially!) I then named each of the five periods. It surprised me how quickly and intuitively these names arrived. With equivalent ease and flow, I named the resources that emerged for me in each period. I then collected these in ‘my basket And decided to bring forward all of them into my future. The result of this exercise for me is a new and rich awareness of the gifts and resources that I have from my life experiences! I have also been surprised as to how the fun and play of the party theme made it all seem so easy.

What I noticed: I immediately recognised the meaning in the scribble and what final “drawing” I wanted to make out of it. What Would I have needed more: Definitely a guiding voice instead of reading myself the instructions Relaxing music in the foreground (it could be added as a suggestion) Indication to have a large paper with you (I did it with an A4 and would have loved to have a bigger paper) Indications of timings (for me, about 15 min)

This took me 15 minutes! The emotion I wanted to replace was “impatience”. And the emotion I imagined to replace it with, was “anticipation”. I used some old linol cutting materials from our 2019 holiday cards, and cut a quick image, put on some of my print colors and voila! I used an old sketch that went nowhere to stamp it on. Very intriguing, sparking energy and now I want to craft cards!! I feel like sending out cards to the world. Who wants one??

This took me 10 minutes! And I felt completely re-energized after. Choosing music and artists I love created an amazing energy coupled with creating the two images. It got me pondering how they belonged together and where they had developed in a different direction despite one being an imprint of the other. The instructions were super clear and I had everything here. Ready to play! I feel light. I am flooded with memories, longing, and laughing. Untethered. As feels this book!

Brave Voices is all about fun and creative ways of reflective thinking. Joining the Brave Voices Choir is about playful, yet deep and powerful hands-on exploration and, ultimately finding your own Brave Voice and singing at the top of your voice! Use this space to post your Brave Voice experiences and help us to grow a Brave Voices Choir - and to show up how much fun you had on the journey!