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Desert Highway
Thoughtful writing authored and shared by members of of the Thinking Collaborative community to support others on the journey.

Sustaining the Journey

Universal Goals

Authored By:

Thinking Collaborative

Date:

June 10, 2013

For the month of June, we continue focusing on the third Cognitive Coachingconversation: the Problem-Resolving map.


The pace is the tool cluster Cognitive Coaches use to assist a person in moving from distress to eustress. In pacing, we acknowledge the existing state while supporting the coachee in envisioning a desired state. As we paraphrase the desired state as a goal, we use the language, “What you want is to (be, have, or feel)… The best goals are broad and expansive. It is sometimes challenging not to offer goals that are limiting. As coaches mature in their skills, it is useful to have a repertoire of language of some common goals that seem to be universal human wants.


We offer a list of words in the Cognitive Coaching Learning Guide on page 121 that assist novice coaches in developing richer language. These words are categorized in three areas:  Being, Belonging, and Becoming.  As you review the list this week, practice listening for these three categories. Start with the three examples below and analyze which universal goal category might be heard.


“I seem to never get a team that works well. There is always one person out of the four of us who just doesn’t fit in. This year it seems like that person is me.”


”I am unable to convince the parents that my strategies for teaching algebra will result in success for students. It is difficult to have knowledge that they don’t have and be heard in a way that is useful in creating their understanding. I wish I had more strategies.”


“I can’t believe I am in this same place again. School has just started and I feel like I am already disorganized. I just don’t seem to be an organized person. I want so much to feel in control of my work and my life.”

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