Applied Coaching Research Journal Volume 1 | Page 45

APPLIED COACHING RESEARCH JOURNAL 2018, Vol. 1
• Learning
– If mind coaching can help people change their
lives in a prison, it can work anywhere.
– C
 oaches benefit just as much, if not more, from
stretching themselves as those they help.
• Actions to be taken
– Add more strings to your coaching bow through
mind coaching
Unlocking potential
I’ve spent 25 years improving services for people
in crisis to reduce social exclusion, inequality
and crime; working on extreme problems such as
mental health, prostitution and counter-terrorism.
Throughout that time it was clear to me that many
in our prisons and communities have often suffered
unthinkable pain, as well as some inflicting it, and
we cannot threaten people with a bigger stick than
many are beaten with.
– Reach out beyond the usual suspects
– S
 hare your Coaching Impacts evidence and
initiatives with the world.
Getting stuck in
I stared at the cold heavy prison gate and wondered
how I’d ended up the re with no keys, no ID and
no way out. I realised, as my warm smile at an
approaching prison officer faded, that no one could
let me through on my word alone and just then a
woman strolled by and shouted across: “Don’t let
her out, Miss! She’s a prisoner!”
But, why was I actually there as a coach and not a
prisoner? If it weren’t for all that I’d been given in
life I could have been stuck inside for real, as could
we all. Where we find ourselves is almost entirely
down to the luck of the draw and any one of us
could so easily be in prison if circumstances played
out differently at any point.
Life isn’t a level playing field. As well as resources
like money, family and education, we’re given our
share of other things, such as sporting prowess or
academic talent, through both nature and nurture.
But it’s those less obvious gifts, such as persistence
and a desire to improve, that I see in myself when I
take part in boxing for fitness. It’s very clear to me
that we can miss out on gifts too – it turns out I can
neither count to 10 nor use a skipping rope without
tying my feet in a knot.
Fortunately our luck also includes the passing gifts
of those we meet – great teachers, strong friends,
kind strangers – and opportunities or events that
prompt us to act. This is where great coaches come
in, who have the privilege of seeing and tapping
into others’ potential and using external motivation
to help those we work with find their inner drive.
Coaches can help people who’ve never had the
courage to make an effort or dared hope for
anything better. If you think you have no options
and no hope in life, then why bother with anything
at all?
I can be a bit slow. It took me until I was 30 to
realise I didn’t know anyone else’s life better than
they did and that I could achieve more by helping
people solve their own problems, than by giving
them the benefit of my great advice. The idea
that everyone has their own answers may not
be revolutionary but it does come as a surprise
to some of us. I gradually learnt I could best help
people simply by asking questions; not by being
an “expert” and telling them things, but by being
curious about them and their ideas. It turned out
that training as a life coach and helping people work
stuff out for themselves was both life-affirming and
time-saving.
Mind coaching allows someone to step back and
consider their whole life, so that they can make the
most of their time on this planet whether they’re on
a sports pitch, in a boardroom or locked in a cell.
Then, in 2010, it dawned on me that while I’d been
coaching senior leaders, HM Prison Styal – the only
women’s prison in the north west – was within
cycling distance. Some might see the prison as a
drain on resources rather than as an untapped
source of power and possibilities, but I still rang the
governor and asked if I could coach some prisoners.
He replied: “Great! When can you start?”
Coaching Inside and Out’s coaches have now
inspired, and been inspired by, many hundreds of
men, women and young people both inside our
prisons and out in our communities (as described in
my book Coaching Behind Bars). They help clients
get to the heart of their problems, beliefs, hopes
and, most importantly, the assumptions that hold us
all back.
This is how I know there’s more potential in any one
prison than in any Oxbridge college, and it’s high
time we unlocked that, for all our sakes.
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