ABOVE: All of the students in Team Power and Ojos Que Sienten’s first coach-training class lost their
vision. RIGHT: A visually impaired individual who completed Ojos Que Sienten’s sensory photography
training snapped one of the inaugural coach training class’ official portraits.
Ojos Que Siente
n
them when they went into these
organizations,” she explains. “We
acknowledged that we were the
ceiling for OQS participants. They
couldn’t grow higher because of
us. In that moment, we began
considering the possibility of
training them as coaches—of
giving them the opportunity to
join our profession.”
A New View
The first class of students in Team
Power and OQS’ training program
will graduate in June 2014
with training that has laid the
foundation for pursuit of an ICF
Credential. Elena says the process
of delivering training around the
ICF definition of coaching, Code
of Ethics and Core Competencies
was as much of a learning
experience for Team Power’s
faculty as it was for the students,
as the trainers learned how to
provide instruction without such
classroom standbys as handouts
and PowerPoint presentations. The
results were freeing, she says. “We
learned to teach from and trust in
20 Coaching World
our hearts, instead of trusting in a
particular model. That was a
great adventure!”
Elena and her colleagues found
that their visually impaired
students approached the
coaching conversation with
unique skills and competencies.
“They have a listening for space
that we don’t know or use,”
she reflects. “They distinguish
distance and also movements,
emotions and changes in the
voice because a body has
changed position. What we
learned is that they can coach
from a different kind of listening
than we do.”
Elena says her students have also
changed the way that she thinks
about face-to-face interactions.
“These students broke some
profound beliefs that we held
a