Back in 2007, I wrote a post about Journaling as a Group Coaching Tool. Since that time journaling continues to move to the fore-front as a great coaching tool. If you are not yet incorporating it into your group coaching work, this fall you may want to give it a try.
Journaling can become a wonderful tool to capture goings-on, as well as a self-reflective tool to process what has occured in the span of a day, week or conversation.
Mark Smith in Keeping a Learning Journal from Infed.com suggests the following four approaches to journaling:
"A good starting point is to use four basic elements:
Description of the situation/encounter/experience that includes some attention to feelings at the time.
Additional material - information that come to our notice or into our minds after the event.
Reflection - going back to the experiences, attending to feelings and evaluating experience Things to do - the process of reflection may well lead to the need to look again at a situation or to explore some further area. It may highlight the need to take some concrete actions. In this 'section' of the entry we can make notes to pick-up later. "
(Smith, Mark (1999, 2006), 'Keeping a learning journal', the encyclopaedia of informal education, www.infed.org/research/keeping_a_journal.htm. )
Some useful journaling resouces can be found at:
CoachingToys online store - CoachingToys continues to carry a myriad of journals and journaling tools which coaches can benefit from
A Squidoo Lens on Journal Writing Prompts
Penzu.com - A private, online journal
What journaling resources do you enjoy using? As always, please feel free to share below.
Warm regards,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC, CPT
Author of Effective Group Coaching
Hi Jennifer! Loved your article and checking out the other journaling opportunities. We use a service called JournalEngine (www.journalengine.com). I'm biased of course b/c I happen to be a founder of the company, but many people and coaches are enjoying its features. It offers complete customization; an online, private/secure journal; a way for coaches/admins to deliver content to its clients or members; and its also a social network so members & clients can share journals, communicate, collaborate and grow together. Would love your feedback!
ReplyDeleteOne great source of journaling prompts is http://writingbliss.com. They offer a wide variety of writing programs, many at very low cost, or even free. I have used the Inner Journey series myself and recommended it to my clients.
ReplyDeleteI could put together my own set of prompts, but Writing Bliss has done it so well and at such low cost, why bother?
And in case you are wondering, I am not affiliated in any way with Writing Bliss - I'm just a fan!