In Peques and Más we bring you a interview with Paz Garde, a pioneer of the world of Coaching for Youth in Spain. She is a coach of SUN (Success Unlimited Network ®), member of the International Coach Federation (ICF International), Master Practitioner for The Society of Neuro-Linguistic Programming ™ and author of the Coaching for Youth blog, in which she writes since 2009. I am Follower of the blog and before the next call for a workshop for young people I think it is a good time for Paz to stop by and introduce us to coaching.
Paz is married, she is the mother of two daughters of 8 and 11 years old, she likes to walk in the countryside with her dog, a labrador named Tikka, she loves movies and TV series like Lost, Fringe or Lie to me. He also likes cooking and enjoys discovering flavors and ways of cooking, both of our delicious and varied Spanish cuisine, as well as the cuisine of other cultures. Among his favorites are Indian and Japanese cuisine. Then we leave the interview.
What is coaching in general and especially what is its application for young people
Coaching in general is a set of techniques that help people achieve extraordinary results. For years, it is being applied in the world of sports and business to help people develop their abilities.
Coaching for young people consists in applying these same techniques that are used to develop the talent of executives or athletes and put them at the service of young people to help them increase their motivation, break limiting beliefs, discover resources, design plans of developing his career, exercising his sense of responsibility and becoming aware of his qualities to achieve the results that are proposed in life.
At what age it is recommended to approach coaching
All people can do a coaching process and any age is good. The basis of coaching is a conversation, so you just have to adapt the style, vocabulary and duration of the session to each situation. And although it is always a good time, I think that when you are young you have to make decisions with a great impact on your life and that is why I believe that a coaching process at this moment has especially positive consequences.
What is the personal brand and when to start building it
I understand the personal brand as the mark you leave as a result of the work you do. Everyone has a special way of doing things. For me, building a personal brand is defining the particular way in which you carry out your work and then giving it visibility.
That is why I think we have to start building our personal brand since we started our professional career.
How coaching can help young people in choosing the profession and developing their future
In general, coaching techniques help young people to get to know each other better, to find ways to overcome their difficulties, to discover their motivation, to eliminate beliefs that limit them, to identify resources and, in short, it helps them find that way. to act that allows them to achieve what they want from trust and responsibility, feeling better with themselves.
In the specific case of the profession, coaching gives young people the necessary tools to decide with greater knowledge about themselves and their abilities, so that they are also better prepared to face situations of change throughout their professional future. .
How social networks have impacted on the development of coaching
Social networks are a means of communication that is facilitating many professionals to publicize their work, exchange knowledge, ways of doing and points of view. Specifically, I think they are favoring more talk about coaching and that more and more people know it.
How the workshop for young people is organized and structured
The objective of the workshop is for young people to decide and design their professional future in a practical and responsible way. To do this, throughout three coaching sessions, lasting four hours each and separated by one week, the young people will define results, build a career plan and also set intermediate goals to work between sessions.
The approach of the meetings is very practical. In them, through coaching techniques, such as the question or metaphor, I will help young people gain perspective, options from different points of view, evaluate new possibilities, identify own resources, question limiting beliefs, review decisions and come to their own conclusions.
Why these techniques are not integrated into the educational process of young people
Coaching techniques are not integrated into the educational process in Spain, but they have been, for some time, in other countries such as France or the United States. For example, in American Universities students have the help of a Career Coach.
I guess that little by little, in Spain, coaching will be incorporated into our educational system and I believe that the reason why they are not incorporated yet is because the great value it provides is unknown.
Why so much technical knowledge is taught in schools but little or no emotional intelligence
Because we have an educational system based on teaching the answers, memorization and theoretical knowledge and not so much on reflection, innovation and the ability to ask the right questions at all times.
But as I said before that we will end up having coaching in schools, I think our young people will also have an education that is increasingly rich in emotional intelligence.
Do you know educational centers that have ongoing coaching programs?
No, I don't know any. Today, it is usually parents who directly offer their children the possibility of a coaching program.
Why psychological / psychotechnical assessments continue to be done and no other tools are used to develop children's talent and creativity in the classroom
Because the new techniques are less known and what is known is still used, although there are currently other more useful tools. Anyway, I am optimistic and I think that in Spain we will also incorporate more innovative techniques soon.
How can parents approach coaching in a simple way. Is there a movie in the cinema or TV series that can be used as a reference?
I don't know any film that rigorously explains the techniques of coaching, but I do know several films that can help understand the essence of coaching and you will also have a good time watching them.
Some proposed titles are: The legend of Bagger Vance, The Pacific Warrior, Invictus, In search of happiness and especially recommended for the little ones, Kung-fu Panda.
We can only thank Paz for his time and generosity for having explained more concepts of coaching, emotional intelligence and personal branding. Concepts that our children will use soon in their vocabulary as they grow. I leave the link to the page of Peace, Coaching for young people, and I also remember the next call of the workshop for young people for all those interested.
