8th August 2021
What Is Ours To Do?
What Is Ours To Do? Over the last few months we have been global witnesses to a range of extreme weather events that have left many people and their livelihoods in tatters. As I write this on 8th August we are watching devestating fires in Greece that threaten homes and lives, protected historical sites, forests and species. In June, Canada and the Pacific Northwest of the United States experienced extreme heat that caused fires and led to hundreds of deaths. There’s been flooding in Europe including Germany and Belgium in mid-July, and in China, leaving hundreds more dead. Meanwhile heavy rainfall has caused rivers to overflow in Uganda, led to landslides in India and flash flooding in London and New York City. Again as I sit here writing in southern England there is torrential rain, and the local gutters are overflowing.
Many scientists have long-warned about the effects of climate change, and the risk of extreme weather increasing in line with global temperature rises, but recent events have suggested things may be even worse than imagined. The planet is already 1.2 Celsius above pre-industrial levels. So what is ours to do?
As coaches, mentors and supervisors, we may ask whose agenda do we serve? There is no simplistic answer. But I would suggest that the work to be done is not necessarily what we want to do, but what we need to do. We are collectively serving a bigger agenda than that of an individual or even a pair in dialogue. Given the opportunity to discuss some of the bigger issues, such as legacy, perhaps using a tool like Neils’ Wheel, we are able to provide a space where our clients have the opportunity to discuss some of the bigger questions that are part of theirs, and their family’s, life. This is not forcing an agenda, but allowing a widening out, a broader focus, which can, of course, be discussed in contracting.
