Joonas Laine is an entrepreneur and coach at Reveiller Oy. He has used Topaasia® games in his team coaching and has now tried the new digital Topaasia in personal coaching sessions as well. In this text Joonas shares his experiences of using the game.
During the spring I held personal coaching sessions, trying out the digital version of Topaasia in them. In personal coaching, the most important thing is the participant's own thinking out loud. The coach is not there to solve problems and thoughts; the coach listens and asks questions when needed. The best coaching, in my view, is the kind where I simply draw the story I hear onto paper while the speaker works through their own reflections by thinking out loud. The digital version of Topaasia was truly brilliant at producing exactly these elements. At the start of the coaching session there was no talk of playing yet. Things get going by sharing how we are feeling and reflecting on what is important right now. After reflecting on the important things, it was time to introduce the game. In these game sessions there was only one player. The participant first thought about the topic of the session, helped along by the earlier sharing of feelings. Then the perspectives. Interestingly, when playing alone, the perspectives chosen tended to be all the most uncomfortable ones, such as ‘most difficult’, ‘most challenging’ or ‘most frustrating’. The game got under way, and we did it so that two cards could be chosen for each perspective, and the deck could also be shuffled once. In my view it is precisely that first decision about the cards that gives you the chance to think about the words in front of you and how they show up in your own everyday life. So every answer is different. Once the cards for a perspective had been chosen, there was time to think about the cards out loud in peace. You could open both cards side by side once more and choose the one that best fit the perspective. Often, saying things out loud gives you a new understanding of them. The rounds were played through, and by the final stage the participant's view of the session topic had already broadened so much that producing their own action plan was easy. It is important to get to talk and dissect things. To think out loud. It is important to be able to speak in a safe space, where saying your own thoughts out loud does not produce negative reactions. There must be time to wander with your own thoughts. In coaching, the aim is to bring about small experiments. Small experiments set your own learning process in motion. Once you have had enough time to think around a topic, pondering and deciding on the smallest step does not feel as difficult as it might have at the start.
Thank you for the text, Joonas! If coaching with Joonas interests you, get in touch with Reveiller. You can order Topaasia games for individual and team coaching from the online shop.
During the spring I held personal coaching sessions, trying out the digital version of Topaasia in them. In personal coaching, the most important thing is the participant's own thinking out loud. The coach is not there to solve problems and thoughts; the coach listens and asks questions when needed. The best coaching, in my view, is the kind where I simply draw the story I hear onto paper while the speaker works through their own reflections by thinking out loud. The digital version of Topaasia was truly brilliant at producing exactly these elements. At the start of the coaching session there was no talk of playing yet. Things get going by sharing how we are feeling and reflecting on what is important right now. After reflecting on the important things, it was time to introduce the game. In these game sessions there was only one player. The participant first thought about the topic of the session, helped along by the earlier sharing of feelings. Then the perspectives. Interestingly, when playing alone, the perspectives chosen tended to be all the most uncomfortable ones, such as ‘most difficult’, ‘most challenging’ or ‘most frustrating’. The game got under way, and we did it so that two cards could be chosen for each perspective, and the deck could also be shuffled once. In my view it is precisely that first decision about the cards that gives you the chance to think about the words in front of you and how they show up in your own everyday life. So every answer is different. Once the cards for a perspective had been chosen, there was time to think about the cards out loud in peace. You could open both cards side by side once more and choose the one that best fit the perspective. Often, saying things out loud gives you a new understanding of them. The rounds were played through, and by the final stage the participant's view of the session topic had already broadened so much that producing their own action plan was easy. It is important to get to talk and dissect things. To think out loud. It is important to be able to speak in a safe space, where saying your own thoughts out loud does not produce negative reactions. There must be time to wander with your own thoughts. In coaching, the aim is to bring about small experiments. Small experiments set your own learning process in motion. Once you have had enough time to think around a topic, pondering and deciding on the smallest step does not feel as difficult as it might have at the start.
Thank you for the text, Joonas! If coaching with Joonas interests you, get in touch with Reveiller. You can order Topaasia games for individual and team coaching from the online shop.