The Reconciling Mission podcast has released a new episode exploring the role of coaching within the Reconciling Mission programme.
Host Mina Munns was joined by Rebi Hedger, mentor, coach, and founder of Colab, which equips individuals, churches, and organisations to collaborate by sharing gifts and resources. Rebi is passionate about creating safe spaces to think, encouraging honest reflection, and offering both support and challenge.
Rebi explains how Action Learning Groups help leaders to listen better, to reflect more deeply, and to be empowered to discover their own solutions.
Coaching as listening
Rebi described the groups as “a specific type of conversation where someone feels seen and heard.” Unlike counselling, coaching is forward-focused and designed to help people find their own way forward.
“I think it’s really honouring to the individual,” Rebi explained. “Our gift as coaches is not to tell people what to do, but to notice things, offer them back, and let the person discover their own answers.”
Action learning in groups
A key feature of the Reconciling Mission programme is the use of Action Learning Groups. These small groups provide a space where one person brings something they are puzzling over, and the group listens, asks questions and reflects, and avoids trying to fix.
“It’s a dynamic way of thinking through your stuff,” Rebi said. “There aren’t many opportunities in life to be really listened to by a group of people.”
Participants often discover answers to their question, from big questions about the shape of their ministry to how to approach an upcoming meeting, by being given thinking space, hearing themselves speak and having others offer questions or reflect back repeated themes or words. Rebi noted, “How we say things is as important as what we say.”
A Jesus-shaped approach
Rebi drew a parallel with the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. Though Jesus already knew how he was going to handle it, he asked his disciples, “How are we going to feed this crowd?” Rebi likened this to the coaching approach: asking a question that allows others to discover an insight for themselves, rather than offering a ready-made answer.
Lessons learned
Reflecting on her coaching journey, Rebi shared how being on the receiving end of an unhelpful question helped her realise the importance of truly listening. During lockdown, while planning a last-minute wedding, she asked for help making a to-do list. But the coach instead asked, “How do you feel about this situation?” Rebi noted that while she had loads of emotion, the work she wanted to do was to create her to-do list.
“It was a real visceral experience of not being heard,” Rebi said. “That’s when I realised how disempowering it is when someone thinks they know the answer for you.”
To learn more about the Reconciling Mission programme visit this website page.