Torrance Journal for Applied Creativity

Table 10: (Continued) Extending Learning Strategy Descriptions and Their Possible Uses in Coaching in Coaching
Cognitive Strategy Description Possible Uses in Coaching
Plugging in the Sun
Shaking Hands With
Tomorrow
work hard;
find and use available resources,
sources of energy
or inspiration, rejuvenate
Enlarge, enrich, make
more accurate images of
the future;
storing alternative solutions
for possible future
use;
propose a solution of a
future problem;
When players may become stuck again because they:
are losing motivation to find a solution;
refuse to be accountable and responsible or take ownership when it’s necessary.
To maintain mobility, players must:
understand that creative ideas can happen in a flash, but their realization into full
solutions takes time and energy in the planning and execution stages. Coaches can
challenge players gently to explore yet more ways they can elaborate ideas, find
allies and support in the development or execution of solutions, and/or find other
ways for the player to connect to more resources, people, and inspiration.
help players move away from limiting beliefs about accountability and ownership
towards an understanding of how they can be positive forces for change sustainability.
When players may become stuck again because they:
are afraid to move beyond the “tried-and-true” within their organization or industry;
become limited by an increasing awareness of their own or their organization’s past.
To maintain mobility, players must:
be willing to embrace a tomorrow that is positively different than today, based
in part on their own efforts. Seeing is a key to mobility, and a player’s “image of
the future is in a large measure what he (sic) is motivated to learn to do” (Torrance,
1979a, p. 32). This means that players are responsible for (their part of) the pace,
magnitude, and direction of any changes.
realize that the tomorrow they will face is related to their today, and that solutions
or ideas that cannot yet be implemented may be feasible to implement tomorrow.
Being on the lookout for ways to make today’s unworkable changes happen tomorrow
is a key ingredient for being “lucky.”
Applying What You Have Learned
For an NDC coach, the use of TIM’s strategies can help players learn (and develop) faster. The strategies are flexible
enough to accommodate any personal style differences in coaches and in players. By design, how a coach implements any single
TIM strategy is left open to each coach’s discretion, allowing for an amazing variety of approaches limited only by experience or
imagination. With 19 individual strategies to choose from, there is not a coach in the world who cannot benefit from incorporating
the TIM into his or her personal coaching toolkit.
Whether you are a teacher working with students, an administrator trying to inspire growth in your teachers, a parent,
or in any other official or non-official coaching situation, TIM is a tool that can support your work. TIM will not break, nor
will it let you down. Use it lightly at first, and then more and more as you gain confidence. Use it as much as the players’ needs
call for it, and delight in the progress that you observe.
Terra Payne
Terra Payne
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