What can you learn from a tree?

I recently attended a group coach supervision session. Maybe you've done one before, nine or ten coaches in the Zoom room. Once our supervisor had established the space, confidentiality, participation, how we wanted to work together, she put three photographs of trees on the screen.

More specifically, three photographs of roots.

She asked: Which image connects with you?

And then waited for what felt like an uncomfortable amount of time and then asked How deep are your roots?

Another lengthy pause. If your roots are symbolic of your wellbeing, how deep do they go?

Pause.

Do your roots need more of something?

That was pretty much it. No model. No explanation of what the roots were supposed to mean. Not even a five-point framework for achieving optimal rootiness.

Just the photographs, a few questions and quite a lot of silence.

We went into breakout rooms and talked about what we had noticed. We'd all seen and felt different things but suprisingly each seemed to resonate with us.Then we came back and shared some of our observations with the wider group.

And then another set of photographs appeared. This time, trunks.

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Which trunk represents you?

Which features resonate?

Does its size matter?

How are you continuing to grow?

Again, the questions arrived slowly.

And finally, we moved upwards into the branches and leaves.

What do your branches support?

Is it bright or dark beneath them?

Who or what do you shade?

And suddenly we had a whole tree.

Roots. Trunk. Branches. Leaves.

And, without anybody defining what any of those things meant, we also had a surprisingly rich way of thinking about ourselves.

The roots took me towards questions of connection, wellbeing, nourishment and what keeps us grounded.

The trunk raised questions about strength, flexibility, growth, scars and the accumulated evidence of having been around for a while.

And the canopy shifted attention away from the self. What have I grown that now supports something else? Who benefits from the shade I create?

And perhaps: am I creating so much shade that something underneath me isn't getting enough light?

That last question was the one the images have left me with. And that's part of what made the exercise so interesting.

The supervisor didn't tell us what a tree represented.

She gave us something to look at and enough space to discover what it represented to us.

I think there's something useful in that far beyond coach supervision.

We often assume that creating a powerful learning experience requires adding things.

More content, explanation or models and slides or (sorry coaches) another clever question.

This experience worked partly because of what was missing.

Ten photographs. Fewer than a dozen questions.

But alot of silence after each one which allowed us to explore what came up.

The pauses mattered because if the Supervisor had immediately followed How deep are your roots? with another three questions, my attention would probably have moved to the next question.

Instead, there was nowhere to go except I look at the roots and then, I look at myself.

Perhaps that's one of the overlooked skills of facilitating reflection. Knowing when you've provided enough stimulus. And trusting that the people in the room can do something worthwhile with it.

So perhaps try the exercise yourself.

Look at the trees around you. Which roots look like yours? Which trunk resembles the way you're moving through the world at the moment? What are your branches supporting?

Who is enjoying your shade? And what, right now, might need a little more light?

Then don't rush to answer... Give it a few seconds.

The tree isn't going anywhere.