Early in April, a committed group of coaches from the Little Rock, Arkansas school district convened to continue their work in coaching. To reconnect, we asked for each person to share a success story about using the language and skills of coaching. The stories were to be about an action each person took with regard to coaching and the impact of that action on others. After stories were shared in table groups, the next step was to give themselves two value statements and then ask themselves a reflective question. The value statements and questions were then charted and posted on the wall for a gallery walk. The challenge became to move the language about our “past” stories into the more impactful language of coaching—present and future.

This simple change powers up the momentum to continue moving in a forward direction. No resting on past successes! The celebration of the impact of intentional use of coaching skills and language is evident in the gallery of charts. As much as we enjoy having no corrections, the conscious choice of our words—even moving away from past through the present and toward the future—are signals to us that the past is over. Our efficacy lies in the now and future.

Listen to your language, even your use of verb tense. How much of your conversation is about what has already happened? How much is about now, moving forward? We do talk about past in order to better understand how to move forward, or to pick up something that worked to repurpose it. We also know that staying there too long in thought and language does not serve us well.

Take a look at the work of the LRSD group as they tweaked their language for momentum.