Hello, I am Roach the Coach and I am your guide through the Coaching Chronicles. There are 4,500 species of us cockroaches so we are well placed, across the globe, and across time, to tell you about coaching…
When you think of Vikings, do you see a bearded monster of a man in a horned helmet, wielding a blood-soaked axe while crushing your eardrums with terrifying battle roars? Perhaps you’re thinking of Hagar the Horrible – the loveable, lazy, binge-drinking, salad-dodging rogue who would avoid taking responsibility for anything or anyone.Vikings were a force to be reckoned with. The word comes from the Old Norse and means pirate raid. People going off raiding were said to be going Viking.
They were a very well organised group and their success came partly from their skilled craftsmen who made their strong weapons and fast ships. The weapon smith was highly respected, but smiths also made the iron tools for working metal and wood.
Going mentor
Vikings were amazing mentors, which helped them pass on such skills. One smith took on an apprentice, the son of a nobleman. It soon became clear though why this boy had been called Harpic – he was clean round the bend.
The smith had a hard time trying to minimise the damage this boy caused, let alone teach him anything. Legend has it that one day the boy ruined a whole week’s worth of work and the smith cracked. He lost control, beat the boy and trashed his workshop.
This episode caused the villagers to note how trying it was to mentor unwilling or incapable mentees. Many of the smiths were able to sympathise with the old smith as they too had ‘lost it’ at times with their mentees. This gave rise to the phrase ‘going mentor’, which changed over the years to become ‘going mental’, as it’s known today.
What’s in a name?
Vikings used names in a very descriptive way. Some of the most famous were renowned for following the needs of their stomachs, hence:
- Oleg of Kiev – who discovered the famous chicken dish
- Rolo of Normandy – who would never share his sweets
Some Vikings were named for their physical appearance:
- Harald Finehair – the first King of Norway and volumising shampoo
- Bjorn Ironside – the first Viking to win a battle from a wheelchair
Then, of course, there were the coaching and mentoring Vikings:
- Erik Clutterbucksson – the scholar who made runes about mentoring
- Hagar the Whitmore – the inventor of the LOOT coaching approach that revolutionised how Vikings coached:
Look – at the village you want to raid
Objects – spot the objects of value that you want
Organise – yourselves into terrifyingly murderous group
Take – what you want with glee
Stuff of legend
Vikings were surrounded by myths and legends. Many of these stories gave rise to phrases and techniques still used in coaching today.
For example, nowadays, many coaches are required to go through rigorous assessments in order to be accepted into a company’s coach pool or ‘stable’. This practice has its roots in Viking times when Icelandic ponies would fight in the wild for territory – not unlike coaches competing for business. Vikings enjoyed setting up fights between prize stallions – it was a serious matter and bets would be laid on the winner.
Vikings thought that the winning horse was a special favourite of the gods – a feeling experienced by many coaches who have gone through coaching assessment centres.
We all know the importance of reflection in coaching, and we frequently tell our clients to pause for thought. Have you ever wondered where that phrase comes from?
Thor, God of Thunder, was a bit of a show-off and would regularly try to prove his strength by taking on ridiculous tasks – a familiar scenario today when coaching high flyers or ambitious young Turks.
Thor decided one day to try and lift a giant cat, but found that the cat was too heavy. All he could do was lift its front foot.
This overwhelming humiliation had Thor wishing he had thought about the task beforehand. He could see that if he had done so, he would never have tried to lift the cat and he would have avoided embarrassing himself. Hence the phrase: Paws for Thor.
Sam Humphrey is an independent coach
Coaching at Work, Volume 6, Issue 6