A Creative Coaching Intervention

Intuitive
Space

by Lorna Mills & Krumma Jonsdottir lornamills positiveperformances.org

Get out of your head and out of your body. Place yourself outside — where you can observe and move from abstract self-perception to enactive and intentional behaviour.

Designed to be introduced and held by an experienced coach — preferably one with an academic anchor in psychology. Once the coachee has experienced it within the coaching relationship, the worksheet supports autonomous reflection between sessions and beyond — because the goal of coaching is the coachee's capacity to reflect and act on their own.
How to use this ↓

already used — times
— I —

Begin

Anchor the work in something specific.
Dictation language
Thriving
Your sense of vitality and learning — feeling alive, growing, energised in this situation.
after Spreitzer et al., 2005
Performing
Your sense of being effective and contributing — competent, useful, doing what the situation asks of you.
centre = zero · edges = ten · place yourself anywhere in between
Step One

Where You Are Now

Click anywhere on the map and write what comes — words, fragments, metaphors. Place several markers in each quadrant. Mess is welcome.

Feel free to use metaphors, drawings, words, feelings, thoughts — or what you see when you recall the situation.

Step 1 — current state map An interactive four-quadrant map. Vertical axis represents Thriving, horizontal axis represents Performing. Click anywhere to place a labelled text marker. INTUITIVE SPACE step one · where you are now THRIVING THRIVING 10 10 PERFORMING PERFORMING 10 10 0 ZERO · neither thriving nor performing MIND the I BODY the It COLLECTIVE SUBJECTIVE the We COLLECTIVE OBJECTIVE the Its click anywhere · type · enter to commit · click a marker to remove
K
Know

What do you know about that?

T
Think

What do you think about that?

F
Feel

How do you feel about that?

The Body

Where do these feelings and thoughts live? An ache in the stomach, a knot in the throat, a cloud in the head. And outside the body too — what surrounds you, what hovers, what pulls. Mark them where they sit.

The Helicopter View

Draw the situation from above. Where was everyone? Where were you? Who's an ally, who's not?

Step Two

What Thriving and Performing Would Look Like

In this same situation, in this same relationship — what would the desired version look like? Visit each quadrant again. Lighter this time. Clearer.

How could you explain what you just said? Visualise what thriving and performing would look like — if and when this situation occurs again.

Step 2 — desired state map An interactive four-quadrant map for mapping the version of thriving and performing the coachee wants. INTUITIVE SPACE step two · what thriving and performing would look like THRIVING THRIVING 10 10 PERFORMING PERFORMING 10 10 0 ZERO · neither thriving nor performing MIND the I BODY the It COLLECTIVE SUBJECTIVE the We COLLECTIVE OBJECTIVE the Its fewer marks. clearer language. the version you want.
K
Know

What do you know about the version you want?

T
Think

What do you think about it?

F
Feel

How do you feel about it?

The Body

In the version you want — what does the body feel like? Where does ease live? And around the body — what's near you, what's left, what's gone?

The Helicopter View

Draw the desired version. Who's near you? Who have you intentionally moved closer to? Where do you sit, when you sit how you'd like to sit?

— III —

3 · 2 · 1 · Go

What you take away. What you do next.
3
Things I learned
2
Things I liked — or disliked
1
Thing that will be different from now
Go
A first action — specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound

Important Note

This exercise is a Creative Coaching Intervention designed to be conducted by, or with the support of, an experienced coach with an academic anchor in psychology. It is not a substitute for therapy, counselling, or medical advice.

The protocol can surface difficult material. If at any point you are experiencing significant distress or concerns about your mental health, please pause this exercise and consult a qualified mental-health professional.

By using this resource, you acknowledge that you do so at your own discretion. The authors accept no liability for outcomes arising from its use.

— III —

What Inspired This

The Intuitive Space draws on a number of established frameworks, tools, and research traditions. We owe a debt to all of them.

Tools & Frameworks

References

  1. Lawley, J., & Tompkins, P. (2000). Metaphors in Mind: Transformation through Symbolic Modelling. Developing Company Press.
  2. Tosey, P., Lawley, J., & Meese, R. (2014). Eliciting metaphor through Clean Language: An innovation in qualitative research. British Journal of Management, 25(3), 629–646.
  3. Wilber, K. (2000). Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution (2nd ed.). Shambhala.
  4. Spreitzer, G., Sutcliffe, K., Dutton, J., Sonenshein, S., & Grant, A. M. (2005). A socially embedded model of thriving at work. Organization Science, 16(5), 537–549.
  5. Bellmund, J. L. S., Gärdenfors, P., Moser, E. I., & Doeller, C. F. (2018). Navigating cognition: Spatial codes for human thinking. Science, 362(6415), eaat6766.
  6. Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought. Basic Books.
  7. Whitmore, J. (2017). Coaching for Performance (5th ed.). Nicholas Brealey.
— IV —

How to Use This

A protocol for coaches and coachees. This exercise lives within an established coaching relationship: the coach introduces it, models the depth of inquiry, and the coachee then takes the worksheet home as a self-reflective tool. The goal is the coachee's capacity to reflect — and act — on their own.

The Coach's First Pass

first introduction · 45–60 min in session

Open5 min

Show the worksheet. Briefly explain the map — four quadrants, two axes, centre is zero. Name that mess is welcome, and that this is a tool the coachee will own.

Anchor3 min

Help the coachee name the situation or relationship. Specific is best.

“What's alive for you right now?”

Step 1 — Where you are now15–20 min

Map: invite slow placement. “As you place this here, what are you noticing?”

K · T · F: ask one at a time. Allow silence. Don't compress.

Body: gentle prompt — “Where in the body does this live? And around the body?” Watch for distress signals.

Helicopter: zoom out together — who's where, what's the geometry.

Pause2 min

Acknowledge what surfaced. Water. Breath.

Step 2 — Thriving and performing15–20 min

Same flow. The holding can be lighter — Step 2 is generative, not extractive. Hold the space for difference.

3 · 2 · 1 · Go5–10 min

Three things learned. Two stood out. One thing different. Go: a small, doable action.

Close2–3 min

Ground. “What do you want to take from this? What will you do with the PDF?”

When the Coachee Works Alone

between sessions · 30–45 min

  1. Find a quiet 30–45 minutes. Water. A pen. Real time, not in-between time.
  2. Pick a situation that's alive — specific, not abstract. A recent conversation, a relationship, a meeting that's still echoing.
  3. Move slowly. Place markers without rushing. If you find yourself avoiding a quadrant, notice it. That's data.
  4. Pause halfway. Between Step 1 and Step 2, stand up. Breathe. Drink water.
  5. In Step 2, imagine generously. Don't ask “what's realistic?” first. Ask what the desired version looks like, then negotiate down.
  6. 3 · 2 · 1 · Go — pick a small action you'll actually do. Smaller than feels useful. The point is movement, not heroism.
  7. Download the PDF. Bring it to your next coaching session if it would help. Or keep it private. It's yours.

Signals to Pause

For the coach when leading, and for the coachee using the worksheet alone.

  • Material from childhood, trauma, or unresolved grief surfacing repeatedly
  • Strong dissociation, numbness, or shutting down during the body sketch
  • Thoughts of suicide or self-harm
  • A sense of losing control or being overwhelmed

If any of these appear: stop the exercise. The coach holds the next step — referral to a qualified mental-health professional. The exercise resumes (or doesn't) once the right support is in place. Coachee working alone: pause, contact your coach, and don't continue until you've talked.

Take this with you

A PDF of your reflection — the maps, the words, the drawings, the action.