Sounding board. What’s a sounding board? According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, a sounding board is “a person on whom one tests one’s ideas or opinions.” Webster’s Contemporary Dictionary says it’s “a structure to amplify or clarify a speaker’s voice.”
I learned a lot from my dad. He was an old Navy man from World War II and had lots of stories to tell. According to him, free advice was worth exactly what you paid for it. People thought Dad gave out a lot of free advice, but I thought of him more as a wise elder wanting to pass on lessons learned. I learned to listen. Through my patient listening, Dad learned he could trust me with his ideas and he respected my input.
Sometimes Dad would come to me and say, “Christie, I need a sounding board. Let me bounce a few ideas off you,” then he’d launch into the details of some plan he was turning over in his mind. Sometimes he wanted my input. Sometimes he just wanted to get his ideas out on the table where he could see them.
It’s strange to think that maybe I coached my dad, but I think that maybe I did. I listened to his stories and dreams. I asked questions so I could understand. Together, we got excited about the possibilities, then I’d ask, “So how can we make this happen?”
Sounding board – amplifies or clarifies a speaker’s voice; someone to test ideas or opinions on. Sounding Board sounds like a good name for a Coaching practice. Unfortunately, someone’s already got it.
