I've recently written a number of articles for the Fenman part-work Coach the Coach. The one on Transformational Coaching identified the following ways in which coaches, mentors and other professionals can help others make the transformational journey:

Be a Guide on the Journey: One thing that makes transformational learning difficult is that we are traveling into the unknown. However, others have traveled there before us and the maps they have drawn can at least give us some idea of what to expect, even if we each have to make our own unique journey. But it is helpful to know that this impulse to set off into the unknown is not the fantasies of a mad person but a well trodden path to the future.

Be Present: In supporting someone to make the learning journey, one of the most powerful things we can do is to be with them as they make the journey and to be fully present for them. Presence involves being with someone in such a way that that person comes to know themselves better. When we are fully present to someone we create a space where they are able to bring and express more of who they are and to have the experience of being valued not for what they do but for who they are. To do this, we need to be able to bring the fullness of who we are to the relationship.

Encourage Critical Reflection: We are often unaware of the assumptions and presuppositions we hold, particularly about ourselves. By challenging someone to become aware of how these assumptions and presuppositions constrain the way in which they perceive, understand and feel about the world, the opportunity arises to reformulate these assumptions to permit a more inclusive and integrative perspective.

Evoke New Stories: The stories we tell about who we are shape, limit, and define our way of being. We can help people to tell more generative stories about themselves, stories which lead them into the future rather than keep them in the past. By helping people realise that they are the authors of their stories they can choose to tell stories that open up new possibilities for themselves and support them in fulfilling their potential.

Map Values: Use instruments like Bristol's LJMap (www.LJMap.com), Hall's Values Management Inventory (www.knowandrelate.com) or other less formal methods, to identify those of your values which are pulling you into the future and then seek ways to more fully embody and realise those values; and identify those values which are keeping you stuck in the past and unhook from them.

Identify Travelling Styles: We can help someone look back over their lives and reflect on those earlier times when they have made the transformation journey. What caused them to embark on the transition? How did they navigate it? What can they learn from these earlier transitions to guide them now?

Follow in Others Footsteps: We can be inspired by and learn from others who have made the journey - friends, colleagues and the famous (Mandela, Ghandi) - as well as by stories, myths and fairy tales; films (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars); and, as my teenage son is, by epic video games (Metal Gear Solid, Zone of the Enders).