ISSUE 7 August 2013
Advancing the Art, Science and
Exploring the interplay between theory and coaching practice
Practice of Professional Coaching
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Coaching World |
Since that first summer in front of the stove, I’ve realized that my mother was only halfright. The ability to read and understand a recipe will take you far, but the best cooks are the flexible ones: They can build a meal around a seasonal bumper crop, make a lastminute ingredient substitution or tweak a dessert to accommodate a guest’s special dietary needs. In this way, I see cooking as an apt metaphor for coaching. Being well-read and well-versed in the theories informing the profession is essential, but until you put this information to work by adapting it to the needs of individual clients, combining approaches when needed and identifying the frameworks that best allow you to craft an authentic coaching persona, you won’t be on the path to mastery. The 2012 ICF Global Coaching Study revealed that 87 percent of coaches draw from at least one theoretical model when coaching, citing theories of leadership (53 percent), organizational development (35 percent), organizational psychology (28 percent), neuroscience (26 percent), adult education (19 percent), philosophy (15 percent) and economics/finance (4 percent). Twenty-four percent of respondents said they drew from a theoretical model not included in the above list.
Kristin Kelly
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My mother has always maintained that if you can read a recipe, you can learn to cook. It was with her voice in my head—and a stack of cookbooks in my arms—that I stepped into the kitchen the summer after my first year of college, dead set on becoming a selftaught amateur chef. Three months later, I’d learned how to prepare a smooth, creamy béchamel sauce; perfected broiled salmon and memorized the recipe for black-eyedpea salad that I still use today.
August 2013
Advancing the art, science and practice of coaching by negotiating the intersection of theory and practice has been a top priority for ICF in 2013. As we strive to maintain a global-standards system characterized by a world-class credentialing program for coaches and accreditation system for coach-training programs, we’re also investigating the numerous and diverse theories and models that shape coaches’ practices and coach training in service of defining and describing a coaching body of knowledge. We’re also merging theory and practice at our new series of ICF Advance events. These robust, interactive educational programs will advance participants’ knowledge of evidencebased methods and provide hands-on opportunities to put their skills to work. This issue of Coaching World provides another opportunity to explore the interplay between theory and coaching practice. Most of the experienced, professional coaches who contributed to this issue gravitate toward a specific theoretical framework, but regardless of orientation, they have one goal in common: to introduce you to theoretically sound tools and techniques that can enrich your coaching or, if you decide they’re not the right fit for you, enhance your understanding of the kaleidoscope of theories and practices that give the coaching profession its richness and diversity. After you finish reading, let me know what information you find most useful, and tell me what you’d like to see more of in future issues of Coaching World by emailing me at abby.heverin@coachfederation.org. I can’t wait to hear from you! Sincerely,
Abby Tripp Heverin Communications Coordinator
IN THIS ISSUE
ISSUE 7 August 2013
17 Team Coaching That Works
04 Making the Connection
DR. LENI WILDFLOWER, PCC AND DIANE BRENNAN, MBA, MCC
DR. CATHERINE CARR, PCC AND DR. JACQUELINE PETERS, PCC
21 Mindfulness and the Process of Change
DR. JANET BALDWIN ANDERSON, ACC
07 Global Views: Integrating Theoretical Models 08 Getting the Full Story
DR. BARBARA BRAHAM, MCC AND CHRISTINE WAHL, M.A.ED., MCC
11
Rethinking Coaching
A Q & A WITH ANGÉLIQUE DU TOIT AND STUART SIM
24 In Tune with Intuition
ANN BETZ
28 Coaching Across Cultures
PATRICIA WEILAND, PCC
32 Building Strong Businesses
DR. ALBERTO BEUCHOT GONZÁLEZ DE LA VEGA
36 Practicing Gestalt
14 Positive Interventions
VÉRONIQUE BELTZ, PCC
DR. DOROTHY E. SIMINOVITCH, MCC
40 Coaching for Emotional Intelligence
DR. LAURA BELSTEN, MCC
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Making the Connection BY
DR. LENI WILDFLOWER, PCC A N D DIANE BRENNAN, MBA, MCC
We set out to write “The Handbook of Knowledge Based Coaching: From Theory to Practice” in response to a felt need among coaches and clients. The coaching profession was growing rapidly, with the number of both coaches and coach-training programs climbing every year. In the area of coaching literature, there were numerous well-written, technically skillful books available on how to coach. In more limited supply, however, were books that explored the theoretical background of coaching. What we felt was missing from the coaching library was a book that brought these two together, covering an extensive range of disciplines and traditions and, for each, directly linking theory and practice.
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Although exploring the theoretical roots of coaching requires us to look backward, it’s an endeavor that will help ensure a dynamic future for the profession. As coaches and authors, it is our fervent desire that coaching continue to evolve as a profession of consequence. To accomplish this, we need ongoing research; we also need coaches to base their practice in theories and ideas that have established validity. In other words, we need them to follow an evidence-based practice.
What is an Evidencebased Practice? Evidence-based practice grew out of the practice of medicine and has since expanded to a range of disciplines, including psychology. An evidence-based practice has three key features: First, it depends on the practitioner (in this case, the coach) using the best-available knowledge in the field. Ideally, the “best-available knowledge” is that which has been researched and tested. For coaches, such knowledge is derived from current studies in coaching and from studies in related fields. Second, evidencebased practitioners integrate researched knowledge with their own expertise and skills. And third, in evidence-based practice, skills and theory are integrated and applied in the context of the individual client—the situation she is in, her individual needs and her personal preferences. Although coaching theory is an emerging— and promising—field of study, most scholars and practitioners of coaching are still largely reliant on knowledge gathered from a wide range of disparate fields—from the numerous schools of psychology to theories of leadership and organizational development.
How Are Theory and Practice Linked? • Theory provides both a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of human behavior. Useful frameworks for achieving this understanding include theories of humanistic psychology; cognitive-behavioral therapy; transactional analysis; theories of intelligence; neuroscience; theories of culture, gender and aging; and theories of the relationship between emotions and the body. • Theory gives you a way to approach clients within a social context, be that their work, family or social network. Applicable frameworks include theories of organizations, leadership, and team and group behavior, as well as theories of family and organizational systems. • Most coaching engagements involve some form of change. Clients might want to develop more skill in a specific area, enhance their outlook on life, or change less-than-skillful behavior patterns or attitudes. Theories of change are critical in helping with this transition. Theories of change can also support coaching for conflict management or career or personal transitions.
How is Theory Employed in a Coaching Engagement? • Theory can inform the approach you take to a coaching engagement. For example, adult development theories can help you understand what a client needs from the engagement and help you select stage-appropriate coaching tools and tasks. They can even clue you in to a client’s emotional state. • Tapping into a theoretical framework can enhance the breadth and scope of your understanding of human behavior, expanding your coaching tool kit. For example, a coach who has studied theories of human behavior and change has a context for how change occurs, what visible signs support or sabotage the client, and what it takes to navigate the process. • Theories become teaching tools. For example: A client who is going through personal or professional changes might find understanding and emotional relief by studying a framework such as William Bridges’ transition model and discussing its application to her situation. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >
• Increasingly, many of our clients are becoming more aware of the desire to increase their satisfaction with life—to experience more joy, more serenity, more meaning. There are any number of traditions, including self-help, personal growth concepts and spirituality, which lend insight to and increase awareness in our clients.
“Theory gives you a way to approach clients within a social context...”
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As coaches, some of us seem to have an instinctive ability to draw people toward greater insight; some of us have to work at it. But we all need to understand what we do when we coach and recognize that coaching is not a profession that arrived fully formed. Rather, it has grown from a history of wisdom and study and been refined by individual practitioners and the protocols of our coaching schools. The theories and traditions that gave rise to coaching might be thought of as the profession’s prehistory—ideas developed in entirely independent fields before coaching in its modern sense was conceived of. But far from dry or academic, these explorations have the power to continually reignite our sense of coaching as a living practice.
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Leni is an Executive Coach, author and educator. She designed and delivered Fielding Graduate University’s graduate-level Evidence Based Coaching certificate program. She is certified to deliver the “Immunity to Change” protocol and the “Immunity to Change” coaching follow-up process. She works with leaders and managers to unlock limiting beliefs, and prepares HR managers and internal coaches for ICF Credentialing. In her latest book, “The Hidden History of Coaching” (McGraw Hill, 2013), she pursues her interest in the theories and movements that formed the basis of coaching. Diane is a Leadership Development and Executive Coach and author. She works with leaders and teams in organizations on strategic thinking, navigating change and creating a learning culture. Diane uses a professional growth style of coaching with a focus on increasing individual awareness, performance and impact. Her work with teams includes challenging behaviors and beliefs to create exceptional performance and results. Diane was President of the International Coach Federation in 2008. She is currently the dean of the Business Coaching Institute (BCI) Master Coaching Program, Helsinki, Finland. She co-edited with David B. Drake and Kim Gørtz, “The Philosophy and Practice of Coaching: Insights and Issues for a New Era” (Jossey-Bass, 2008).
GLOBAL VIEWS:
How do you integrate theoretical models into your coaching philosophy and practice?
I think coaching is a way of changing the world and people. When I think about all the learning necessary to become a good coach, despite the tools we have, I understand that the major component is being of service to and supporting the coachee based on methodology in order to allow the process to flow. I think ongoing learning, practice and knowledge are essential to be a good coach. In my practice, I take this into consideration using my own primary learning structure, with higher-thanexpected tried-out results. Each new piece of knowledge and insight I get increases my database and tools, which keeps me open for an opportunity to apply them in association with other practices. Like magic, the new resource becomes part of the process. As we practice, movements become smooth and what is new goes through like a river flowing out into the sea. I review my major structure regularly, checking new theories and how they can be a part of the process without spoiling it. Jaqueline Weigel, PCC Brazil
I use a three-step process when bringing new models into my coaching practice: assessment, implementation/application and evaluation. In assessing a new model, I consider the credibility of the model’s source; gaps or needs that currently exist in my practice; and relevance to my coaching practice, values and philosophy. I also look at ways to introduce this model into my work. This includes bringing in different perspectives, questions, tools or methodologies and identifying which clients could benefit from a new approach. Then I implement or apply this to the clients I have identified and seek feedback from them as to the impact or perceived value of this new approach or tool. I use this information to refine and modify my approach as needed.
Our coaching philosophy has been strongly influenced by humanistic psychology, which turned from the pathological to the client-centered and non-directive. Theoretical models that we draw on include Kurt Lewin’s model for behavioral change, with its three steps: unfreeze (becoming receptive to the need for new behaviors), change (identifying and exploring new behaviors) and refreeze (practicing and establishing chosen behaviors). We also make use of the action research cycle, with steps that include gathering data about the client, diagnosing where change is needed, planning action, taking action, assessing and readjusting. Both are effective in promoting change and learning through action. Katrina Burrus, Ph.D., MCC Switzerland
Lisa Dare, ACC Canada
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BY
DR. BARBARA BRAHAM, MCC,
AND
CHRISTINE WAHL, M.A.ED.,MCC
HUMAN BEINGS ARE STORYTELLERS AND MEANING MAKERS. Adult development theories, which assert that adults move sequentially through distinct stages, offer a way to understand why your clients tell their stories the way they do. It enables you to get the story behind the story. Is your client at the center of the story, blaming others and justifying why she is right? Or is the story behind the story about an individual who’s striving to be successful, overcoming challenges to her goals and seeking balance in her life? Maybe your client’s story is attentive to context, as she tries to learn more about who she is and test her own assumptions. Each of these examples is representative of a different stage of adult development. As a coach, you listen to your clients’ stories through your own meaning-making lens. Are you trying to “pull them up” to your stage of development when that might not be what they need or want? Are you unintentionally holding your clients back because they are at a later developmental stage than you? Adult development is progressive. At each successive stage, a person has access to broader, more encompassing choices. This is important for you to know so that coaching interventions are meaningful and relevant to the client. Fundamentally, an understanding of developmental stages allows you to meet your clients where they are. In this article, we outline five reasons to consider adult development as a theoretical framework for your coaching practice.
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Adult development theories ... … are evidence-based. Over the past four decades, data has been collected from tens of thousands of individuals on how they make meaning of their experiences; i.e., how they tell their stories. The two primary ways to assess an individual’s stage of development are a sentence completion test, such as the Maturity Assessment Profile (MAP), or an interview-based instrument, such as the Subject-Object Interview (SOI). Today, these tools and others are being pioneered in the field of leadership development by notable researchers including Jennifer Garvey Berger, Susanne Cook-Greuter, William Joiner, Stephen Josephs, Otto Laske and Bill Torbert. And that’s a strong reason for you to consider this theoretical framework: It is evidenceand research-based, highly applicable, and practical.
… define transformation. Theories of adult development give you a concrete, specific way to define transformation. When clients develop new skills, competencies and/or knowledge without changing the way that they make meaning of their experience, it is referred to as “growth.” When clients change the way they make sense of experience by taking a wider view, evincing the capacity to
see more complexity, seeing in genuinely new ways and demonstrating the ability to tolerate more ambiguity, it’s called “transformation.” When you have at least a hypothesis about whether the client’s work is growth or transformation, it enables you to better discern the necessary balance of support and challenge, and thereby meet the client where he or she is.
… reframe resistance and minimize self-criticism. How often have you judged a client as “resistant?” Clients who are, in the words of developmental psychologist Robert Kegan, “in over [their] heads,” are being asked to perform in ways they do not yet have the capacity for and might not even understand. In other words, what you see as “resistance” might instead be evidence that your client’s capacity to see, understand and take action is not the same as your capacity—evidence that you are expecting too much. Understanding the hallmarks of meaning-making for each developmental stage further enables you to meet clients where they are, as opposed to where you think they ought to be. This, in turn, invites compassion for your client. By offering stage-appropriate assignments, you might find that clients’ resistance dissolves.
On the other hand, if a client is at a later developmental stage than you, you might dread sessions for a different reason: You don’t know what you can offer a client who seems to “have it all together.” You might even wonder why in the world she chose you to be her coach. In such situations, the masterful application of foundational coaching principles—deep listening, creating a safe space and asking powerful questions—is critical to be in service of the client. You might even want to consider referring your client to a later-stage colleague.
... aid selection of stage-appropriate tools and practices. We tend to offer our clients coaching tools and exercises that align with our own stage of development. Think about your own go-to tools. Do you use valuesclarification exercises? Goal setting? Meditation practices? Journaling? Frequently, tools well-suited to clients at one developmental stage will be rejected by clients at another stage. Coaches need the ability to discern which tools and practices will work for each client, and to recognize the futility of a one-size-fitsall approach. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >
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DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES Books “Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership,” by Bill Torbert, Susanne Cook-Greuter, Dalmar Fisher, Erica Foldy and Alain Gauthier (Ingram Publisher Services, 2004) “Changing On The Job: Developing Leaders for a Complex World,” by Jennifer Garvey Berger (Stanford Business Books, 2011) “In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life,” by Robert Kegan (Harvard University Press, 1998)
“Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change,” William B. Joiner and Stephen A. Josephs (Jossey-Bass, 2007)
Web Resources bbraham.com cook-greuter.com interdevelopmentals.org mirogroup.net
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“By offering stage-appropriate assignments, you might find that clients’ resistance dissolves.”
… help you identify and market your services to your “ideal client.” Who are the clients you love to work with? There is a high probability that there is a relationship between your ideal client, his challenges and struggles, and your own developmental stage. Knowing your stage helps you speak to your own sweet spot as a coach, brand yourself, discern which clients you are most suited to working with and ultimately attract the ones you will best serve. Learning about these theories can help you hypothesize where you are developmentally. (See “Development Resources,” at left, for some recommended reading.) It’s also worth your while to take the same assessments you arrange for your clients, such as the MAP and the SOI. For coaches who seek a new framework for understanding the stories that their clients tell, or for understanding their own way of narrating the world, adult development theories can illuminate new and previously inaccessible coaching opportunities, expand practitioners’ appreciation for the journey that all humans are on, and deepen respect for each person’s individual progress along that path.
Dr. Barbara Braham, MCC, teaches courses on adult development for
the Georgetown University Leadership Coaching Program, as well as several internal coaching programs in the public and private sectors. She is certified to score and debrief the Maturity Assessment Profile (MAP) and also teaches the two-year MAP scoring certification course with Cook-Greuter. She uses adult development theories on a daily basis with her executive clients and is the author of 11 books, including “Finding Your Purpose” (Thomson, rev. ed., 2003).
Chris Wahl, M.A.Ed., MCC, is the creator and former director of the
Georgetown University Leadership Coaching Program, where she continues to teach. She also offers courses in adult development through the Institute for Transformational Leadership. Chris studied adult development with Dr. Otto Laske and Dr. Susanne Cook-Greuter, and she is certified to score and debrief the MAP assessment. Chris teaches adult development at George Mason University and at the University of Maryland Smith School of Business, where she applies the framework to distinct contexts. Chris and Barbara offer deep-dive courses to coaches who wish to deepen their learning and application of the theories of adult development.
Rethinking Coaching: A Q&A WITH ANGÉLIQUE DU TOIT AND STUART SIM Angélique du Toit and Stuart Sim come from seemingly different academic traditions—Angélique is an Executive Coach and scholar who studies coaching in the workplace, while Stuart is a literary critic. However, as colleagues at the University of Sunderland, they found synergy through their shared interest in critical theory as an analytical tool. During the global economic downturn, Angélique and Stuart’s conversations turned to the question of how critical theory could frame a coaching practice that promotes a new mindset in business and helps to avert crises. These discussions planted the seed of an idea that grew into a 2010 monograph, “Rethinking Coaching: Critical Theory and the Economic Crisis (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010).” We sat down with Angélique and Stuart to discuss some of the central arguments of “Rethinking Coaching.”
Coaching World: Although we have reason to believe that professional coaches are using elements of critical theory in practice, the term “critical theory” is probably unfamiliar to many readers outside of academia. Can you give a brief definition and discuss what critical theory encompasses? How can it help shape the way we understand the world around us? A&S: Philosophy as a discipline has always been centrally concerned with the art of interpretation and providing ways of testing the validity of the judgments that interpretations inevitably involve. Critical theory is essentially a kind of applied
philosophy, consisting of the development of analytical methods by which to study systems (of any kind, in any area of life). Each critical theory has its own set of procedures by which to conduct analysis, and they yield particular interpretations of whatever is being studied— such as organizations. Critical theory can help us to understand the mechanisms of an organization, revealing its internal politics and dynamics. It can also help us to understand what beliefs underpin organizations’ practices, and also to judge whether these are logical or not, which is where skepticism comes in. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >
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Skepticism is a long-established position within the history of philosophy, and it involves questioning the grounds of any argument or theory. It is particularly relevant in the case of belief systems (religions, ideologies, etc.), which most of the time are based on assumptions taken to be self-evidently true and thus beyond any need of proof. Proof is, of course, a critical element to philosophical discourse, and skeptics pick away at arguments and theories that fail to provide this at every step: Failing to have such proof renders one’s argument or theory invalid, and there’s no reason why your opponent should then accept what you say. It’s simply assumed in any religion, for example, that there is a divinity: That’s not up for question; it’s the starting point for the entire system of belief built on that premise. The theories that the business world operates by have their own equivalents to these supposedly self-evident truths: Market fundamentalism, for example, holds that the market must be absolutely free and must never be subject to any outside intervention. That’s just taken as a given. As with religion, these starting assumptions can all too easily turn into dogma and then be reinforced by the group-think ethic which entrenches them. We viewed skepticism as a method of resisting such a development, and ensuring that business life did not become dominated by a dogmatic mind-set. CW: In “Rethinking Coaching,” you argue for the practice of radical coaching. How do you define this term? A&S: Radical coaching is coaching with the ability and willingness to challenge and question the status quo or taken-for-granted perspectives within organizations in particular and society in general. Organizations have ideologies that drive the values, beliefs and behaviors of the organization and its stakeholders. However, these beliefs and practices might become entrenched assuming the status of a grand narrative or an absolute truth which may no longer be fit for the purpose or serve the well-being of the organization and those associated with it. The purpose of
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“Unless new ideas are continually coming forward, authoritarian behavior tends to set in, and that is never in any organization’s longer-term benefit.” radical coaching is to challenge and question these ideologies’ validity and influence on the organization for the purpose of identifying and developing strategies based on values and beliefs that best serve the organization at a given time in its evolution. CW: In your chapter on the limitations of coaching, you question whether an internal coach can engage in radical coaching that moves toward critique of the organization. As internal coaching expands, is there no hope for a radical internal coaching practice, or is there a way to reimagine internal coaching as a practice imbued by skepticism? A&S: It is difficult to imagine how the radical coaching we refer to would be accepted from internal coaches or even whether it would be appropriate. It is also worthy of consideration whether, in fact, it would be possible for internal coaches to bring the challenge and reflection associated with skepticism, given that they are part of the system they would be challenging. There are also the many issues associated with confidentiality and contracting which would need careful consideration. In order to establish an internal coaching practice imbued with skepticism, it would be necessary for the organization to adopt a culture which at its core embraces the principles of challenge and questioning for the purpose of guarding against complacency. However, it needs to form part of the values of the organization rather than merely being paid lip
service to and to include commitment at the very senior levels of the organization. CW: Your post-mortem of the credit crisis includes a scathing indictment of group-think while acknowledging that teamwork and group cohesiveness are central values to most (if not all) organizations. How can coaches give clients what they require—which, often, is coaching for team effectiveness—in a responsible, appropriate way that encourages cohesion while discouraging group-think? A&S: We saw group-think as largely a dogmatic position which discouraged questioning (which, of course, was to the advantage of those in power), and skepticism as a method of resisting this. Greater utilization of critical theory enables coachees to see that there is in fact a wide range of interpretations possible as regards any set of beliefs, and that dogmatic positions can always be subjected to question. Indeed, our overriding point throughout the book was that such positions must always be subjected to questioning, that this was the only way to ensure that belief systems remained open to new ideas. Unless new ideas are continually coming forward, authoritarian behavior tends to set in, and that is never in any organization’s longer-term benefit.
Angélique du Toit
had a career as a senior international manager before embarking on a career as an international Executive Coach 16 years ago. She works with leaders in both the public and private sectors. She is widely published on the subject of coaching and a regular speaker at various conferences and events related to coaching and leadership.
Stuart Sim is a professor
of critical theory and 18thcentury English literature at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He is a Fellow of the English Association. His latest book is “50 Key Thinkers in Postmodernism” (Routledge, 2013).
CW: As we slowly climb out of crisis and toward economic recovery, what’s your vision for the future—of coaching, of banking, of society at large? What steps can members of the coaching profession take now to help us move in the right direction? A&S: Clearly, there has to be a change of consciousness within the business profession in general about its relationship to the general public, and coaching seems an ideal area in which to make individuals think more deeply about the beliefs they hold and operate by. The dangers of group-think and dogmatic belief-systems are only too evident in the prolonged aftermath of the credit crisis, and we do feel that coaching could play a key role in changing the culture that created this socially destabilizing situation. The more reflection there is by individuals on what they are doing within their organization, and whether it can be justified, the better: That seems an inherently democratic process to us. As the coaching profession matures it might be the time for us to move beyond a focus on—we would go so far as to say an obsession with—models and tools and to instead reflect on the philosophies which underpin our practices and our contributions to organizational and societal debates on the agendas which affect us all.
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Positive Interventions BY
VÉRONIQUE BELTZ, PCC
With its focus on nurturing talent and empowering individuals to lead more fulfilled, joyful lives, the relatively new field of positive psychology offers a framework well-suited to use by professional coaches in their practices. Its value isn’t limited to personal coaching, either: Positive psychology interventions are equally powerful when used by coaches who serve clients in a business or organizational setting.
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Positive Psychology + Coaching
Coaches have access to a variety of positive psychology interventions that have been intentionally and systematically developed and validated by researchers in the field of psychology. Coaches can also tap into the ongoing and ever-evolving research underway in the field of positive psychology, as well as the growing body of research into positive psychology’s applications to coaching.
Interventions in Action + Three Good Things
For homework, ask the client to set aside time every evening to write down a list of three things that went well that day. Most people find it easier to think negative thoughts than positive ones; this exercise helps retrain clients so they’re attuned to “the good” each day. For each item, the client should write a few sentences reflecting on why it went well, which will enable her to relive the experience and associated positive emotions.
+ The Gratitude Visit Assist your client in planning and carrying out a gratitude visit. The client should choose an important person from her past who has made a significant, positive difference in her life but to whom she’s never expressed her thanks. Have the client compose a thoughtful testimonial (one page in length will suffice) and make arrangements to read it to the recipient—preferably face to face. In the immediate future, individuals who complete the gratitude visit tend to report the persistence of positive emotions related to the event for up to one month. In the long term, positive psychology research indicates that individuals who habitually feel and express gratitude experience greater well-being overall.
+ Using Strengths in a New Way Use an assessment tool, such as the VIA Classification of Character Strengths, to help the client identify her chief personal strengths. Then, encourage her to identify new ways that she can use these strengths both in the workplace and in her personal life or relationships. Curiosity, for example, can be tapped into at work by exploring new topics in a conversation with colleagues. Outside of the office, a new use of curiosity might be to locate and try preparing a new recipe.
A Brief History After World War II, the study and treatment of mental disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (then termed “shell shock”) shifted from the wheelhouse of physicians to that of psychologists, giving rise to explosive growth in the discipline of clinical psychology, and a new focus in psychological research that persisted through the latter half of the 20th century. As the 1990s drew to a close, members of the psychology community issued the call for a return to one of the discipline’s earliest missions: strengthening human potential. Leading the charge was Martin Seligman, former president of the American Psychological Association. In a 1998 address to the APA, Seligman called on researchers and practitioners alike to “build on human strength” instead of only treating disease. Within two years of Seligman’s speech, researchers had developed and agreed upon a definition of and list of goals for the discipline of positive psychology. Rooted in “the scientific study of optimal human functioning,” the ultimate, stated goal of positive psychology would be to help individuals achieve “the good life.”
Using their strengths energizes individuals as well as groups. Learning to use them in different contexts helps amplify the positive effect. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >
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+ Implementation Intentions Setting an implementation intention helps empower your client to achieve her goals without using negative motivations, such as fear or the threat of shame. To set an implementation intention, the client decides in advance when, where and how she will respond to a given situation. The structure of an implementation intention is as follows: “When X happens, I will do Y.”
international organizations and individuals to help them achieve superior results, in full integrity. She concentrates on assisting individuals and organizations in discovering, using and amplifying their strengths.
Setting the intention in advance of “X” makes the client more likely to follow through with “Y.” For example, imagine that you’re partnering with a client who wants to visit the gym regularly, but has found that when she gets home, inertia prevents her from changing into workout clothes and heading to the gym. Instead, she can keep her gym bag in the trunk of her car and set the following intention: “When I leave the office on Tuesday evening, I’ll go directly to the gym.” By simply stating a clear “when-then” plan and giving herself the tools she needs to succeed (in this case, easily accessible workout gear that she needn’t go home to get), your client increases the likelihood that she’ll follow through with her goal. Furthermore, defining in advance in which context the new behavior will be adopted triggers a kind of automatic processing that enables the decision to be made quickly, efficiently and with minimal effort. This frees up mental energy to make more important and timeconsuming decisions.
Her clients have described her as knowledgeable, fast-thinking and energetic, with a warm and supportive coaching style. Her greatest strengths include curiosity, love of learning, perseverance and leadership. She welcomes the opportunity to help clients identify their chief strengths so they can reach the next level of their personal and professional development.
Implementation intentions are also useful in business coaching. For example, a director who wants to promote interdepartmental collaboration within his organization might say, “As soon as I’ve identified a project well-suited to collaboration, then I’ll reach out to key stakeholders immediately and initiate group formation.” This action plan benefits everyone: By planning for the new behavior, the director increases the likelihood that he’ll achieve his immediate goal, as well as experiencing longer-term changes in his management style.
Véronique is a French citizen; has lived in England, Spain and Germany; and now resides near Geneva, Switzerland. She coaches and trains in English, German and French. She has coached individuals from more than 25 different nations. Véronique is a former board member of ICF Germany and a member of the International Positive Psychology Association.
++++++++++++++++++
ADD THEM UP Research shows that combining two or more positivepsychology interventions can multiply positive outcomes and increase the likelihood of experiencing not just immediate benefits, but also longer-term improvements leading to greater well-being.
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Véronique Beltz, PCC, partners with
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Véronique was trained in positive psychology by David Cooperrider, Tal Ben-Shahar, Robert Biswas-Diener and Ryan Niemiec. She is the Director of the “Internal Coach” training program, a unique coach training program based on positive psychology and aimed at internal coaches in organizations. She recently wrote and published a French-lanuguage guide to positive psychology in organizations, “La psychologie positive entre dans l’organisation. Changement de perspective, nouveaux leviers de satisfaction et motivation.”
Team Coaching That Works BY
DR. JACQUELINE PETERS, PCC A N D DR. CATHERINE CARR, PCC
Organizational development research indicates that only one in five teams is highperforming. As such, it’s not surprising that as coaches, we often get called in to support teams to be more effective. Knowing how to coach teams to high performance is challenging because the field of team coaching is relatively new and unstandardized, and the quality and impact of team-coaching approaches can vary greatly. What feels great for the team and the coach in a session won’t necessarily translate into ongoing results, so coaches might be wasting their time and impairing their credibility. Additionally, several researchers have found that poorly timed or uninformed team coaching can do more harm than good. It is no wonder that many coaching thought leaders and professional organizations are calling for evidence-based approaches to team coaching practice that are grounded in research and have a track record of results. The High Performance Team Coaching (HPTC) system that we developed draws on a decade of team-coaching practice and years of research
in organizational development, as well as more recent work by team-coaching researchers and practitioners. HPTC is a comprehensive, systemic approach designed to support a team to maximize its collective talents and resources to accomplish and exceed the goals required by the organization. It has a results-oriented focus achieved by aligning the key actions a coach or leader takes to the beginning, midpoint and ending stages of a team’s natural business cycle. What makes the HPTC system unique is that it is a comprehensive, modularized approach that allows coaches to identify, understand and explain the rationale behind their coaching approach. It’s based on research that coaches can refer to when they talk to leaders about why they are doing the things they are doing, and it provides a sense of CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >
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confidence and credibility in the coach and his or her approach. This is particularly important when providing coaching for individuals or organizations skeptical of the process. Additionally, many leaders who purchase team coaching have not used this service before and need to understand what it is and what it can do for them. The HPTC system builds on coaching skills and the ICF Core Competencies by providing an overarching framework for coaches to apply to team coaching. We frequently draw upon the work of longtime team effectiveness researcher Richard Hackman, who found that a striking 60 percent of team effectiveness comes from creating a strong initial team structure and design, 30 percent from an effective team launch, and 10 percent from ongoing team coaching. The HPTC system takes all of these factors into account.
Psychological Safety
Psychological safety is at the center of the HPTC system because without it, no team shift is possible. We use the term psychological safety instead of trust because psychological safety can actually be measured via physiological signs, such as blood pressure and heart rate. We believe that trust is the outcome of an ongoing experience of feeling safe with others. Safety impacts every phase of team development, as well as team engagement, morale and performance. Team coaches create safety by modeling and fostering genuineness and openness. This helps the team do the same, leading to greater honesty and risk-taking.
Define and Initiate
Because 60 percent of effectiveness derives from the beginning of a task or business cycle, the HPTC system emphasizes this stage. This “define and initiate” stage includes three phases: assessment, coaching for team design and the team launch.
Assessment It’s difficult to know whether team coaching is the right intervention until the assessment phase is complete. A team-coaching readiness assessment can be used to make this determination. If the team is ready for coaching, the focus can
shift to assessing team performance, with an eye toward what the team must do for maximum success and efficiency. There are many team assessments on the market, so when making your selection think about which assessment will target what your client is most concerned about and foster productive dialogue.
Team Structure and Design
Team Coaching Readiness Assessment SAMPLE QUESTIONS Does everyone know and agree on who is on the team? Do you have the number of team members that you need—no more and no less? (Several researchers have indicated that five to 10 members is the ideal team size.) Do you have the best mix of team members (knowledge, skills, talent) to achieve the team purpose? Do you expect the team membership to be relatively stable during the team coaching period? Do you have a compelling purpose for the team? Do you have goals that require all team members to participate in their success? Does the team meet regularly? Are there any team members who have performance issues that need to be addressed first or separately? Does the team have the resources required to achieve their goals? Time Money Information Does the team have clear working agreements/norms for how people work together? How motivated is the leader to engage in team coaching (low to high)? Not engaged Somewhat engaged Highly engaged Are team members motivated to engage in team coaching? Is there support from the leadership outside of the team (i.e., the leader’s leader) to engage in team coaching? Is the team able and willing to dedicate time to achieve the coaching goals? Does the team know how to define and/or measure success? Are there potential obstacles that might get in the way of the team participating in coaching? If so, what are they?
© Peters & Carr, 2013
High Performance Team Coaching System Template
As seen in Coaching World, August 2013.
Download a sample Team Coaching Readiness Assessment at icf.to/tcra.
If the team is not ready for coaching it is usually because there are significant team structure and design issues that need to be addressed first. Hackman and fellow team effectiveness researcher Ruth Wageman outlined six conditions critical to team structure and design: 1. A real team with clear membership and boundaries. 2. A compelling direction or purpose to guide the team’s work. 3. The right people with the knowledge, skill and experience to perform the team’s requisite work. 4. A solid team structure of fewer than ten members who have a clear set of norms and agreements to guide how they get their work done. 5. A supportive organizational context that provides the information, time and resources to do their work. 6. Competent team coaching to help the team grow individually and as a unit, either provided internally from a team member or provided by an external coach or consultant. If any of these conditions are misaligned, it can result in interpersonal conflict. Some team structure and design needs are best addressed during initial sessions between the coach and team leader; other issues can be worked on by the whole team. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >
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Team Launch
Team Charter Template
A well-designed team launch can boost the group’s effectiveness by 30 percent or more.
Team Name
DaTe
VisioN
Team missioN or maNDaTe or PurPose
Team members
workiNg agreemeNTs
key goals
Once a team is formed— often in response to a key event, such as the implementation of a new project or goalDownload a Team Charter setting activity—the Template at icf.to/tct. coach can help the team draft a charter outlining its vision, mission, values, goals, success measures and working agreements. Values
© InnerActive Leadership Associates, 2012
success measures
High Performance Team Coaching System Template
As seen in Coaching World, August 2013.
Review and Realign
The midpoint of a team’s project or business cycle is an ideal time to pause and review progress, gather feedback from outside stakeholders, and plan next steps. At this point, individual coaching is indicated for the team leader at a minimum. Coaches can also use powerful questioning and coaching skills to help the whole team explore and learn during ongoing coaching sessions. Coaches can provide just-in-time, live coaching by noticing team dynamics at play and by stopping the action in team meetings. The coach can then help team members notice and name their own patterns and switch to newer and more effective ways of working together. This stop-and-switch technique is powerful and once mastered, it’s something teams can use on their own.
Reassess and Integrate
When a project or business cycle reaches its endpoint, it’s time for the coach to help team members consolidate and integrate their individual and team learning, identify and build upon success factors, learn from challenges, and assess progress toward their goals. Incorporating an endpoint is useful even for ongoing teams, such as senior leadership groups, whose work together has no formal ending. Having set time periods can help channel the team’s energy and focus. Without timeframes and milestones, teams can wander aimlessly
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and display a lack of cohesion, interdependence and focus. One or two coaching sessions, along with a redo of the initial team assessments, can help a team review its learning and successes at this point. The key is to help team members identify how well they have achieved three key measures of team effectiveness: individual engagement, team capabilities and relationships, and quality outputs. Finally, the coach helps the team members to celebrate accomplishments and apply learning toward what’s next for them as individuals and as a team. Team coaching can be a powerful service for teams seeking higher performance and engagement. The HPTC system provides a comprehensive, modularized approach that can be customized by coaches to effectively deliver on these goals. It also provides a framework and standard for the field that can be tested and validated, ensuring more effective teams.
Dr. Jacqueline Peters, PCC, CHRP, and Dr. Catherine Carr, PCC, RCC, have more
than 20 years each of professional experience working with individuals and teams to enhance their performance. They have completed doctoral research on the experience of team coaching and developed a new High Performance Team Coaching System for leaders and coaches that is grounded in what research tells us actually creates effective teams. They are passionate about sharing their knowledge and expertise on team effectiveness with leaders, coaches and consultants. They’re the authors of “50 Tips for Terrific Teams: Proven Strategies for Building High Performance Teams” and “High Performance Team Coaching: A Comprehensive System for Leaders and Coaches.” Their scholarship on team coaching has been published in “International Coaching Psychology Review” and “Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice.” Coaches can join them in an ongoing discussion about high performance team coaching in their High Performance Team Coaching LinkedIn Group and learn more about what’s new around team effectiveness and team coaching through their website, highperformanceteamcoaching.com.
MINDFULNESS AND THE PROCESS OF
Change BY
DR. JANET BALDWIN ANDERSON, ACC
A COUPLE YEARS AGO, I LEARNED A POWERFUL LESSON IN MINDFULNESS FROM A HORSE. Major, a large, chestnutbrown animal, was my “teacher” during part of a weeklong Leadership Coaching retreat in the heart of the Smoky Mountains. The task was to walk around the ring of the barn, focus on where you wanted to go and see if your horse “followed” you. I began to walk slowly around the large, oval-shaped ring, looking at the ground along the path just ahead, trying to focus only on where I wanted to “lead.” As I rounded the bend, I could see out of the corner of my eye that Major was, in fact, following me. I was thrilled! But, the very moment I felt that emotion, I also became aware of the impulse to turn around and look at Major. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >
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MINDFUL COACHING As a practitioner of meditation, yoga and other wisdom traditions, I practice mindfulness to increase awareness, strengthen the mind’s inner “silent witness” and cultivate compassion and presence as a coach. Mindfulness helps me to let go of attachment to my own ideas and thus be more fully in service to the needs of my clients. Like me, many coaches come from professional backgrounds that valued their expertise and their ability to solve problems. The impulse to share your expertise and solve a client’s problems is a great attribute in consulting relationships, but not in coaching relationships. Mindfulness practices help us recognize our urge to offer opinions, interpretations or advice in the moment, and to let go of attachment to our own expertise. We then can choose actions that support the client’s agenda, not our own. As we develop the capacity to notice the thoughts and feelings in our own minds, we become better able to set them aside, refocus our attention on the client, and create a coaching relationship based on trust, respect and unconditional positive regard. This quality of relationship, of being, invites the client to access deep wellsprings of her own resourcefulness. If offered to the client as a consistent practice, mindfulness can lead her to better health and greater capacity to respond skillfully to the demands of everyday life.
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As soon as these thoughts and feelings arose in my mind, Major wheeled around and walked away. My heart sank as I saw the utter indifference this great beast displayed toward me. But then I resettled myself, refocused my attention on the path ahead, and continued to walk. Once again, Major moved in behind me and followed along. Herd animals are known to be highly sensitive to even subtle shifts in the energetic rhythms and emotional patterns of other animals. Thus, they are excellent teachers of mind-body congruence in human beings. Major’s reactions to me in the barn illuminated externally what can be seen internally through the lens of mindfulness: the subtle changes in thoughts, feelings, and behavior that often are outside conscious awareness. Increasing our awareness of these subtle changes enlarges our field of vision, expands the possibility for action and thereby helps foster desirable change in ourselves and in our clients.
Practicing Mindfulness
Defining mindfulness is, to borrow a famous Zen saying, like “a finger pointing at the moon.” If you focus only on the finger, you will miss the moon. And if you focus on the definition, you might get tangled up in the concepts and miss the experience of the present moment: The moon is beautiful! The concepts described here are just that—concepts. You will not “become” mindful by simply reading about mindfulness. Nevertheless, the following definition, from mindfulness pioneer Jon Kabat-Zinn, is helpful as we consider the role of mindfulness in the process of change: “Mindfulness can be thought of as moment-to-moment, nonjudgmental awareness, cultivated by paying attention in a specific way, that is, in the present moment, and as non-reactively, as nonjudgmentally, and as openheartedly as possible. ... For mindfulness is none other than the capacity we all already have to know what is actually happening as it is happening.” This awareness extends to the mind itself: Being aware of the mind’s tendencies and habits strengthens our ability to choose how to respond in the moment. This ability to choose is what makes change possible. As with any skill, developing mindfulness requires sustained practice as we pay repeated attention to bodily sensations, emotions, thoughts and—eventually—habits of the mind. Becoming conscious of the mental habits that shape our behavior is the first step to changing, replacing or maintaining them so that they serve us well. How can mindfulness be cultivated? Many kinds of activities require awareness of the present moment and can strengthen mindfulness if entered into with openheartedness, curiosity and nonjudgment. Meditation and contemplative prayer, appreciating
nature, yoga, tai chi, dance, sports, photography, and the arts are just a few examples of mind-body practices that can build mindfulness. As Kabat-Zinn has pointed out, the simple exercise of meditating on the breath teaches us some important truths—the mind is at the mercy of whatever crosses its field of vision, hearing, smelling, thought. This truth is not bad or wrong but it can be humbling to try to focus on one thing—like the breath—for five minutes. The more we practice mindfulness, the greater our capacity for awareness and sustained attention.
Moving Toward Change
At its most basic level, coaching is about facilitating positive change for the client. There are many coaching-related theories about the process of change, including stages of readiness to change, inner experience of adult transitions, steps for motivating client change and processes for developing insight into why some change efforts fail. What these theories have in common is an underlying purpose—to expand the client’s awareness of previously unseen aspects of her experience. When we’re aware of something, we can observe, reflect on and act upon it. However, if an aspect of our experience is outside our awareness, we cannot see it and therefore cannot change it. This is why expanding awareness—bringing more of one’s experience into consciousness—is an inherent part of any process of authentic change. Recent evidence from the brain sciences indicates that the mind and the brain are intimately interrelated. It is now known that the brain can change itself in response to experience throughout life—a phenomenon called neuroplasticity. Mindfulness encourages behavioral change by harnessing the power of neuroplasticity to create new neural connections and pathways, laying the groundwork for new habits that lead to changes in behavior. Moreover, recent insights from the emerging field of interpersonal neurobiology describe the mind as an embodied and interpersonal process that regulates the flow of energy and information. Thus, how we focus our attention matters, as it directly shapes not only our own minds and brains but also the minds and brains of others. Mindful awareness helps us cut through our habitual behavior—the automatic-pilot experience of everyday life—to open up mental space for choice and presence
in action. Many coaching moves are designed to do just that—slow down the action and create space for choice. For example, a coach might gently interrupt a client’s narrative to inquire, “Where do you feel that in your body right now?” The question, if timed well, evokes immediacy and creates awareness. Journaling can cultivate self-reflection. Asking the client to keep a log of a specific behavior (“Just notice it,” we might say) creates space and time to observe the behavior and choose whether to do it or not. Such activities interrupt the automatic quality of habitual response, creating possibilities for change. Mindfulness benefits our clients by increasing awareness of not only their conscious behavior, such as setting a goal and taking steps to achieve it, but also less-conscious behaviors, such as subtle shifts in emotions, impulses and intentions. This kind of awareness is invaluable for a leader whose presence and behavior are scrutinized and interpreted by colleagues, subordinates and supervisors. It also is beneficial to anyone seeking to harness the deep wisdom of the body and live life from a place of integrity of body, mind and heart. We often are unaware when we are having a thought. We just propel ourselves into action, on impulse. With mindfulness, we begin to notice the feeling of the impulse that precedes the action. This noticing, the fruit of mindfulness practice, creates the space for choice and the opportunity for change.
Dr. Janet Baldwin Anderson, ACC,
is a Takoma Park, Md.-based coach, specializing in mindfulness, self-mastery, and the development of personal and professional effectiveness. As an adjunct faculty member for Fielding Graduate University, Janet teaches online courses in evidence-based coaching theories. Recent activity includes chapters on mindfulness and on assessment in “The Handbook of Knowledge Based Coaching: From Theory to Practice” (Jossey-Bass, 2011). Janet is a practicing artist, photographer and writer; a longtime practitioner of yoga and meditation; and a beginning practitioner of tai chi. Visit her website at jbacoaching.com, connect on LinkedIn, or email her at janet@ jbacoaching.com.
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In Tune with Intuition BY
ANN BETZ
One of the most important items in a coach’s toolbox is access to his or her intuition. Our ability to know or sense what’s going on with our clients without being told helps us connect, understand and empathize. It enables us to hear what’s below the surface and guide the conversation to deeper, more resonant places. We all use intuition, but there tends to be little agreement about what it actually is. And without a clear understanding, it’s difficult to understand exactly how to develop, refine and attune it.
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I’ve long been fascinated by the concept of intuition, particularly as it relates to coaching and coach training. How on earth did I “know” my client was feeling lost when she told me everything was going just fine? How did I find the perfect metaphor popping out of my mouth without having to think about it? For me, summing it up with the word “intuition” just wasn’t enough. I wanted to know if this knowing was some magical, mystical process only available to those who walk on the “woo-woo” side of things, or something else altogether.
aspects. So let’s look at the system itself.
part of my coaching intuition system, a data set I draw on unconsciously. My brain maps patterns and looks for connections automatically, and because there is so much to draw on, it can provide insight with tremendous subtlety and accuracy.
“Everyone has more or less access to each aspect of the system, and— here’s the important part—I believe everyone can develop greater competence in all aspects.”
Context Counts
As I explored the neuroscience of coaching in greater depth, I developed a better understanding of intuition. I now recognize that it’s not a magical process only some of us experience, but a system accessible to all. I believe “system” is the keyword here, because intuition involves numerous aspects of brain, body and relationship, all working together at once.
A participant in a coachingskills training that I led several years ago was convinced she had no intuition. We sent her home to practice anyway. When she came back the next day, she said, “I went home with no interest in doing my homework, so I worked on a grant proposal instead. In the middle of it, as I found myself slotting in numbers and responding to outcome questions, I realized that what you are calling intuition, I just call common sense.”
As a coach-in-training, oh-somany years ago, my instructors told me, “Everyone accesses their intuition differently.” Some people, I was told, feel things in their body, some visualize images and still others “just know.” This makes perfect sense when you view intuition systematically. Everyone has more or less access to each aspect of the system, and— here’s the important part—I believe everyone can develop greater competence in all
I love reflecting back on that conversation, especially given that it makes sense from a brain perspective. Some of our intuition, it turns out, is domain-specific; i.e., contingent on how much experience we have in a certain area. For example, I have been coaching and teaching for 12 years and have thousands of hours of experience with human beings. Relationships, leadership, growth, misery, joy—I have truly just about heard it all. This is
Conversely, if you asked me to predict what new fashion trends will emerge next year, I’d be at a loss. I have very little experience in that arena. Send me to buy a new clothing line for a department store, and I’d have to rely almost completely on rational analysis—a slow and painful process. On the other hand, if you assigned the same task to my friend, who worked as a retail buyer for 20 years, he’d make his selections immediately and intuitively, based on his understanding of which items would and wouldn’t sell. And it’s a lot more likely he’d be right. What I find interesting about this sort of intuition is that the rational-processing part of the brain looks for reasons to justify its instincts, but subtle research using brain scans shows that we actually decide first, and then look for evidence that we are right. Intuition rules! CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >
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Not surprisingly, this aspect of intuition strengthens as an individual’s experience increases. In his book, “Outliers: The Story of Success,” Malcolm Gladwell explores research around the achievement of mastery—namely, the idea that it takes 10,000 hours to develop to a standard of “expert performance.” I have certainly seen this in coaching. Even as new coaches move past the 50-hour mark, I tend to see a bump in improvement. They simply have more to draw on. Although some would argue that this proves there is no such thing as intuition—only expertise—I believe this is just one aspect of a much more complicated system.
An Accurate Reflection
Another key part of our intuition system is our ability to understand one another via mirror neurons. Mirror neurons fire both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another. Thus, the neuron “mirrors” the behavior of the other, as though the observer itself were acting. Discovered only about 15 years ago, the function and extent of mirror neurons is still the subject of much speculation. However, many researchers believe that the mirror neuron systems in the human brain may serve as the neural basis of emotions such as empathy and intuition. Mirror neurons function below conscious processing.
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In other words, we aren’t generally aware that we’re mirroring someone else, nor is it volitional. We see our friend about to bump his head on a doorway, and we instinctively duck as well. We watch someone eat a luscious, gooey piece of chocolate cake on
organs. It conveys information about the body’s state to the central nervous system: In fact, 80 to 90 percent of information traveling along the vagus nerve is flowing from the body to the brain, instead of vice versa. There are neurons in our heart and in our gut, and the information they gather flows back to the brain through the vagus nerve. (It should come as no surprise that so many languages contain phrases that relate knowledge to the physical body, from having “a gut instinct” to learning something “by heart.”) We can intentionally access this part of the intuition system by checking in on our own physical reactions and body sensations—this includes the information we pick up about others through our own mirror neurons.
“... the more we check in with our own bodily reactions and practice assigning language to righthemisphere responses, the better we get at it. Through practice and repetition, we are building and strengthening neural pathways within our intuition system.” television and our own mouths water. Mirror neurons fire quickly, providing information that might help us understand others’ actions and intentions. Often, we mirror things we aren’t consciously aware of, such as a fleeting body posture, a subtle tone of voice or even micro-movements in the face. All of this provides information for our intuition system.
Gut Check
From the Latin for “vague” or “wandering,” the vagus nerve has branches that connect to most of the body’s major
Right Thinking
The vagus nerve carries information to the brain’s right hemisphere. The left hemisphere—not the right—is in charge of symbolic language and linear processes. Consequently, though the information that the vagus nerve transports is crucial,
it doesn’t come nicely wrapped up in sentences and action plans. The language of the right hemisphere is images, music, colors, emotions and metaphor. It’s vague, unfocused, imprecise and broad. Thus, it’s up to us to take these amorphous feelings, images and “gut reactions” and find a way to talk about and understand them. When we say, “I have a sense of something, but I don’t know how to describe it,” we are actually saying, “I have knowing in my right hemisphere, but I have not yet brought it into my left hemisphere through language so that it can be looked at specifically.” Accessing the right hemisphere and all of its intuitive information requires a relaxed, calm and open mind. When we focus and drive too hard, this softer connection gets lost.
Intuition and Coaching
Many experienced coaches say their intuition has strengthened over the years. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that practice gives us “expert” information, allowing powerful pattern recognition. Another is that the more we check in with our own bodily reactions and practice assigning language to right-hemisphere responses, the better we get at it. Through practice and repetition, we are building and strengthening neural pathways within our intuition system.
ICF Business Partners
knowledge in multiple ways. Know that these can all be developed with practice and coaching experience. Be aware that your intuition is telling you something and trust that information, while also knowing that your interpretation might be skewed by your own experiences and biases. Know that intuition is not strange at all, but a rational, explicable part of how our brain and body work. And everyone—and I mean everyone—has it!
ICF partners with various groups through the ICF Media Partner and ICF Business Solutions Partner programs to offer discounts or special pricing to ICF members on goods and services. Learn more at icf.to/partners.
Ann Betz, CPCC, is
the cofounder of BEabove Leadership, and an international speaker and trainer on the intersection of neuroscience, coaching and human transformation. Ann serves as the neuroscience consultant to the Coaches Training Institute and is chair of the task force on neuroscience and coaching for the Association of Coach Training Organizations (ACTO). She is a popular author on coaching and the brain as a contributor to “Choice” magazine, “Coaching at Work” and other coaching and HR publications. She is a frequent contributor to the ICF Blog and has her own blog at yourcoachingbrain. wordpress.com. Through BEabove Leadership, Ann developed and co-leads the popular training program for advanced coaches, “Neuroscience, Consciousness and Transformational Coaching,” currently offered in the U.S, Canada and the United Kingdom. Ann is committed to making the complexities of the brain and consciousness accessible to coaches and leaders, and is known for both her depth and humor. She lives in Minneapolis with her teenage son and two very enlightened cats.
So, my advice to coaches? Know that you’re accessing below-conscious-processing
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Coaching Across
Cultures BY
PATRICIA WEILAND, PCC
When I began working with Helen, the first thing I noticed was that she was incredibly bright, ambitious and intolerant of those she deemed ”stupid.” She always had a plan. Although she had been with her company for less than a year, she already believed she should be
What I didn’t see right away was Helen’s cultural context as a Chinese
promoted. Her boss was
immigrant working in an American organization. As it turned out, this
hands–off, which gave her
information was the key to understanding her situation. Early in our
license to step in and take a leadership role, especially when she felt frustrated by her colleagues. Outside of work, she taught Chinese (her first language), studied Japanese, sang opera and took violin lessons.
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coaching engagement, I interpreted her tone, word choice and overall conversational style as tough, angry and abrasive—the same things her colleagues and supervisors were hearing. However, as I learned more about her recent immigration to the U.S., I realized that much of the tension between Helen and her peers—and between Helen and me, for that matter—was the result of different cultural norms and conversational styles. When I listened closely, I could hear that her communication style, tone and use of pauses were different from the rhythms of her American coworkers’ conversations. Thinking in terms of cultural difference, we talked about how she was perceived by
her colleagues and developed a strategy to help her acculturate to her American office and to life in the U.S. By mastering tools for communicating more productively with her coworkers while at the same time channeling her ambition and energy into a community-service project outside of work, Helen was able to fulfill her own needs without stepping on her coworkers’ feelings.
A WORLD OF RESOURCES “Developing Global Leaders: Policies, Processes, and Innovations,” by Torsten Kuhlmann, Mark Mendenhall and Gunter K. Stahl (Praeger, 2000)
Communication is very personal, in part because we bring our own sense of cultural norms into every interaction, interpreting not only what is said, but how it’s said (tone, body language, et cetera). By learning more about Helen’s communication style— and understanding its relationship to my own—I was better able to help my client. Although navigating cultural differences between yourself and your client adds a new layer of complexity to the coaching interaction, understanding the nuances of intercultural coaching doesn’t need to be stressful. By mastering theories of intercultural communication and adding some best practices into your own coaching, you will develop the confidence to step outside your comfort zone and partner with clients from a variety of contexts and backgrounds.
“Evidence Based Coaching Handbook: Putting Best Practices to Work for Your Clients,” edited by Dianne R. Stober and Anthony M. Grant (Wiley, 2007) “Geert Hofstede on Culture,” www.vimeo. com/29036835
Research First
Proper preparation is the best way to demystify the crosscultural coaching process. Use research to better understand your own culture so that you will ultimately recognize your client or prospective client’s cultural context. The organizational development scholar Edgar Schein describes three levels in organizational cultures: artifacts (visible or audible elements, such as clothing or inside jokes), espoused values (stated philosophies, goals and rules) and basic assumptions (embedded and often unconscious behaviors at the heart of a culture). Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner build on Schein’s layers to explain cultures: the outer layer, aka explicit culture; the middle layer, aka community norms and values; and the inner layer, aka deepest, implicit culture. Observing aspects of the outer layer, such as clothing, food preferences, language, architecture and art, can provide insights into a culture. Other expressions of culture include patterns of eye contact, physical contact and emotional expression, as well as notions of modesty, parenting, leadership and success.
“Global Coaching: An Integrated Approach for Long Lasting Results,” by Philippe Rosinski (Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2010)
The Power of Silence
“Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business,” by Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner (3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, 2011)
“Global Solutions for Teams,” by Sylvia B. Odenwald (Irwin Professional Publishing, 1995)
“Process Consultation Revisited: Building the Helping Relationship,” by Edgar H. Schein (Addison Wesley Longman, 1998)
One of the most identifiable intercultural differences coaches must be attuned to is the role of silence—specifically, pauses— in a conversation. Individuals’ conversational rhythms are shaped by their cultural background and primary language. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >
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Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner illustrate this phenomenon in the diagram below. A conversation between two Anglo-Saxon/ American speakers typically resembles a tennis match: Speech is “volleyed” back and forth, with each speaker slightly overlapping the other. In a conversation between speakers from a Latin American or Middle Eastern background, conversational pauses are shorter, and there’s much greater overlap between speakers. Finally, the conversation shown between two speakers from an Asian background includes extremely lengthy pauses for the proper and respectful time allotment for understanding and reflection, with no overlap between speakers. As coaches, we’re tasked with understanding and adapting to the cadences of our clients’ conversations. I’m most familiar with the back-and-forth of many American coaching conversations, but I’ve trained myself to become comfortable jumping into conversation with—and sometimes even talking over—my Latin American clients. On the flip side, although I still find long silences uncomfortable, I’ve learned to embrace them with many of my East Asian clients, lest I risk interrupting their natural thought process.
When you find a block or resistance to the coaching process, try using contextually formed powerful questions. When I learned that Helen had come to the U.S. from China as a young professional, I incorporated open-ended questions about Chinese cultural norms and professional expectations into our conversation. For her, these norms are implicit—they’re something she just “knows.” As a skilled coach, I helped her understand how these implicit cultural norms might not serve her as they did previously.
More than One Tool It’s important to remember that many factors we consider as we engage with clients from our own culture can and should be accounted for when we initiate intercultural coaching. Consider how cultural norms (both your own and your client’s) can shape answers to the following questions: • Do you prefer starting a conversation with niceties or getting right to business? • Is it important to “save face” and be allowed to gracefully exit a situation where you may have made a mistake? • How do your rhythms of communication differ?
A Question of Culture
• What expectations are implicit regarding the formality of a professional relationship?
As coaches we ask powerful questions to expand the dialogue around behavioral choices which evoke a deeper awareness of the challenges your client is experiencing. But understanding cultural context will allow you to ask even better questions.
• Is conflict managed directly or indirectly, or is it situational depending on the power structure? How are different styles (evasive, weak, domineering) viewed?
Patterns of Verbal Communication Anglo-Saxon/American
Speaker A: Speaker B: Latin/Middle Eastern Speaker A: Speaker B: Asian Speaker A: Speaker B: Graphic adapted from “Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business,” by Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner (3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, 2011).
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Phillippe Rosinski suggests using “informed caution” when applying the knowledge of cultural differences to coaching. Just like with any other coaching tool, cultural norms aren’t always applicable. Sometimes being late isn’t a cultural difference—it’s a behavior communicating something else that needs to be addressed. Researching and understanding cultural norms and communication styles will give you more tools for understanding and coaching your clients, but as with most techniques, they require the work of self-reflection. In working through the coaching competencies and building trust in your coaching presence you will notice through active listening and powerful questions there might be patterns attributable to a cultural difference from your own background. And it’s up to you to identify where those cultural differences get in the way
of clear communication. Imagine what would have happened if I only understood Helen to be a harsh, ambitious individual who ignored American social norms: We might not have found an equitable solution to her need for achievement. By implementing a coaching practice that accounts for cultural difference, everybody wins: the client, the organization and even the coach, who experiences the gratification of seeing the client succeed.
Patricia Weiland leverages her years of experience
in sales and marketing management in her private practice, coaching businesspeople to develop and manage their executive brands. She is based in Los Angeles, Calif. Contact her at pw@sage4change.com.
ICF Advance 2013— an interactive, robust program to advance your coaching skills by increasing your cultural competency. Join us as we define cultural competency in coaching and training standards; explore case studies and demonstrations of masterfully, culturally competent coaching and its impact on clients; and develop pilot projects to advocate for cultural awareness in the greater coaching community. Attendance for this intimate event is limited
Register today at icf.to/advance
to 150 guests.
BUILDING
STRONG
BUSINESSES
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BY
DR. ALBERTO BEUCHOT GONZÁLEZ DE LA VEGA
The world of Business Coaching has to be approached on two different levels: the personal and the organizational. There can be no change in organizational culture and climate if the organization’s members don’t experience changes in individual behavior.
The Ontological Approach The ontological approach to coaching is based on the idea that the human being comprises three spheres, each of which is a domain of intervention for the coach: body, language and emotion. In other words, we are human bodies using language to describe and change our worlds and relating to one another through an array of emotions. These three domains are inextricably linked and impossible to separate, as all three influence one another. As such, coaching intervention in one sphere affects the other two. The level of coherence a person experiences between emotions, body and language is reflected in the level of coherence in what she is, does and has in life. This is a basic tenet of the ontological approach. At the organizational level, these three domains have their correlative aspects: being, having and doing. Our being is manifested through our actions, producing results for others and for ourselves. Ontological coaching sustains that being generates action and action also generates being. Following these two triads of the ontological approach, we developed a set of five issues around each that would allow the coach to intervene and achieve a domain of coherence not only inside each triad, but also between the personal and organizational triad. We call these the pillars of personal and organizational development. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >
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The Five Personal Pillars
The Five Organizational Pillars
Vocation
The individual’s personal development has tremendous implications for the organization, with each worker’s position on the circle of personal development playing a role in which pillar of development the organization reaches.
At the individual scale, vocation (from the Latin vocatio) comes first. Vocatio means “to call,” “to invoke” or “to summon.” It is this inner calling from the soul that tells us what it is that we are meant to dedicate ourselves to, that signaling to an occupation to which a person is specially drawn or for which she is suited, trained or qualified. Vocation’s opposite is obligation, a forceful outer command to do something.
Devotion
If we heed our vocation, we should experience a true and genuine dedication to it—after all, the Latin root of “devotion” is devotio, meaning “dedicated by a vow.” Devotion is understood as an ardent, often selfless, affection for and dedication to a task. There is no devotion without vocation. Devotion implies total involvement with a cause. Its opposite is disengagement.
Transformation
Derived from the Latin transformatio, transformation refers to a change in something’s form or shape. We are transformed and transform the world around us if we follow our vocation with devotion. We abandon the feeling of alienation and achieve the sensation of belonging, changing our ego-centered tendencies into community-building efforts. Transformation’s opposite is stagnation.
Perfection
Defined as fulfillment of the highest standards, perfection (from the Latin perficio, meaning “to finish” or “to bring to an end”) has with it a sense of completeness, roundness and wholeness. This ensues once inner transformation is assimilated and mastered into an artistic way of functioning in life. Perfection’s opposite is defectiveness.
Satisfaction
When perfection is attained, the sense of satisfaction (from the Latin satisfactio, meaning to “atone for sin,” “discharge fully,” “make amends” or “comply with a requirement”) finally is achieved. In this case, it means to comply with what the inner voice requires, and thus be liberated from sin. (“Sin” is not used in the religious sense here. Instead, we’re drawing from its linguistic origin—the original Greek hamartia, or “missing the mark.”) According to the principles of ontological coaching, the failure to listen to our inner voice leads to “missing the mark” and prevents us from completing the circle and achieving satisfaction. Thus, the coaching process at the personal level is focused on completion, on helping coachees close the virtuous circle from vocation to satisfaction in the interest of “hitting the mark.”
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Solidarity
If vocation refers to loyalty to the inner voice, solidarity is related to loyalty toward others—to the feeling of interdependence, completeness and entirety in a group. When achieved, solidarity yields a sense of community. Its opposite is egotism.
Leadership
To build a sense of community, leadership—understood as ownership, service to others and empowerment—is needed. Decisions have to be made in order to make things happen, and a sense of direction is required. The opposite of leadership is slavery, in the sense that a slave is someone who does not participate as an actor in life and is instead acted upon.
Entrepreneurship
Once leadership is established, we act with courage, creativity and initiative. We dare to do this fearlessly, without apathy (from the Greek apatheia, or indolence of mind); that is, with pathos, emotion and feeling. We move ahead and look forward, taking actions and achieving objectives.
Quality
As the next pillar in the progression, quality is a product of togetherness, passion and creativity. A quality person is not a mediocre person. Quality is, more than a key performance indicator, an attitude which does not allow less than excellence, meeting the requirements of others with humility and compassion.
Transcendence
When transcendence (or “going beyond”) ensues, it excludes all ideas of emptiness and futility toward work. A full life does not only come when I do what I am called to do, but when I do it with and for others. While the personal cycle is oriented toward immanence and the self, the organizational cycle is oriented toward transcendence and others; thus, the ego is balanced and compensated for.
Implications for Coaching
Dr. Alberto Beuchot González de la Vega is a
Coaches should understand that there is no collective change in behavior unless the individuals that constitute a group undergo change themselves. The 10 pillars allow coaches to work simultaneously on both levels. In my practice, we have integrated three group sessions with three personal sessions so that all 10 pillars are attended to. The personal sessions are informed by the three ontological spheres of language, body and emotions, while the group sessions use questions related to being, having and doing.
Business Coach specializing in the ontological approach and head of the Center for Executive Coaching at Mexico’s Tec de Monterrey, Campus Irapuato, which offers certification in Personal and Organizational Coaching. He has published articles in several education and coaching publications, including “Journal of Distance Education,” “International Journal of Coaching in Organizations,” “Imagine-System,” and “Coaching Magazine International.” He can be reached via email at alberto.beuchot@itesm.mx.
The first personal session includes an overview of the five individual pillars. This is followed by the first group session, where we evaluate the group’s relationship to the five organizational pillars and exchange assessments and facts. In the second individual session, we situate the coachee on one of the five personal pillars, based on where she feels she is now facing a dilemma. We also discuss how she perceives the relationship between her personal development and her work behavior (i.e., her impact on the organization’s development). Finally, we put an action plan for personal development in place. The second group session focuses on the weakest pillar of the managing group and we design a plan of action. We have a third and final individual session as follow-up, closing with a third group session to monitor the action plan.
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Practicing Gestalt BY
DR. DOROTHY E. SIMINOVITCH, MCC
We live in a challenging world of exponential change that’s aptly described by a U.S. military acronym, VUCA: volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. Adaptive responses to these challenges occur when vision offsets volatility, understanding tempers the negativity of uncertainty, conscious strategies help manage complexity, and “centering” provides a way to be grounded amidst ambiguity. Coaching clients repeatedly come up against challenges under the VUCA umbrella, and Gestalt coaching provides the dynamic theory, tools and techniques to meet them. In partnership with an experienced Gestalt coach, clients’ situational awareness and intervention skills are strengthened, their vision of possibility and opportunity is sharpened, and they are empowered by practices of ongoing self-support and sustained learning. Gestalt coaching offers what I call a pragmatic magic: The conceptual models and applications have well-defined learning steps, yet the results unleashed are magical. Gestalt coaching is rooted in core principles, concepts and methodologies developed in Gestalt psychotherapy and Gestalt organizational consulting. Inherent to Gestalt theory is the tenet that clients are innately capable and competent; the coach’s primary responsibility is to assist clients in identifying their available resources and working through resistances so that they can intentionally use those resources to an advantage. Gestalt thinking holds that learning and change occur through experience and experimentation, both of which adaptively use “failure” to spark new insights and new perspectives. Rather than dwell on deficiencies and flaws, the Gestalt coach works co-creatively with clients to help them identify needs, wants and resistances, and to focus them on potentials and possibilities. This coaching work is done in an aware, co-created environment of trust, where clients can safely explore alternative ways of behaving with no risk to their professional well-being. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >
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CLOSURE:
Meaning-Making New Realities
UNIT OF WORK: Intentional Bounded Coherent
EXPERIMENT:
Safe Exploration Transformational Developmental
Va
CONTEXTS:
Issues Multiple Realities
CYCLE OF EXPERIENCE:
Figure/Ground Energy Contact
Pa ra d
” re u il
al
ue
G Fa IN d “ RN an A n LE tio o Em
“Who Am I?”
ox AW ica AR l T EN he ES or yo S fC
ha
Coach & Client: Presence Use of Self S Ch UPP al OR le ng T e
“Who Are You?”
ng
e
CHANGE GOALS: Wants/Needs Resistances
ES efs U L eli A V eB r Co
LEVELS OF SYSTEM:
Intra/Interpersonal Group/Team Organization
COLLABOARTIVE EXCHANGE: Co-creation Partnership “What do you want/need?
© 2013 D. E. Siminovitch Gestalt Coaching Works, LLC
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Gestalt coaches serve as “awareness agents,” a role that calls for them to use their own awareness to catalyze clients’ self-awareness as the key asset for current and future goal attainment. To successfully use the self in coaching engagements, Gestalt coaches work in three ways:
1
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2
3
Experientially, by inviting clients to become aware of their immediate contextual responses (e.g., physical, psychological, emotional, cognitive)
Experimentally, by collaboratively and creatively supporting clients’ safe exploration of alternative perceptual and behavioral choices
Existentially, by encouraging clients’ awareness of self and others, which yields “data” that informs actions to achieve desired outcomes
The heart of a Gestalt approach lies in internalizing and applying the power of awareness. The skills needed to track and heighten awareness are taught through the Cycle of Experience (COE), a conceptual model that illustrates how needs and desires are sensed, articulated, engaged with, acted upon and assimilated through meaningmaking processes. The Gestalt coach works with the COE to facilitate clients’ self-identification of habitual, unaware patterns of response, particularly those that interfere with their ability to gauge and appropriately act in changing situations. Gestalt coaching clients experience an energetic sense of “liberation” when they discern these patterns and understand how the patterns impact their decisions and behaviors. Gestalt coaches learn and practice embodied presence; i.e., one’s way of being and presenting oneself to the world. In turn, coaches help clients develop strategies for being centered in their own presence. Presence is uniquely manifested by each coach, but being in the relational field of a Gestalt coach’s authentic presence evokes clients’ trust and their hope for successful work.
Gestalt coaches offer collaboratively and creatively structured experiments to strengthen clients’ awareness of themselves and to facilitate an aware use of their available resources. Experiments interrupt habitual perceptual or behavioral patterns and invite opportunity. Clients might be invited to act out real or imagined scenes from the past, present or future; to have a conversation between their perceived and ideal selves; or to describe and “inhabit” fantasy scenarios of peak experiences that have happened or that they hope will happen. Coach and client then debrief the experiment to see what new learning and alternative choices for action have emerged.
The Gestalt coach keeps clients focused on whatever emerges in the moment, as this constitutes data that invariably connects to both short- and long-term professional and personal challenges and goals. A Gestalt approach uses whatever occurs in the moment as the experiential and existential ground for coach and client to explore and experiment with. If a client experiences discomfort with a powerful question, the existential imperative is to support the client to investigate that discomfort to see how it might relate to his or her ability to reach desired goals. Conditions and factors that make career derailment possible or imminent, for example, are often obscured by clients’ habituated or resistant ways of perceiving or behaving. These can only be changed by fully understanding what they are and what role they play for the client. For example, the client might state a goal of making her team more openly expressive and inclusive while she simultaneously engages in an unaware behavioral pattern of controlling and shutting down team members’ input. Once information about such behaviors surfaces, the question for the client becomes, “Do I still want or need to choose this response? What are my other options? ” The Gestalt coach encourages clients to explore, to experiment and to choose with awareness.
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Even when working with individual clients, Gestalt coaches are mindful of interconnections. Principles of systems theory are a major theoretical and conceptual influence on the Gestalt approach. Gestalt coaches ask, “At what level of system is it most productive to intervene for the greatest learning and development?” Level of system refers to individual, interpersonal, group or team, organizational, and larger levels of human systems. Each system level is connected to, but different from, all other levels, so being adept at identifying and managing systemlevel boundaries is critical. For example: Working individuallevel issues at the group level risks a significant boundary error, because individual issues need maximum confidentiality and thus cannot be successfully worked at the group level; organizational executives are always interactive with and responsible for multiple levels of system, so a multi-level awareness must inform any executive coaching intervention. The Gestalt coach supports clients’ experiential and experimental practice in recognizing levels of system. Understanding the central system theory principle of coexistent “multiple realities and contexts” heightens Gestalt coaching clients’ emotional and social intelligence, and tutors them in the art of identifying the system boundaries that “hold” the energy for any given change effort.
“The Gestalt coach provides clients with theory, tools, and techniques that allow them to adaptively respond to volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.”
Dr. Dorothy E. Siminovitch, MCC
is principal of Gestalt Coaching Works, LLC; a certified Somatics Coach; and an international coach, consultant and group facilitator. She is founder and co-owner of and faculty member and director of training for the Eurasian Gestalt Coaching Program (EGCP) in Istanbul, an ICF Accredited Coach Training Program. She is also co-founder of the Eurasian Gestalt Center, which delivers ICF-accredited trainings. Dorothy is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University’s prestigious department of organizational behavior. She envisioned the application of Gestalt theory in the service of coaching in 1995, and has been delivering Gestalt coach training since 1996. EGCP in Istanbul is her second Gestalt-based coach training program to garner ICF accreditation. Dorothy honed her rich teaching, coaching and consulting skills while serving in leadership and teaching roles at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland and through her affiliation with other Gestalt centers. She provides world-class training in and transformative human development through Gestalt-based coaching and holistic approaches, leading to outstanding results for individuals, groups, and organizations. Her particular specialties are coaching for signature presence, leadership presence and peak performance; overcoming derailment; and working with high-performance groups and teams. She presents additional training and development opportunities at ICF conferences, Organization Development Network conferences and by invitation. Dorothy can be reached via email at awareworks@aol.com.
The Gestalt coach provides clients with theory, tools and techniques that allow them to adaptively respond to volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. The Gestalt coach teaches clients how to best coach themselves: to identify perceptual and behavioral patterns that are no longer useful to experiment safely with alternative perceptual and behavioral patterns to make meaning of and situate themselves within their multiple contexts and realities and to determine their best choices for success. When the coach skillfully and creatively uses core Gestalt principles, concepts and methodologies to teach clients the means to achieve on their own what they have been imagining, hoping for, dreaming about—that is, indeed, a powerful, pragmatic kind of magic.
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COACHING FOR
Emotional Intelligence BY
Jan
DR. LAURA A. BELSTEN, MCC
Steve
Bright, talented 20-something employee at an international consulting firm. Exceptional analytical and writing skills. Less-thanexceptional people skills. REASON FOR SEEKING COACHING:
After a disastrous performance at her first and only client meeting—according to her supervisor, she interrupted, invalidated, lectured and demonstrated a lack of respect—Jan’s been benched. She knows her career options will be limited if she continues to be relegated to data analysis and reportwriting, so she’s sought coaching voluntarily.
VP of manufacturing for a global satellite television company, charged with overseeing plants around the world. Able to get work done on time and under budget while still ensuring high quality. Unable to communicate respectfully to his supervisees. REASON FOR SEEKING COACHING:
Steve’s supervisees have described him as hot-headed, hostile, demanding, dictatorial, abrasive, rough around the edges and even toxic. Several talented employees have left the company because of his management style, and disengagement is a problem among his remaining supervisees. His company has asked him to work with a Leadership Coach to become more respectful of others.
Richard
Business analyst and liaison to the IT department in an insurance company. Known as “the nicest guy at the office.” Also known as “the guy who never says no.” REASON FOR SEEKING COACHING:
With so much on his plate, Richard ends up working nights and weekends to finish the tasks he’s taken on, and assignments still go uncompleted. He feels like he can never get ahead, and sometimes feels like an imposter. Plagued by self-criticism and indecision, he’s enlisted a coach as he decides whether to stay in his position or seek work elsewhere.
Q: What do Jan, Steve and Richard have in common?
A: They all lack social and emotional intelligence. 40
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Defining S+EI
Social and emotional intelligence (S+EI) is the ability to be aware of our emotions and the emotions and concerns of others and to use that information to manage ourselves and our relationships, both in the moment and over the long term. Early emotional intelligence (EI; sometimes written as EQ) researchers and theorists included Peter Salovey, John Mayer, David Caruso and Howard Gardner, aka the father of the concept of multiple intelligences. The concept of EI entered the public consciousness in 1995 when Daniel Goleman published his best-selling book, “Emotional Intelligence.” Goleman, then a science writer for the “New York Times,” took the concept of EI out of the realm of academia and made it accessible to a general audience. In addition to piquing the public’s interest in EI, Goleman’s book sparked substantial research; as a result, we now know that EI is a better indicator of personal and professional success than cognitive intelligence (IQ). More recently, the conversation surrounding EI has broadened to include social intelligence; i.e., relationship management and the outward manifestation of EI’s internal component. Perhaps the best way to think about the concept is through the Four-quadrant Model (shown below), based on Daniel Goleman’s work.
Awareness Management
Self
Other
Self Awareness
Other Awareness
Self Management
Relationship Management
The Four-quadrant Model (adapted from Daniel Goleman’s Four Quadrants of EQ).
S+EI and Coaching
Having strong S+EI supports masterful coaching. By being aware of the emotions coming up for us in the coaching interaction, as well as attuning ourselves to the client’s emotional state, we can better manage the coaching relationship. We’re
able to pick up not only on what’s being said, but also what isn’t being said, and we’re able to better understand and support the client’s growth and development.
“Incorporating S+EI work into coaching also provides a common language—an emotional vocabulary...” Incorporating S+EI work into coaching also provides a common language—an emotional vocabulary—that can make it easier for the coach and client to have difficult conversations. This is particularly important for clients who feel overwhelmed by their emotions, as well as for clients who have been taught to repress or discount their emotional responses. Finally, the work of cultivating S+EI adds skills to our coaching tool kits that make us far more effective. As coaches, our primary interest is in helping our clients achieve success. Given the demonstrated importance of S+EI in shaping future success, it follows that coaches skilled in S+EI coaching are better able to support their clients.
Intelligence in Practice
The ICF Core Competencies call on coaches to help our clients create awareness—of themselves, of others and of the situations they encounter. Awareness is also the foundation of S+EI, with self-awareness as the starting point. After all, we can’t be aware of the emotions others might be experiencing if we don’t have the ability to be aware of what we are experiencing; we also can’t manage our emotional responses without this awareness and understanding. In their daily lives, all three of the clients introduced at the beginning of this article displayed a lack of self-awareness; as such, this needed to be the first area of coaching intervention. One way to increase clients’ selfCONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >
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awareness is by showing them how they’re seen by others. Soliciting direct feedback is one way to gather this information; this is how Jan learned about clients’ negative perceptions. A 360-degreefeedback assessment can also be used to collect this information. This approach proved useful for Steve, yielding feedback that helped him see how his frequent blowups impacted his subordinates, peers and supervisors.
“S+EI is squarely in the public consciousness and offers a promising area of growth for coaches.”
CASE STUDIES
One activity recommended across the board for fostering emotional self-awareness is emotional tracking. The coach can provide clients with a comprehensive list of emotions and request that they track what they’re feeling throughout each day for a week. This kind of steady, sustained self-reflection helps clients become more aware of what they’re experiencing in the moment. It also expands their emotional vocabulary, giving them a better understanding of and language for
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the nuances of what they’re feeling. For example, are they feeling anxious, or apprehensive? There’s a difference. Are they feeling enthusiastic or exhilarated? Again, there’s a difference. Jan and Steve initially pushed back on the idea of tracking their emotions, saying they were too busy, but with encouragement each gave it a try. Not surprisingly, Richard said yes immediately when presented with the idea. Jan came to her next coaching session, spreadsheet in hand, saying she was surprised by the exercise. “I didn’t think I even had emotions!” she exclaimed. The exercise helped her identify moments when she’d become defensive (when a client questioned her data analysis, for example), and her interpersonal communication skills improved as she tuned in to this reaction. Over time, she developed the ability to read her clients, and discovered that what she heard as criticism was in fact clients’ confusion about details of her reports. She became better able to respond in a helpful manner and a pleasant tone of voice to their lack of understanding when she realized it was about them, not her. Although Steve wasn’t as thorough as Jan, he completed the exercise with enough frequency to discover a pattern to his anxiety and frustration— those moments and situations when he was most
According to a case study by
In a 1998 article for the journal
According to a case study
Six Seconds Consulting’s Joshua
“Psychological Science,” David C.
published by the organizational
Freedman, Sheraton Hotels saw a
McClelland reveals that PepsiCo
consulting firm Genos, S+EI
24-percent increase in market
generated 10 percent more
programs at IBM are driving
share in those markets where they
productivity and experienced a
significantly higher employee
introduced S+EI training
whopping 87-percent decrease
engagement levels.
and coaching.
in turnover by recruiting and developing managers with high levels of EI.
IS IT REALLY ANY WONDER THAT THE DEMAND IS GROWING F Coaching World |
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likely to blow up at the people around him. Steve’s coach asked him to think about these emotional triggers and consider his usual reaction, as well as the impact this reaction had on people around him. (The 360 assessment provided useful context here.) Steve observed that his frustration first showed up in his body, with a tensing of the shoulders followed by a clenching of fists, and he was able to come up with several new, more constructive ways of responding to his triggers. Richard tracked his emotions on an hour-by-hour basis over the course of the week. Like Steve, he identified some patterns to his emotional responses, and came to the session feeling that his self-awareness was significantly heightened. He realized he felt resentful when people asked him to do things outside his job description, manipulated when asked to tackle low-priority tasks and paralyzed when asked to take on other people’s responsibilities. Richard and his coach brainstormed together to explore new responses to these requests and design new actions, such as setting boundaries and priorities. He even began to experiment with saying “no.”
well-developed, while also working toward a theoretically sound coaching practice that empowers our clients’ own S+EI growth and development.
Dr. Laura Belsten, MCC, is a Leadership and
Executive Coach; a Social + Emotional Intelligence Certified Coach; and a graduate of the Coaches Training Institute, Coach U and Corporate Coach U. She is the founder and executive director of the Institute for Social + Emotional Intelligence, and the author of the Social + Emotional Intelligence Profile (SEIP)® and the “Sage & Scholar’s Guide to Coaching Emotional Intelligence.” She is also the co-editor of the “Proceedings of the First ICF Coaching Research Symposium.”
Laura’s work in S+EI is based on the latest research, and all programs, tools and exercises available through the Institute are evidence-based, grounded in research, and scientifically validated and tested. In addition to her work with the Institute, Laura coaches executives and leaders to reach their highest levels of success through her private executive coaching practice of 15 years, CEO Partnership—Coaching Executives + Organizations. Connect with Laura on her website at The-ISEI.com; via email at Laura@The-ISEI.com; on LinkedIn or Facebook. You can also call her at +1.303.838.1100 or toll-free at +1.888.804.COACH (2622).
S+EI is squarely in the public consciousness and offers a promising area of growth for coaches. With literally hundreds of tools for assessing and developing S+EI at our disposal, coaches can ensure that our own S+EI competencies are
In a 2007 case study published in the journal
Salespeople at L’Oreal trained and coached in S+EI
“Organisations & People,” Sue Jennings and Dr.
brought in $2.5 million more annually in sales
Benjamin R. Palmer report that Sanofi-Aventis, a French
than their counterparts in a control group that did
pharmaceutical company, saw a $2 million-plus-per-
not receive coaching, Lyle M. and Signe M. Spencer
month increase in sales after providing S+EI training
report in “Competence at Work: Models for Superior
and coaching to sales representatives in a development
Performance” (1993).
group as compared with sales reps in a control group which did not receive the training and coaching.
FOR COACHING AND TRAINING PROGRAMS THAT ADDRESS S+EI?
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Join the ICF for the first-ever panel discussion and
PRISM AWARD REVEAL Attend the 2013 Prism Award Finalists Panel Discussion for the revealing of the 2013 Prism Award winners and learn how the best coaching initiatives are achieving success!
12 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, October 16, 2013 You won’t want to miss this LIVE webinar! Visit coachfederation.org/prism for more information!
coachfederation.org 2365 Harrodsburg Rd, Suite A325 Lexington, Kentucky 40504 Phone: 1.888.423.3131 or 1.859.219.3580 Fax: 1.859.226.4411