How Coaches use Type Knowledge to help their clients achieve their potential

By: M. Hariharan

Just for a moment imagine that you work for the United Nations. You are currently posted in the capital of a particularly disturbed country in Africa. In the middle of an important meeting, your security officer rushes in to inform you that there is a bomb threat and all of you have to immediately evacuate the building. You look out of the window. There are TV crews, army and police personnel all over the place. 

What would you do first?

1. Call your families to let them know everything is all right and ask them not to worry?
2. Immediately go to find the manual on emergencies and the safe evacuation procedures for such a situation?
3. Straightaway step out to the hallway and help direct traffic safely, reassuring those who are in a state of panic?
4. Start discussing the role of 24 hour news channels in giving publicity to such things and thereby encouraging terrorists to manipulate the media, even as you move out of the building in a calm and orderly manner as directed by the security officers?

Whatever your answer, it is quite likely that what you choose to do first would be influenced by your psychological type because ‘type’ influences your every day choices and behaviour. In fact, my ‘type’ preference has played a part in how I have chosen to begin this article!

So what is psychological ‘type’? What can ‘type’ tell us about our own patterns of behaviour? How can we use knowledge of ‘type’ in enabling change in ourselves and in others?

The theory of Psychological ‘type’ was developed by Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychologist, to explain normal differences among mentally healthy people. He observed and concluded that differences in behaviour result from people’s inborn tendencies to use their minds in different ways. These he called as ‘preferences’.

Each of us has a set of preferences for where we get and direct our mental energy, what we focus on in the information presented to us, how we make decisions and how we orient our lives based on our preferences.

Based on these preferences, Jung broadly classified people into 16 psychological ‘types’ with reasonably predictable patterns of perceiving and judging the world. In fact, most people are amazed at how accurately ‘type’ descriptions seem to describe them.

Undoubtedly, ‘type’ theory is gaining in popularity and appreciation all over the world in general and in the world of Coaching in particular. This is largely because it offers an easy to understand and rational explanation for why we behave the way we do.

The knowledge that all ‘types’ are normal, valuable and productive can be very liberating. To know that there are large numbers of people who see the world through similar lenses can be very reassuring as well.

It also facilitates a more open acknowledgement of the amazing diversity of approaches among people because ‘type’ is a powerful tool for shifting perspectives about how we see ourselves and how we relate to others. When used appropriately, the revelations about who we are and how we appear to the world seem limitless.

This is where the Myers - Briggs Type Indicator or the ‘MBTI’ comes in. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a self-report questionnaire, designed initially by Katherine Briggs and Isabel Myers, to make Carl Gustav Jung's theory of Psychological Types understandable and useful in everyday life.  It is a tool that enables us to understand our preferences and is arguably the most widely recommended psychometric assessment tool in Executive Coaching to day.

At the same time, assessments are useful only to the degree they accurately mirror a person's true preference. Good ‘type’ practitioners or Coaches expect and are prepared for this outcome and also know how to Coach clients in a manner that hopefully culminates in an "aha" experience where they discover something new and true about themselves.

The Types defined

E-I Dichotomy:

“E” stands for Extraversion which refers to people who focus on the outer world of people and activity. They direct their energy and attention outward and receive energy from interacting with people and from taking action. “I” stands for Introversion which describes people who prefer to focus on their own inner-world of ideas and experiences. They direct their energy and attention inward and receive energy from reflecting on their thoughts, memories and feelings.

S-N Dichotomy:

“S” stands for Sensing, which describes people who like to take in information that is real and tangible - what is actually happening. They are observant about the specifics of what is going on around them and are especially attuned to practical realities. “N” stands for Intuition, people who prefer to take in information be seeing the big picture, focusing on the relationships and connections between the facts. They want to grasp patterns and are especially attuned to seeing new possibilities.

T-F Dichotomy:

“T” stands for Thinking, which refers to people who prefer to use thinking in decision making and like to look at the logical consequences of a choice or action. They want to mentally remove themselves from the situation to examine the pros and cons objectively. They are energised by critiquing and analysing to identify what’s wrong with something so they can solve the problem. “F” stands for Feeling - people who prefer to use feeling in decision making. They like to consider what is important to them and to the others involved. They mentally place themselves in the situation to identify with everyone so that they can make decisions based on their values about honouring people.

J-P Dichotomy:

“J” stands for Judgment, which describes people who prefer to use their judging process in the outer world. They like to live in a planned, orderly way, seeking to regulate and manage their lives. They want to make decisions, come to closure, and move on. Their lives tend to be structured and organised.  “P” stands for Perceiving, which means they are people who prefer to use their perceiving process in the outer world. They like to live in a flexible, spontaneous way, seeking to experience and understand life, rather than control it.  They seem to stay open to new information and last minute options.

Source - MBTI MANUAL

How does knowledge of ‘type’ facilitate Coaching?

Perhaps the most important perspective that a Coach can offer an individual is that there is no single formula that defines the path to personal success. We have different strengths and weaknesses that are a part of our inherent personality ‘type’ and we all have different goals and priorities, which means that different activities and attitudes will make us feel good about ourselves. Coaches can help clients understand, accept and work with this knowledge.

Coaches can use ‘type’ knowledge to support clients to utilise their natural strengths while challenging them to not hide behind their weaknesses. For example, SJs are most comfortable with predictability, stability, standard operating procedures and responsibility. They are likely to face challenges in delegation, strategic thinking or when the environment is in flux and requires speedy response.

SPs are just the opposite. They want spontaneity because they trust their ability to handle whatever comes up. They need the freedom to choose their next course of action. So their challenges are in routines and in ensuring that all the projects that they enthusiastically kick off reach completion.

NFs on the other hand are constantly searching for identity and meaning and want to make the world a better place by developing the potential in oneself and in others. They struggle with offering practical ways of executing their grand designs and also when it is necessary to confront others.

NTs seek to understand the principles on which the world works and focus on strategies that achieve long term goals through competence and knowledge. They can come across as demanding, arrogant and cold when dealing with people.

Coaches who are aware of these ‘type’ tendencies are better placed to influence change efforts.

Coaches can also use ‘type’ knowledge when offering perspectives to their clients. For example, when working with a Coachee who has an ST preference, recognise that they prefer precise, step by step instructions apart from logical, practical reasons for doing something while SFs require all this and also require frequent, friendly interaction and approval. NFs, on the other hand, only want general directions, with the freedom to do things in their own way but again with frequent positive feedback. NTs are most enthusiastic when given a big, complex intellectual problem to solve, with the freedom to work it out on their own. 

The weaknesses associated with any given personality type are often quite apparent to others. Sometimes they overshadow the individual's natural strengths. Such a drastic imbalance is not uncommon and could be the result of either developmental conditions, high pressure of cultural expectations or continuous and extreme stress. Most people will experience situations in their lives during which they are stressed to this point of serious imbalance.

When this happens, Coachees appear to be “in the grip” of their inferior function. What this means is that the Coachee is under tremendous internal stress that their less developed, non-preferred functions erupt almost uncontrollably and they lose access to their natural ways of operating. In this state they cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. The Coach’s ability to offer ‘type’ relevant ways to de-stress and return to preferred ways of functioning would add immeasurably to the effectiveness of the engagement.

Sometimes the challenges are a result of a ‘type's’ dominant function overtaking the personality to the extent that the other functions become slaves to the dominant function. A personality that has developed with a goal of serving only the dominant function above all other considerations also results in a person who is imbalanced. A Coach can call attention to this and in the process; challenge the effectiveness of this over-reliance.

It is natural and healthy that each personality type is ruled by a dominant function, and that the other functions support the ruling function. By definition, a kingdom needs a king in order to exist. However, a kingdom with a well-developed and effective king (the dominant function), who has well-trained and educated advisors (the supporting functions) will thrive more than the kingdom ruled by a domineering or neglectful king who is supported by inexperienced or fearful advisors. Coaches who are familiar with ‘type’ can call attention to this necessity.

Some Watch Outs

In all of this, a word of warning would be that, as a Coach, you need to constantly be aware of your own ‘type’ preferences and how that influences your approach and the perspectives you offer your own Coachees. Your own ‘type’ preference could either facilitate or disrupt the relationship and the effective progress of your engagement.

For example, if you have an SF preference and you are working with a client who has a NTpreference, be aware that you are likely to be more supportive and emotionally tuned in and less inclined to intellectually challenge the client. The client on the other hand would welcome a little more interpersonal distance and would prefer someone who can challenge and confront ideas and approaches. On the other hand, if you have a preference for STJ and you have a client with an SFP preference, your own preference for clarity and closure may influence your approach which may be experienced as very direct, to the point and very uncomfortable for a ‘type’ that first prefers establishing personal relationships and comfort apart from an open ended exploration without prescriptions, before being ready to be challenged by you.

In conclusion, Psychological ‘type’ is a powerful aid in the quest for personal excellence for all of us but it is not the actual solution. It is a model that helps expand our understanding of human nature, helping us and others find, follow or expand our unique paths. 

M.Hariharan, ENFJ

M. Hariharan is a Freelance Organisational Consultant and Executive Coach. He is a guest Faculty for Executive & Business Coaching Foundation India Limited.

Positive Psychology and Coaching

By: Dr. S. Sabesan

Positive psychology and Coaching share the same platform in terms of their objectives. They are not only concerned with the enhancement of performance and wellbeing but also with the facilitation and promotion of optimal human functioning. Since Positive psychology has infused significant interest in the psychology of human strengths, the field of coaching is richly benefited by its contribution. This article offers interesting insights from positive psychology to practicing coaches.

Suffering and well being are both part of the human condition. Human sufferings and sustenance of well being demand scientifically well-informed solutions through therapy and coaching. Though the science of psychology has made great strides in understanding what goes wrong in individuals, families, groups and institutions, these advances have come at the cost of understanding what is right with people.

GAP of Psychology is incomplete:

The Gross Academic Product (GAP) of psychology tends to provide an incomplete picture of human life. Positive psychology endeavors to correct this imbalance by focusing on strengths as well as weaknesses, on building the best things in life as well as repairing the worst.

Defining Positive psychology:

Positive psychology is the study of the conditions and processes that contribute to the flourishing or optimal functioning of people, groups and institutions. Positive psychologists seek "to find and nurture genius and talent," and "to make normal life more fulfilling”. In the similar vein, coaching helps ordinary people become extraordinary and enable them to move to the next orbit of development and excellence by focusing on their unused potential and strengths. Helping coachees to flourish is often a large part of the coach’s goal.

Objectives of Positive psychology:

Positive psychology asserts that human goodness and excellence is just as authentic as distress and disorder and life entails more than the undoing of problems. Its aim is not the denial of the distressing, unpleasant or negative aspects of life, nor is it an effort to see them through rose-colored glasses. It fully acknowledges the existence of human suffering, selfishness, dysfunctional family systems and ineffective institutions. Its aim is to study the other side of the coin - the ways that people feel joy, show altruism and create healthy families and institutions – thereby addressing the full spectrum of human experience.

The task of Positive psychology is to understand the factors that build strengths, outline the contexts of resilience, ascertain the role of positive experiences and delineate the function of positive relationships with others. Therefore, Positive psychology is not a replacement for traditional psychology, but merely is a supplement to the hard-won gains of traditional psychology.

Concerns of Positive psychology:

According to Seligman (2002), Positive psychology has three central concerns:

1. Positive emotions - Understanding positive emotion entails the study of contentment with the past, happiness in the present, and hope for the future
2. Positive individual traits - Understanding positive individual traits consists of the study of the strengths and virtues, such as the capacity for love and work, courage, compassion, resilience, creativity, curiosity, integrity, self-knowledge, moderation, self control, and wisdom.
3. Positive institutions - Understanding positive institutions entails the study of meaning and purpose as well as the strengths that foster better communities, such as justice, responsibility, civility, parenting, nurturance, work ethic, leadership, teamwork, purpose and tolerance.

Positive psychology is not prescriptive

Positive psychology is descriptive and not prescriptive. Positive psychologists do not tell people which choices they should make; rather they merely inform them about what is known about the consequences of their choices. Objective, empirical research on the conditions that lead to different outcomes can help people make more informed choices, but positive psychologists do not take any theoretical stand on the desirability of the different choices. Likewise, executive and business coaches never prescribe any choices that coachees should make during the coaching conversations.

Efficacy of Positive psychology interventions

Positive psychology interventions can both increase happiness and alleviate symptoms of depression (Seligman, Steen, Park & Peterson, 2005). Fredrickson (2001) found that positive emotion can “undo” negative emotion and be the building blocks of resilience that combat physical illness. Strengths function as a buffer against adversity and against psychological disorders and they may be the key to resilience (Masten, 2001).

Positive psychologists have discovered that happiness is not just a destination, but rather a major variable that supports in one’s efforts to stay motivated.

Furthermore, it has identified many methods for increasing the happiness quotient and thereby guides people toward a life that can be fulfilling and meaningful.

Highlights of Positive psychology research findings :

1. Wealth is only weakly related to happiness both within and across nations, particularly when income is above the poverty level (Diener & Diener, 1996).
2. Activities that make people happy in small doses – such as shopping, good food and making money – do not lead to fulfilment in the long term, indicating that these have quickly diminishing returns (Myers, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2000).
3. Engaging in an experience that produces ‘flow’ is so gratifying that people are willing to do it for its own sake, rather than for what they will get out of it. The activity is its own reward. In such an activity, concentration is fully engaged in the moment, self-awareness disappears, and sense of time is distorted (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).
4. People who express gratitude on a regular basis have better physical health, optimism, progress toward goals, well-being, and help others more (Emmons & Crumpler, 2000).
5. Trying to maximize happiness can lead to unhappiness (Schwartz et al., 2002).
6. People who witness others perform good deeds experience an emotion called ‘elevation’ and this motivates them to perform their own good deeds (Haidt, 2000).
7. Optimism can protect people from mental and physical illness (Taylor et al., 2000).
8. People who are optimistic or happy have better performance in work, school and sports, are less depressed, have fewer physical health problems, and have better relationships with other people (Lyubomirsky, King & Diener, 2005).
9. People who report more positive emotions in young adulthood live longer and healthier lives (Danner, Snowdon, & Friesen, 2001).
10. Physicians experiencing positive emotions tend to make more accurate diagnoses (Isen, 1993).

What does positive psychology offer to coaches?

The mission of positive psychology is to develop sound theories of optimal functioning and to find empirically supporting ways to improve the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people. Positive psychology theory and research offers scientific legs upon which the field of coaching can firmly stand, leading to the artful practice of executive coaching.

Several executive and business coaches are employing Martin Seligman’s “Authentic Happiness Coaching Model” with their clients. Positive psychologists have standardized robust assessment tools to study human strengths and virtues. Lopez and Snyder (2003) have compiled a handbook of psychometrically robust assessments for soft phenomena such as hope, optimism and spirituality. Martin Seligman et. al (2005) developed reliable and valid measures of levels of well-being, strengths, approaches to happiness and life satisfaction.

Coaches, who are profited by the insights from positive psychology, believe that developing a person's strengths is more effective, enjoyable and efficient rather than spending inordinate amounts of time trying to correct weaknesses in the clients. Those coaches help coachees identify their signature strengths; utilize them in problem management and opportunity development.

Csikszentmihalyi, (1990) found that using one’s strengths in a challenging task leads to the experience of flow and the engaged life. Coaches help clients use their existing strengths to identify their vision of what they really want and turn it into reality. They shift attention from what causes and drives pain to what energizes and pulls people forward.

Coaches help coachees identify and reconnect with strengths, generate ideas for applying strengths in new ways and select strength of deployment strategy. By focusing on effective deployment of strengths, coaches can help coachees access their natural giftedness and find their most direct routes to enhanced job fulfilment, performance and well-being,

To conclude, there have been enough empirical evidences to show that positive psychology based coaching is found to be very effective with sustainable impact (Seligman, Steen, Park and Peterson, 2005).This type of coaching significantly helps people leverage their strengths and reach their full potential.

References:

1 Csíkszentmihályi, Mihály (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper and Row. ISBN 0-06-092043-2.

2.Deborah D. Danner, David A. Snowdon, and Wallace V. Friesen, Positive Emotions in Early Life and Longevity:Findings from the Nun Study, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2001, Vol. 80, No. 5, 804-813.

3. Diener, E. & Diener, C. (1996). Most people are happy. Psychological Science, 3, 181-85.

4. Emmons, R. A. & Crumpler, C.A. (2000). Gratitude as a human strength: Appraising the evidence, Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, 19, 56-69.

5.Isen, Alice M. (1993), “Positive Affect and Decision Making,” in Handbook of emotion, e d. Michael Luis and Gannett M. Haviland, New York: Guilford.

6 Lopez SJ; Snyder CR. (2003). Positive psychological assessment: a handbook ofmodels and measures. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

7.Lyubomirsky, S., King, L.A. & Diener, E. (2005). The benefits of frequent positive affect: Does happiness lead to success. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 803-855.

8.Masten, A. (2001). Ordinary magic: resilience processes in development. American Psychologist, 56, 227-238.

9. Myers, D.G. (2000). The funds, friends, and faith of happy people, American Psychologist, 55, 56-67.

10. Peterson, C., Park, N., & Seligman, M.E.P. (2005). Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction: The full life versus the empty life, Journal of Happiness Studies, 6(1), 25 – 41.

11. Ryan, R. M. & Deci, E.L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being American Psychologist, 55, 68-78.

12.Seligman, M.E.P., Steen, T.A., Park, N. & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology

progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60, 410-421.

13. Seligman, M.E.P. (2002). Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment. New York: Free Press/Simon and Schuster.

14. Seligman, M.E.P. & Pawelski, J.O. (2003). Positive Psychology: FAQs. Psychological Inquiry. 14, 159-163.

15. Schwartz, B., Ward, A., Monterosso, J., Lyubomirsky, S., White, K., & Lehman, D.R., Maximizing versus satisfying: Happiness is a matter of choice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, Nov 2002, 1178-1197.

16. Taylor, S.E., Kemeny, M.E., Reed, G.M., Bower, J.E. & Gruenwald, T.L. (2000). Psychological resources, positive illusions, and health. American Psychologist, 55, 99- 109.

Psychological Literacy for Coaches

By: Dr. S. Sabesan

Executive Coaches are almost always expected to help their clients achieve a certain level of sustainable behavioural change in their Organisational roles and contexts. At the same time, sponsors and clients also want their Coaches to bring to the table a strong systems perspective – the benefit of having been there and done that.

What this really means is that while Executive Coaches may have a strong Business or Executive background and good Coaching skills and may bring a strong systems perspective, they may still have huge challenges in dealing with the personal-psychological issues of their clients that lie around and below the iceberg. They may also have difficulties in accurately describing or labelling their clients behaviours or emotions.

Likewise, managers at the workplace who are expected to be Coaching-oriented in their style of leadership may also grapple with difficulties in understanding the psychological underpinnings of their employees’ behaviour. They also appear to experience difficulties in succinctly capturing and describing the emotions and behaviours of their employees using the right family of terms or may have difficulty in understanding basic psychological processes and behaviours to aid their Coaching relationship with their team members.

In both cases, it would help if the Coaches have a working knowledge of the basic concepts of psychology or are familiar with the basic language of human behaviour. This is what we call Psychological Literacy - one of the frequently overlooked dimensions of Coaching effectiveness.

Being psychologically minded or literate is very central to CFI’s Coaching Model and to that end we spend a lot of time and effort to impart this to our prospective CEO Coaches, Leadership Development Coaches as well as our certified Coaches. In this article, I aim to explain the various facets of this Psychological Literacy.  

What does Psychological Literacy mean?

Psychological Literacy is an umbrella term used to denote a person's capacity to succinctly describe one’s own and others’ behaviour. It is rooted in an individual's curiosity about how and why people behave in a particular manner. It is also about our ability to see the past in the person’s present and make links between current issues and what has happened earlier. In essence, it is all about exploring, understanding and fluently articulating the underlying causes and meanings of one’s own as well as others' thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

How does Psychological Literacy help to understand oneself and others?

A key to maintaining the momentum of a Coaching relationship lies in the Coach’s ability to get in touch with the client’s core issues – the story behind the story. This is where a certain level of psychological literacy can help, as most of the complex Coaching issues tend to have both covert and overt psychological dimensions. Coaches who are psychologically literate recognise the patterns in their own and in their Coachee’s behaviour. Psychological Literacy not only helps them suspend judgment about their Coachee’s thoughts, feelings and behaviour but also enables them to have increased clarity in understanding the conscious and unconscious motivation that drives the behaviour of their Coachees.

What are the overarching dimensions of Psychological Literacy?

Executive Coaches, by and large, work with psychologically healthy Executives. The issues of such Executives are more to do with widening their behavioural repertoire, managing their emotional responses, developing their emotional intelligence, getting closure around unfinished issues, cultivating Executive presence and exploring what they really want from the rest of their personal and professional lives. To address these issues, Coaches need to gain proficiency in Psychological Literacy in terms of having a working knowledge and understanding of important concepts in the field of psychology. Let us now examine some of the essential elements of this Psychological Literacy.

Coaches must fully understand and appreciate the true meaning of self-awareness. They must appreciate that self-awareness is all about the conscious use of our human senses to notice and connect with what is happening in ourselves and others. They must recognise that it includes recognition of our personality, strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes. They must know that developing self-awareness can help us to realise when we are stressed or under pressure.

Coaches who understand the meaning of self-awareness will promote a greater understanding among their Coachees by asking them questions such as “What are you aware of right now ?”, “What are you thinking ?” , “What do you notice in yourself ?”, “ What do you want?” ,  “How might you get that?” and “What’s happening now?" All these questions are likely to generate more direct contact with immediate thoughts, feelings and needs in the Coachee.

Coaches also need to have an adequate knowledge about what self–concept is. They must know that self-concept refers to the organised set of characteristics that the individual perceives as peculiar to himself and that it is all about what one thinks about oneself and that this can be positive or negative. Such Coaches can detect whether their Coachee has a positive or negative self - concept during the Coaching conversations.

Coaches must also understand the meaning of self-esteem / self-regard. It refers to a person’s overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth and it encompasses beliefs ("I am competent" or "I am incompetent"), emotions (triumph, despair, pride or shame) and behaviours (assertiveness, shyness, confidence or caution). Ultimately, Coaches envision, enable, embolden and empower Coachees to have strong self - esteem through their powerful Coaching conversations.

Coaches need to understand the meaning of self-monitoring, which is to regulate one’s own behaviour based on the cues that he/she receives from others through verbal and non-verbal communication. Through this, Coaches can help Coachees develop the capacity of self – monitoring in the course of their personal and professional lives.

Coaches must understand another dimension which is self-efficacy. It is the belief that one has the capability to execute the course of action required to manage prospective situations. They must know that it is a sense of a person’s competence within a specific framework and it is based on one’s personal past experiences of mastery. The ultimate aim of the Coach is to develop self - efficacy in Coachees.

Self-motivation is the next dimension of Psychological Literacy and is described as the ability to motivate oneself, to find a reason and the necessary strength to do something, without the need of being influenced to do so by another person. The Coach strives to promote self - motivation in Coachees so that the Coachee can become a self Coach rather than Coach dependent.

Psychologically literate Coaches need to have a conceptual appreciation of one or more schools of psychology like Person-centered, Rational Emotive Behavioral approach, Gestalt and Positive Psychology. They also need to understand the connection between thinking, feeling and behaviour. Coaches must  be familiar with a broad range of  assessment tools and they must be trained to deliver at least one psychometric tool or 360 degree feedback.

Psychologically literate Coaches create an environment in which their clients can explore issues and get fresh perspectives and experiment with new modes of thinking and behaviour. They also play a proactive role in helping the Coachee understand and manage his/her emotions more effectively. They are mindful about the boundary  between Coaching and therapeutic issues and thereby make appropriate recommendations to the Coachee for availing referral services, if the issues fall within the realm of therapy or counselling.

Closing Thoughts

Executive and Business Coaches as well as managers undoubtedly require a considerable level of Psychological Literacy to help their Coachees realise their true potential. Of late, there is a growing awareness and acceptance that Psychological Literacy is one of the critical competencies that distinguish an effective Coach from an ineffective Coach.

CFI is pioneering the effort of spreading awareness on the importance of Psychological Literacy so that Coaches will be both cognitively and emotionally tuned into themselves and their Coachees. This connect will significantly promote rapport and trust resulting in the desired Coaching outcomes.

Needless to say, Psychological Literacy is equally critical as being emotionally and socially intelligent, which as you may know warrants a completely different discussion!

Dr. S. Sabesan is Director, Programs and Research at Executive and Business Coaching Foundation India Limited.

Coaching Readiness Model

Enabling factors that support Coaching readiness

There are at least four factors that enable Coaching readiness.

1. Executive Motivation

The most important enabling factor for readiness is the Executive’s motivation to change, improve and go to the next level.

The Meta study of Assay, Lambert et.al (1999) examining the factors contributing to success in therapy, attributed 40% of the success to client factors. In other words, this epoch making research suggests that it is clients themselves and the circumstances of their life situation, which account for the most important element of the change process. This includes the client’s own inner strengths and external supportive elements in their environment, including friendships and family support,
membership of a close networking group, religious affiliations, hobbies and leisure activities. The inner factors like self belief, the ability to identify a focused issue or goal, persistence and sense of personal responsibility to work towards it, are also key ingredients that account for the Coachee’s motivation and successful Coaching outcomes.

2. Emotional Intelligence

Coachees should have at least a basic level of emotional intelligence. This gives them the necessary self awareness, the ability to understand others, the ability to
engage in social interactions and control and moderate their emotions. While we do not expect mastery, its absence should not derail the process. For example, if
certain individuals have blind spots that are impermeable, any amount of assessment and feedback can be ineffective and the Coach may not be able to make any progress.

3. Managerial Support

Coachees do not operate in a vacuum. They spend most of their working time with their managers whose support, guidance and endorsement and alignment is key for success. For the CEO, this could be the Board, for a CXO, it could be the CEO.

If the Coachee and his or her manager are aligned on all substantive issues and also enjoy a good interpersonal relationship, the Coachee’s ability to reenter the
workplace and attempt new behaviours and succeed will be very high. Even if there are minor differences, Coaches can help and empower Coachees to take the initiative to resolve these differences.

4. Challenging Work

Coaches help Coachees develop new perspectives, belief systems, skills and behaviours. However, all this has to be finally put to use at the workplace. For this, they must have work that challenges them and stretches them and helps them test these new found abilities. When their work itself is challenging and they have the benefit of a Coach who helps them develop new abilities, the combined effect can be transformational.

Inhibiting factors that impair Coaching readiness

There are at least three factors that inhibit Coaching readiness.

1. Performance Issues

If a Coachee has serious issues with his current performance, Coaching may not be the right solution to help him. There might be need to explore the causes and come up with suitable improvement plans. Coaching certainly cannot be an intervention arising out of a performance improvement plan.

Here it is important to differentiate between individuals who have performance problems and those who desire to enhance their performance. Coaching can certainly
help the latter but not the former.

2. Career Derailment

If an executive is facing career derailment - a condition where his career has literally gone off track, where he is no longer progressing as well as he was, where he is even facing the possibility of slowing down, being ignored and ultimately asked to go elsewhere, is he suitable for Coaching?

Coaching can be an extremely effective solution for executives who are facing potential derailment. However, it depends on how quickly this has been identified and addressed. The truth is that like debilitating diseases, career derailment is hard to spot in the early days but easy to correct. It is however easier to spot much later but harder to correct.

So, depending on when it has been identified, Coaching can or cannot work. The effectiveness of Coaching also depends on the presence of enabling factors and the
absence of inhibiting factors.

3. Psychopathological Problems

Coaching will be an inappropriate intervention, when an employee suffers from psychopathological problems such as anxiety, depression, addiction, schizophrenia and personality disorders. Such individuals may require therapy and even clinical intervention which are well outside the realms of Coaching.

There is a huge danger and professional risk associated with individuals who are referred to Coaching. Sponsors need to be mindful of such conditions among potential Coachees (though this is likely to be quite rare) and refrain from recommending them for Coaching. Instead they could be referred to seek therapeutic help (please read Dr. B. J. Prashantham's article on this subject in this issue.)

A case for good judgment

It must be re-emphasised that arriving at Coaching readiness is not a mathematical process. There is no magic formula here. In our experience, even when Coachees have a few inhibiting factors along with some enabling factors, they do benefit from Coaching engagement.

Arriving at a sound judgment about the balance between these factors is therefore a key task for sponsors. If they make the right decision, they will help the Coachee,
the Coach and themselves! However the indiscriminate use of Coaching will do all concerned a huge disservice!

Executive coach training india

Discovering CFI’s greatness
The CFI Team

Founded in May 2006, CFI has been attempting to build an integrated education, certification and consulting institution for Executive Coaching. Given the nascent stage of the coaching profession and our own status as pioneers, our journey has been filled with discovery, learning and change. Four years down the road, we feel it is important to pause and look back at the journey we have made, the successes we have experienced and then look forward to the future that lies ahead.

To this end, a core team at CFI has engaged in lively conversations with over 50 members and associates of CFI. These conversations helped us discover our greatness, distinctiveness and also the high expectations that our members have of us. We are pleased to share with you the essence of this discovery process.

What attracted people to CFI Organizational leadership coaches

Diversity and depth are two recurring themes that emerged when we asked people ‘Why CFI?’ Most of the people we spoke to acknowledged the fact that the founders of CFI, the Governing Board as well as its honorary fellows collectively represented great diversity in terms of their backgrounds and therefore, were able to bring a holistic perspective to coaching with a combination of business capabilities, HR capabilities, and human psychology capabilities, Job HR Initiatives, Leadership coaching articles. The founding team was able to build the institution holistically. Similarly, the depth of the know - how and competence in the institution were also considered as a source of credibility.

The value that CFI has delivered

For most respondents, their association with CFI is through the CEOCAP - an eight month rigorous accreditation program to create CEO Coaches. All respondents were unanimous in their view that this was a very premium program and compared with the very best in the world. The program was considered premium for several reasons, foremost being the rigour of the program. CFI’s care in admitting the right people in to the program and insistence on ensuring strict adherence to the accreditation requirements was greatly appreciated. CFI’s strong focus on skills and emphasis on being psychologically minded also made the program premium. Most importantly, the high touch approach adopted by CFI in terms of classroom inputs, face-to-face guide interactions, peer support, conference calls and the VIVA gave participants the comfort of being able to reach out to get expert help in their journey to becoming coaches. Most importantly, respondents found CFI easy to do business with because it was open, transparent and flexible. CFI’s decision to build institutions as a community has helped its members stay connected. Its maiden effort of opening a chapter in Bangalore was greatly welcomed. Members expect chapters to be opened in other cities very soon.

The future of coaching

Many of the respondents who had participated in our CEOCAP saw coaching as a very integral part of their professional service offering. In that sense, coaching was very important and dear to them. All respondents were convinced that coaching would play a very central role in developing leaders in India.

Expectations from CFI

The expectations from CFI were many – for one, respondents wanted CFI to play an active role in establishing and upholding professional standards. They also wanted CFI to focus on developing IP that is India centric. Needless to say, they expected CFI to become a lot more visible across the country and through that, enhance the opportunities for its members to make meaningful contributions to their clients through high quality coaching engagements.

These conversations have helped us discover our greatness and also become mindful about the huge agenda ahead of us.

Coaching and Mentoring Skills

Make haste slowly! Cross-cultural perspectives for reflection
Dr. B. J. Prashantham

Story of the Monkey & a Fish

A monkey and a fish were caught in a terrible flood and were being swept downstream amidst torrents of water and debris. The monkey spied a branch from an overhanging tree and pulled himself to safety from the swirling water. Then, wanting to help his friend the fish, he reached into the water and pulled the fish from the water onto the branch. The moral of the story is clear: ' Good intentions are not enough. If you wish to help the fish, you must understand its nature'. Ancient Chinese Fable.

Freidman’s flat world concept is a reality. ‘India’s global power houses’ co- authored by our own Pradipto with Nirmalya and Suj raise the importance of cross-cultural perspectives for economic growth and success mediated through leaders with a global mindset. On a marketing plane, Kraft foods began its success only after learning and adapting to the reality that the Chinese do not like Oreo biscuits to be made sweet and the Indonesians want them sweeter! So, we have three types of Oreo biscuits for three countries and Kraft foods is finally blossoming as a global company with this simple understanding of their global customers. Prahlad has time and again alluded to the opportunities for creative business models for wider application when leaders move with a learning mind and heart beyond their borders. I invite the readers to reflect on the implications of the following ideas, which I found very useful in my cross-cultural training activities including during the last two months of training work with global company heads and leaders in Seattle.

Cultural Types

Terrence Brake has given us this useful framework to look at various dimensions of managing globally. We must remember that these types are not water tight compartments. A country like India can have features of more than one type.

Key Features

Autonomy - Individuality & Independence

Consensus - Driven by need for harmony. Alienation from the group can be traumatic

Status - Honor, respect for individuals and groups very important. Identity of individuals connected to a group like family, class, clan etc. Loyalty to strong leaders essential.

Applying cross cultural models

Seminars with leaders from global and Indian Organisations, I use the insights from the work done by people like Terrence Brake (shared above), Hofstede, Triandis and Tramponar to develop deeper appreciation about cross cultural differences. Non Indians in my workshop become more conscious of the relative importance of trust building over decision making. They also realise the hierarchical nature of our culture and the longer time it takes to get things done initially. This helps them to work with Indians far more effectively.

Similarly, it helps Indian leaders to learn to become more assertive and more explicit in their communication and also lot more structural in the way they manage time. With this heightened appreciation of one another’s culture, global leaders are able to transact business far more effectively.

Business Coaching Ethics

Executive Coaching
(Ganesh Chella)

The Coach is listening intently to his client as he narrates in great detail the specifics of the problem he is facing at work. The Coach is deeply attuned to his emotions, his experiences, his intentions and his state of being. The empathy is complete. However, the Coach begins to go beyond empathy because he “has been there and done that”. In his mind, he is very clear about what his client needs to do to solve this particular problem. While his training as a Coach has led him to believe that giving advice is strictly forbidden, his training as an executive is leading him to believe that it is a sin not to tell the client what he should do to solve his problem and allow him to struggle with it.

In all my conversations with the coaches we train, and the existing coaches with whom we engage in a supervisory relationship, the subject of giving advice always
comes up. Many wonder if this self imposed restriction on giving advice is a western idea and even suggest that in India, our culture strongly encourages people to pass on their wisdom to others, especially because the recipient is more than willing to receive it. They also argue that they have been chosen by their clients for their credentials and wisdom and it would be unfair not to share it with them merely because they have to adhere to some norm about advice which seems hard to accept.

In this article, I would like to share some of my perspectives about the place of advice in an Executive Coaching relationship. I would like to look at this from two perspectives – the context and the timing.

The context of advice

Advice is a form of challenge, support and encouragement and has its legitimate place in a coaching relationship. Also, in many helping relationships the helper is not merely a coach but also a manager, a consultant, a skilled expert, an advisor and so on. In other words, in settings outside of pure executive coaching relationships, the subject of giving advice assumes real significance.

In his classic, “Essential of Skilled Helper” which is CFI’s prescribed reading for its Coaches, Gerard Egan has identified information sharing as one of the challenging skills for coaches.

Gerard Egan clarifies that sometimes clients are unable to explore the problem fully, set goals, and proceed to act because they lack information of one kind or other. For example, when clients tell their stories it might help them to know that they are not the first to have a problem of that kind. Similarly, when clients are examining what they actually require, sharing relevant information of a factual nature would help them clarify the possibilities and set clear goals. Similarly, at the stage of action planning, information sharing could help clients become aware of the typical bottlenecks that they might face.

Gerard Egan sees information sharing as a challenging process because it shows clients new perspectives and is meant to push them to act.

Gerard Egan looks at information sharing as both giving correct information and correcting wrong information. He also sees information sharing as a source of confirmation and support for the clients.

Gerard Egan, however, draws a clear distinction between information and advice. He sees information as professional guidance and advice as “telling clients what to do”.

Therefore, my view is that it will be useful to stay within the realm of information sharing or professional guidance and refrain from using the term ‘advice’ which tends to focus on telling people what to do.

The timing of advice

Having understood the real meaning of advice which we will now begin to call “guidance”, we can now turn our attention to understanding when such guidance should be delivered. It is my experience that many of our clients’ problems and unused opportunities arise out of their inability to see their situation completely or accurately or see it through a whole series of mistaken beliefs and assumptions. People tend to think in one manner and continue to do so as they are not aware of the implications of this manner of thinking and its impact on their effectiveness. In this context, you must now start examining the role of guidance in helping clients and when such guidance should be delivered.

When a person is yet to recognise and confront some of his mistaken ways of thinking, it is not likely that he will accept guidance to act differently. For example, if an employee has been failing in his job because of a mistaken way of thinking about customers, peers, team members and his manager chooses to advice him on what he

should do, he certainly is not going to change because at that moment, he is still seeing the problem as caused by others and not by his mistaken ways of thinking.

This is where guidance/advice when timed badly, can either be of no use or even destroy the helping relationship over a period of time.

In this context, it would be useful to pay attention to Gerard Egan’s three stage skilled helper model.

In Stage I, when the coach is helping his client tell his story and tell it completely and then beginning to challenge him, so that he gets new perspectives, his entire focus is on understanding and challenging. There is very little place for advice at this stage except where information is used as a means of challenge. If the coach has succeeded in helping his client in challenging himself in helping him see new perspectives, the client may come around at examining what change will give him leverage. At this stage, the client begins to look at defining the change agenda and making commitments and taking actions.

Having crossed this stage, the client is looking for strategies to implement the change agenda. This is the stage at which appropriate professional guidance by way of a range of ideas and solutions can be useful. Even here, the emphasis is on generating ideas, sharing information and correcting misinformation. The focus is not telling the client what he should do.

In summary, guidance of any kind is most effective after clients have challenged their ways of thinking and not before that. We all recognise that we live in a world of information overload. The average executive has significant access to every source of information and insight. He also has access to several sources of self help. Yet, we all know that none of these translate into new behaviours.

Therefore, the real benefit that a coach can bring to his client is through his ability to help him challenge himself rather than jump to give him advice on what he should do. Of course, well informed professional guidance delivered at the right time is always useful.

Ganesh Chella is Co-founder and Member Governing Board, Executive & Business Coaching Foundation India Limited and Founder & CEO, totus consulting.