Getting in to the imagination of the scenery from top of mountain looking over the new horizons. It will be quite different from the very limited view on the way of walking forest struggling, tired and exhausted. It brings absolutely comfortable feeling, brilliant and wide view, and possibly new ideas or awareness. Meta-View is one of coaching skills that can utilize that kind of changes of viewpoints.
When the coachee is in the situation like falling in to the hole and is not able to see anything around him, Meta-View is helpful to change his depressed viewpoint to larger and higher one.
Using Meta-View by coach, same as discovering the new horizons from top of mountain, the coachee can look down the whole life, long and winding business career, corporate global strategy or total timeline of the project.
And it is also effective for coach or leader himself to be the top of mountain, then watching carefully the coachee or member’s facing situation from there. The coach or leader should support him finding out the easiest and the best route to his original goals together.
Especially in the business conversations, Meta-View is quite helpful in the situation like the member has been sticking to the detail problems or objections in the trivial places, to remind him the original goals, priorities and contexts. The leader’s questions of Meta-View will get him the wider viewpoints, release from getting stuck then support his own steady execution powerfully.
Tag: #Leadership
Powerful Acknowledging
The coaching skill of acknowledging strengthens the coachee’s foundation, and it should be utilized in the business conversations, like leader’s recognition to his member. This skill should be focused on the whole personality of the member, not on the activities or achievements. For example: “Good job, Hiro.” or “Your presentation was quite impressive.” They are focused on the achievements or activities. Using acknowledging, leader should be focused on the inner personality or values of the member, like “You look absolutely sincere.”, “You always respect higher challenge.”
The acknowledging will evoke the member’s confidence for himself and will encourage him challenging to the difficult situation. Sometimes the member discovers his unconscious strength by the acknowledging, and it could be contributed to dig out the member’s enormous inner resources and possibilities.
In addition to the powerful acknowledging to the member, leader should focus on the member’s impact and reaction. The effective and powerful impact of the acknowledging delivers to the member, that the leader can hear, sense and see them and it could be the great hints coaching and leading him to the absolutely better performance.
Metaphor Practice
The communication style in Japan, is typically high context and indirect. It means the Japanese people take care of relationship and harmony, so they often do not use straight and direct words. Although the Metaphor is a quite effective skill generally, it’s very powerful in these situations especially.
The metaphor is a kind of the visual and real expression of the situations or experiences, not the description nor explanation by some words. Then, it’s rather effective sharing the real feeling or image of the experiences. Although the metaphor is quite useful and powerful skill, it should be trained in the usual conversations intentionally. Learning the impressive and easy understanding metaphor, practicing to get the words out again and again, creating their own metaphors of something like “chaotic work environment”, “brilliant success”, “disappointment” and so forth. And it is also quite important that if the metaphor does not hit to the coachee or the member, the coach or leader should not stick on to his own metaphor any more, and he has to try something else.
Big Impact of Articulating
The articulating is one of the powerful coaching skills that can utilize in the business conversations. This coaching skill is also called longer name “Articulating what’s going on.” During the careful listening focusing on the whole person, may be one of the team members, the leader sometimes feels a kind of sense of awareness or something like intuition. The articulation is the ability putting the word simply or speaking out that feeling frankly. Sometimes telling him what is going on at that time or frank look of him. The important things are he often can’t see himself or an expression on his face. Or perhaps he can see details but not the whole picture.
With the articulation, the leader should share the observations frankly and clearly but without any judgement. The leader sometimes needs to tell him a kind of hard truth in order that the member find out the best and realistic solution or selection.
The effective articulating power is that the member can aware the unconscious feelings or facts, then he will not aware that by himself eventually without that articulation. Utilizing the big power of articulation, the leader has responsibility to articulate what he sees, but at the same time, as with all of coaching skills, not feel attached to being right about it. The articulating to boldly say what the leader sees without needing to be right, it could be empowered the member and could be pulled out his unconscious possibility. That’s why the articulating is powerful.
Career Selection with Coaching
A career selection is one of the most critical subjects not only for the organizations but also for the individuals. In the general business field most of leaders and managers have a kind of career interview or individual development planning conversations. However, how much individuals are satisfied with their careers or development plans? Did each team member get it? Some of leaders may have explained only the organizational situations or circumstances.
In the discussion of their career planning or personal development, the coaching method is a quite powerful tool, and is also effective way for deepening the collaborative relationship between leader and team member. The leader’s most critical attitude is believing the member’s capabilities and possibilities, like NCRW; People are Naturally Creative Resourceful and Whole. Then the leader should focus on the whole person of the member, not on the daily business issues. The leader had better give his gentle and supportive look to the member’s happy whole life, not only for the business. Thinking about the frank feeling about his career connecting with his happy whole life, he can choose his coming career near future as his own resonant selection. If he believes that his selection with resonance making with his own intentions and convinced life purpose, he must move forward his daily business and life, with steadiness and fulfilment.
To keep the team member’s motivation higher is one of the critical essences for the leadership. And that’s why the resonant career conversations through coaching method is the most essential hint presenting the leader’s deep feelings to his members.
Intuition
Intuition is one of the most essential but characteristic resources in Co-Active way. And it is also utilized in the business decision making same as co-active coaching or conversations, especially it could be striking in the senior executives or leaders.
Then, let’s think about what is intuition here. Maybe we’ve had the experiences like this: In the first walking trek trail, when someone comes to two paths branch without sign, instinctively turn to the right, trusting his sense of direction. Or this may have happened: In the book shop, taking a book casually from the bookshelf, then meet with the article by chance that have been looked for long time. He doesn’t have any idea, it’s a kind of unexpected encounter. We might call it a gut feeling.
Gut feelings also happen in the business. Imagine the scenario like this: He has an important position to fill, and has three candidates. On paper, one candidate stands out for the job experiences and skills, but it just doesn’t feel right to him. His instinct tells him the right choice is the third candidate he interviewed. He actually has strong feeling he trust, but it also means he will need to have a convincing rationale for his instinct. How will he justify his gut feeling to HR and his boss?
They are typical cases with intuition: in the moment it feels more reliable than the data, the analysis, and all the usual pros and cons. It comes as an impulse that is often ignored or discredited because it’s not logical and therefore not viewed as credible. Nevertheless, intuition can be critically valuable as a powerful, additional channel for information, which is why it is defined as one of five contexts in the Co-Active Model. When that channel is available and open, intuition has the potential accelerating a process and deepen the conversations in ways that are sometimes surprising. So, we can simply add this additional and powerful option with a shortcut possibly to our usual analysis, evaluation and a structured process for addressing an issue.
Although we have words to define intuition, the actual experience is sometimes hard to explain. We usually don’t understand the real source of intuition, and many people face the difficulty of verifying that is real. Sometimes there’s no observable evidence for the conclusion, additionally in some cases, the conclusions from their intuition could be actually contrary to observable evidence.
Someone who thinks that it’s difficult to believe intuition, he frequently treats as guessing or being lucky. He doesn’t understand, trust or believe in intuition. And these kind of people like logical thinking and mind as a common process of critical decision making.
In addition to them, intuition is recognized too weird or unprofessional, so people are sometimes shy about admitting they have used their intuition. They also refrain from using intuition actively. It looks like quite wasting of powerful and effective resource or channel of information.
Both a rational mind and an intuitive gut feeling are quite important for the business as well as daily choices in the life. Neither information source is the right or wrong. They provide information from different source. Therefore, we should utilize both of them situationally with the most creative and effective combination in both business and life generally.
When people find out the most appropriate answer to the question, he can access to some different sources; memory, logical mind, history and intuition. Besides, intuition always forwards the action and deepens learning in spite of right or wrong.
Coaching Space
Building up the collaborative relationship between leader, manager and member, subordinate, the mood of the conversational space is critically important for them. In co-active coaching, coaching space has to be two critical characteristics as an effective coaching environment. One is safe enough for coachee to take risks they need to take. And the another one is a courageous place where coachees are able to approach their lives and the choice they make with motivation, creativity and commitment. And additionally, safe does not mean comfortable. Sometimes they need straight and severe conversations to find out the way that coachee really desiring.
To make the safe and courageous space for the positive and constructive conversations, the several characteristics are essential for them. One is confidentiality. Confidentiality means that the coach must not disclose any information he has known in the coaching conversations at all without coachee’s agreement. Especially the conversation in the business organization or team, this is critically important for the safe feeling to address real, frank but exciting subjects, sometime including quite personal factors. Second one is trust. An agreement to hold the coaching conversation confidential is one key component in building trust. Trust is also built over time as both coachee and coach learn they can be counted on and the coachee learns that the relationship delivers clear result. Third one is speaking the truth. Building up the real environment where the coachee can tell the whole truth about what they have done, and not done, the coaching space should be without evaluation and judgement. Because the truth carries no consequence other than learning, discovery and new insight to them. Then, fourth one is openness and spaciousness. This is a space where coachees can breathe, experiment, fantasize and strategize without imitation. It is also a place which they can vent their anger, troubles, spite, fear and regrets.
Based on these elements of the relationship between coach and coachee, it is quite important for them intentionally and consciously design their working relationship. In addition to this, they need redesign their relationship continuously, when their relationship is going to need any new elements for their deeper and more credible one.
For leaders, managers and supervisors, the “design” of the working relationship will not be structured, but the essence of the coaching space above is quite referential. It is certainly not doing coaching on team members or direct reports. The context for coaching in an informal organization or leadership situation is a commitment to support and development. This commitment to personal development is the essence of the business case for coaching as a leadership and management competency.
Coaching in the Business
Taking the Co-Active like collaborative communication in to the business, coaching method may be one of the simple first step. Although the co-active coaching model has a lot of components and tools totally, several parts can utilize in the real business situation as easy and practical implementation. Shifting from the traditional top to down business protocol to the collaborative one, starting to believe the capabilities of the member is essential. Empowering the member means to believe the member’s potential capabilities, then to find them out creatively and effectively. So, the coaching method can utilize as powerful, helpful hints and tips.
In the coaching type relationship, the being of the coach or leader has to be quite important. They must be present: respect, openness, compassion, empathy, and a sincere commitment to speaking the truth. They assume strength and capability, not weakness, helplessness, or dependence. They assume a deep desire to give the best and pursue potential. The most critical belief for the coach or leader is that every situation has possibilities and that people really do have the power of choice. It shifts the conversation from simply analyzing and problem solving to working together more effectively and learning to be more resourceful so that future issues are actually easier to address because the relationship is resilient and creative.
Co-Active way in the Business
In the unprecedented paradigm shift, leadership or management style had to be changed from legacy top to down to a new cooperation with the partnership.
Co-Active is a kind of coined word developed and promoted by CTI: Co-Active Training Institute in US, as a coaching method over the 20 years. In the long and global implementation of the model, Co-Active has been not only for coaching method, but also has been utilized as a co-active based conversations, relationship, leadership or partnership. They all look through the lens of the co-active way. Then the co-active way is a way of effectively empowering people to find their own answers, encouraging and supporting them on the path as they continue to make important choices collaboratively.
Let’s imagine the typical example in the mission-critical project situation. The team leader has many ways to have the conversation. One way is a kind of the traditional one. Asking for a report, analyze the situation, and then provide work direction. Then here’s a different way, a way that is more co-active, collaborative. For the team leader it involves empowering the team member who may be much closer to the actual issues, possibly brainstorming alternative action steps and agreeing on a course of action. In this way the nature of relationship shifts, the context for the conversation is more inclusive and more empowering. It is a kind of invitation to see there is a choice and each has a different impact. There is a wider range of leadership responses available. In this fast-paced world of work, the pressure is on to create more engaged, more proactive, and more empowered members. Waiting for a higher authority or escalating decision making impedes teams that need the agility to respond to chaotic and complex situation. Creating and supporting a co-active way of working together delivers on the imperative and creates a culture of resilience and resourcefulness.
Empowered Leadership
In the traditional pyramided organization, the typical leadership used to be depended to the top to down oriented one-way communication, like a legacy leadership. It could be very fast and strict control for the simple business execution.
However, the business environment has been drastically changed. The business requires the faster, flatten, borderless and flexible operations based on the extraordinary evolved IT and Network environment. In addition to this, the critical success factor of the business also has been dramatically changing in the continuous paradigm shift. Then the leadership style has to be changed boldly and adaptively as well as the way of communications in the organization and the virtual team in the various networks. Moreover, in the diversified team, the leadership style with the tolerant communication has to be critically related with the team performance.
The empowerment of the leader can reveal the talent more of each member, can be respected each other, then maximize the creativity and the synergy of the diversified values. In the empowered team, there’s no control, no restriction, no precedent, no formula. There’s free, flexible, creative and future oriented energy and harmony. The essential role of the leader there, is just orchestrate the team same as a conductor in the orchestra.
Jun-Spade 