Psychology 1508:Leadership Coaching

“We must continually remind ourselves that our lives and our partners’ and followers’ lives are not problems to be solved. They are callings to be answered, mysteries to be lived.”

Richard Leider, Leader to Leader

Why Coaching in 1508?• Cultivating leadership skills

– as coachee– as coach

• The importance of peer coaching

Coaching

The Coaching ModelThe Coaching Model

Unconditional

Acceptance

(Carl Rogers)

Appreciative Inquiry

(David Cooperrider)

Leadership Development

Daily Life

Relationships

Parenting

Personal Development

Unconditional Acceptance

“I find that the more acceptance and liking I feel toward this individual, the more I will be creating a relationship which he can use. By acceptance I mean a warm regard for him as a person of unconditional self-worth—of value no matter what his condition, his behavior, or his feelings. It means a respect and liking for him as a separate person, a willingness for him to possess his own feelings in his own way. It means an acceptance of and regard for his attitudes of the moment, no matter how negative or positive, no matter how much they may contradict other attitudes he has held in the past. This acceptance of each fluctuating aspect of this other person makes it for him a relationship of warmth and safety, and the safety of being liked and prized as a person seems a highly important element in a helping relationship.”

Carl Rogers

Being a Beautiful Enemy

• Affective versus Cognitive conflict (Amason et al. 1995)

• Person versus Behavior“When you must reprimand your child, do so in a loving manner. Don’t ever try to degrade or humiliate him. His ego is a precious thing worth preserving. Try saying:I love you very much but I will not have the kind of behavior.Do you know why I won’t tolerate that? Simply because you are too bright to behave that way.”

Being a Beautiful Enemy• Affective versus Cognitive conflict (Amason et al. 1995)• Person versus Behavior

– Leads to acceptance of feedback (feedforward)– Behaviors are knowable– Behaviors are measurable and quantifiable

Appreciative Inquiry

Incr

ease

d R

eten

tion

Increased Profits

Employee Satisfaction

Enhanced C

reativity

Customer Satisfaction

Impr

oved

Effi

cien

cy

Ap-pre’ci-ate v., 1. Valuing; the act of recognizing the best in people or the world around us, affirming past and present strengths and potentials; to perceive those things that give life (health, vitality, excellence) to living systems. 2. To increase in value, e.g., the economy has appreciated in value.

In-quire’, v., 1. The act of exploration and discovery. 2. To ask questions; to be open to seeing new potentials and possibilities.

Defining AI

“Appreciative Inquiry is the cooperative, coevolutionary search for the best in people, their organizations, and the world around them. It involves systematic discovery of what gives life to an organization or a community when it is most effective and most capable in economic, ecological, and human terms.”

David Cooperrider & Diana Whitney

“Traditional approaches to problem solving are, by definition, a way of seeing the world as a glass half empty. The Appreciative Inquiry is an alternative process to bring about organizational change by looking at the glass as half full. Essentially, Appreciative Inquiry varies from other approaches to organizational change in that it builds on what works well.”

Gail Johnson & William Leavitt

Creating a Growth Spiral

• Grounded positivity

“One aspect differentiating Appreciative Inquiry from other visioning and planning methodologies is that images of the future emerge out of grounded examples from an organization’s positive past.”

Cooperrider & Whitney

“Because the statements are grounded in real experience and history, people know how to repeat their success.”

Sue Annis Hammond

Basic Assumptions of AI

• Assumption # 1In every society, organization, or group, something works.

“At its broadest level, AI is about discovering value in people, places, and things. It is about discovering the positive core.... A fundamental concept related to AI is that every person, place, and thing has something of value, some worth, some untapped opportunity; one simply has to inquire into it.”

Stavros & Torres

Basic Assumptions of AI

• Assumption # 2What we focus on becomes our reality.

“By paying attention to problems, we emphasize and amplify them.”

Sue Annis Hammond

• The problem with problem solving

Basic Assumptions of AI

• Assumption # 3Questions influence reality.

“Inquiry and change are not separate moments, but are simultaneous. Inquiry is intervention. The seeds of change—the things people think and talk about, the things people discover and learn, and the things that inform dialogue and inspire images of the future—are implicit in the very first questions we ask.”

Cooperrider & Whitney

Questions Begin a Quest

“At the heart of good executive coaching is the ability to ask provocative questions.”

Murray Axmith

“I have now come to believe, after listening to hundreds of managers discuss difficult decisions of personal and professional responsibility, that the most useful guidance involves asking questions, not giving answers.”

Joseph Badaracco

What Questions?

• Challenging questions too

“Building and sustaining momentum for change requires large amounts of positive affect and social bonding—things like hope, excitement, inspiration, caring, camaraderie, sense of urgent purpose, and sheer joy in creating something meaningful together. We find that the more positive the question we ask, the more long-lasting and successful the change effort. The major thing a change agent can do that makes a difference is to craft and ask unconditional positive questions.”

Cooperrider & Whitney

“What would happen to our change practices if we begin all our work with the positive presumption that organizations, as centers of human relatedness, are alive with infinite constructive capacity?”

Cooperrider & Whitney