What should Natalie and John do regarding their own assumptions about learning? Should John participate in a leadership development program while being coached by Natalie, or after their coaching sessions have terminated? Kurt suggested early on that John receive some project management training. Was this an appropriate suggestion (particularly if coupled with Natalie’s coaching)? Perhaps John should receive 360° feedback from his boss, subordinates, peers and some “internal customers” at his hospital or complete a personality inventory (such as MBTI). This could extend the coaching engagement with Natalie by at least four or five sessions. Natalie’s work with John could then focus on the lessons learned by John in the leadership development program or on the disturbing (unanticipated, contradictory or thought provoking) results from the feedback instrument or self-assessment inventory. Natalie should be knowledgeable about the content of these programs, assessment systems and inventories, if she is to be maximally effective; however, it is also important for both Natalie and John to realize that these learning-based initiatives are only the beginning. At its best, professional coaching is a learning based tool that can extend development and the growth of self-insights and personal skills well beyond the bounds of a three-day workshop or the report out of results from an inventory about management or interpersonal style preferences.
All this optimism about coaching as a learning tool is based on the assumption that individuals can change organizations if they are knowledgeable, self-reflective and lifelong learners. But what about the pressure for continuity and the forces against change that exist in any system? What about the deeper roots of inequity in an organization? Can coaches teach courage or compassion? Can John learn enough “heart-knowledge” to match his development of “head-knowledge?” Should Natalie “teach” John something that he might not want to learn? Is it appropriate for Natalie to have her own learning “agenda” for John? These questions will inevitably linger for both Natalie and John as they continue the coaching process – and these questions certainly linger in the field of professional coaching.
FAD VS. FOUNDATION
Natalie and John have successful completed twelve sessions of organizational coaching, making use of not only reflective strategies, but also several instruments (one a 360″ feedback instrument and the other a personality inventory). John’s organization has supported his coaching up to this point, but now the Vice President of HR (with the informal support of the president, Kurt) is asking for some evidence that the coaching engagement has been productive. As a result of this push toward accountability, Natalie and John have been led to greater reflection on their own coaching project. What initially brought John to Natalie? Why did his organization initially support his coaching engagement and why has the HR VP now asked for evidence?
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