Kurt did approve John’s proposal and Natalie and John began working out the contractual obligations. They soon were working together for two hours once a week. John and Natalie initially met at John’s office but given the frequent interruptions of these coaching sessions by members of John’s staff, Natalie and John decided instead to meet in a conference room located in a nearby building that was owned by the hospital. The coaching sessions inevitably began with John’s sigh and eyes cast toward heaven. Then something like “everything is a mess” would come out of John’s mouth and the work would begin. There were many issues that John wished to confront during his coaching sessions with Natalie. After all, everything was a “mess.” Many years ago, Don Schon (1983, 1987) wrote about the “messes” being confronted by contemporary professionals. These messes are multi-dimensional, requiring multi-disciplinary perspectives and multi-strategied approaches to the coaching process itself. As Natalie and John faced the initial task of deciding how to proceed and where to leap into the mess, they made several important decisions that reveal something about the contemporary state of this profession called coaching.
PERSONAL VS. ORGANIZATIONAL FOCUS
First, do Natalie and John focus on the mess through the lens of John’s personal life and issues? Do they attend to his stress and his inability to craft a life where the priorities of home and work are in balance? John believes that his wife, Marnie, encouraged him to find a coach because she feds that he is devoted too little time to their two pre-teen children and, frankly, to their own marital relationship. He works most weekends, always is writing or editing an email when the family sits down to watch a DVD, and hasn’t been involved in a family vacation for more than three years. Marnie and John own a cottage on one of the lovely lakes in Minnesota but rarely spend any time there. This coaching relationship would also, of course, include exploration of the client’s work life.
The interaction between Natalie and John goes something like this:
Natalie: You talk about the pull between your commitment to work and your commitment to your wife and family. Why is this a struggle for you? Why can’t you leave your work at the office?
John: This is too big a job for me… You know, I’m the primary provider in my family. I worry about money. I really need a raise … so have to work hard… Actually, I am a bit angry about Marnie. She could get a full-time job and a high paying job… She is very talented … Yet, I’m relieved that she spends time at home with the kids… But this means that I spend less time with the kids. It’s not really fair… But it is really about my job. My direct reports aren’t doing their job. [Natalie makes a note to herself: or is it John’s inability to delegate?]. And Kurt doesn’t do anything about my workload! [Natalie makes a note to herself: or is it John’s inability to communicate upward and influence his boss?]
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