Kitabı oku: «COACHING-PERSPEKTIVEN», sayfa 6
Awareness and Change
As we have seen in the previous paragraphs, the Gestalt approach focuses on awareness, on working in the present and on using what is available »here and now«. Being aware is not just thinking or feeling, but even more than the sum of these factors: it represents a body of knowledge related to the situation (Wollants 2007).
Gestalt has a unique view of the concepts of awareness and behavioural change. Gestalt practitioners believe that there is a direct relationship between the degree of awareness and the potential for new choices of behaviour (Simon 2009). According to Beisser’s (1970) paradoxical theory of change, change occurs when someone becomes what he truly is and not when he tries to become what he is not.
The paradoxical theory of change is the key to development and learning in the process of coaching. Basic coaching interventions clearly focus on what already exists in the present for the client, in his current situation, which, paradoxically, results in an experiential shift toward something new.
Believing in the paradoxical theory of change, the coach shows respect for the client in a way that she supports the client in finding his own answers to questions about what he wants and how to get it. Therefore, the task of the coach is through timely interventions, such as questioning, observation, experiment or other, to expand the field of the client’s awareness and to allow him to open a new perspective on a topic that he has brought into the process, or a topic that has been developed, crystallized, as the figure during the process.
For many people, especially in the fast business environment, the paradoxical theory of change represents a radical approach, because it seems faster and easier to impose one’s arguments and the way of seeing things. In the organizational environment there is often a tendency to achieve fast solutions and mobilize energy as quickly as possible in order to achieve the goal. However, if this mobilization occurs too fast, it leads to behaviours that are not truly accepted by the client or results in resisting acting in a certain way. For example, during the process of implementing a new system in a company, employees are often unwilling to accept the new system, which usually causes frustration for their leaders. A more efficient approach would be to ensure enough time for the process in order for the employees to become aware of the advantages and disadvantages of the existing system and only then to familiarize themselves with the new system.
Presence
Presence in coaching is not neutral, it implies the coache’s full presence in the »here and now« work, but also the desire of the coach for honest and authentic encounter with the client (Radionov 2008). In opposed to advising a client, the coach puts greater emphasis on the dialogue with the purpose to enlighten the client’s current situation. In accordance with the paradoxical theory of change, this approach will lead to the experiential shift toward a creative solution to the existing problem(s).
The presence of the coach is prerequisite for establishing trust between him and the client and the implementation of meaningful interventions. Many times it includes the ability to stay in silence. Presence and trust create a psychologically safe space in which the client can just be instead of having to do something.
In Gestalt coaching the coach uses himself as instrument to stimulate the client’s awareness and contact through interaction and dialogue. Next to asking questions, which represents an universal tool for all coaching practitioners, Gestalt practitioners add some other elements to the coaching dialogue, such as their observations of the client as well as their own experiences when appropriate. For example, the coach may say to the client, »You seem quite angry when talking about your boss«, or, »I feel excited hearing you talking about your new assignment«.
Each coach is present in the coaching situation in a unique way, in accordance with his personal values and competencies. However, certain skills, competencies and values of the coach are particularly helpful for enhancing the client’s change and development. Most of these values and competencies are related to enhancing awareness, improving articulation and communication of the experience, managing the energy in the system and completing the experience (Nevis, 1987).
An important element of presence is the degree of integration between what the coach says and how the coach acts and behaves. The coach as a person should be consistent and congruent. In this case, the clients recognize the high degree of integration, feel interested, curious and engaged for the work, so the beneficial effects of coaching typically occur (Bluckert 2006).
Contact
Our experience takes place at the contact boundary. Contact boundary is a psychological place of energy, material and information exchange that can be found inside or outside the body (Dreitzel 2010). For example, we can be in contact with our headache or in contact with another person during deep and inspiring conversation regarding an ongoing project.
How does contact happen? To put it very simply, first the organism gets excited by a stimulus or need, after which it senses and becomes aware of it. Energy is released and the figure starts to form. He orients himself in the environment; the figure of his interest becomes sharply defined. At the top of the energy level he takes action and establishes contact: the goal has been reached. Gradually he experiences integration and fulfilment, thus becoming ready for letting go or withdrawing. In the literature, this process is usually referred to as contact cycle or cycle of experience or contact-withdrawal cycle (Critchley & Casey 1989) as represented in Figure 1.
On the more complex level, the contact cycle can be seen as a model for the previously explained change process, incorporating the described notions and principles. For example, the client, engaged in coaching as part of his leadership development, comes to the session. He talks about his current job and his particular career plans, but somehow seems uninterested and distanced. The same continues during the second session. The coach observes the client’s low energy and engagement and shares this observation with the client. The client becomes aware that he has recently been feeling very tired. The coach invites the client to explore, imagine and describe this sensation inside his body. The client focuses on the pain sensation in his upper spine imagining it as a bag pack filed with different things. During the dialogue with the coach he realizes that these belongings are related to the high demands of the current project. In continuation, he discusses delegating strategies in order to free up more capacity for his personal development.
Figure 1: Contact-withdrawal cycle (Critchley & Casey 1989)
As we see in this example, sometimes it takes time for a figure to be formed. The client might be unwilling to open the subject or simply be not aware of what is going on with him. As already mentioned in previous chapters, it is very important to stay as long as it takes in this phase and to tolerate the anxiety that might rise due to confusion. As we see in this example, sometimes we need to change the »modus« and explore some body sensations or emotions that are being raised.
Figure formation – when the right topic has been revealed – is usually accompanied with an »Aha!«-Moment or Eureka effect, leading again to the client’s increased engagement in the process. Now the activity, whether dialogue or experiment (see an example with empty chair experiment), will lead to clarification and hopefully a natural closure of the issue being raised.
3. Applying the Basic Concepts of Gestalt Coaching
Unfinished Business
A person is not always able to meet a need. For example, we are feeling sleepy, but we have to finish an important project. When it comes to the social and emotional level, the process becomes even more complicated because our needs involve other people. When we are not able to meet a need, the Gestalt is incomplete and the work stays unfinished.
Unfinished business is a frequent theme in coaching. At the individual level, for example, the topic might be an unresolved conflict with a colleague regarding taking credit for excellent projects. At the collective level, a frequent theme in today’s organizations is workers’ perception of unjust distribution of the economic crisis’ consequences among workers and the ruling elite (managers, politicians, banks etc.). As this topic is usually not discussed, on the metaorganizational level it represents a major collective unfinished business.
Unfinished business is typical for dysfunctional teams and individuals in organizations. Two facts especially complicate the situation with unfinished business in organizational settings: the unfinished tasks can be related to the client’s previous work experiences, and it is often believed that opening unfinished business is dangerous and should be addressed in psychotherapy rather than coaching. However, experience shows that coaching can be effective in closing an unfinished business. Sometimes the coach is the first person that the client can recount the detailed story to, and experience that someone has listened to him (Bluckert, 2006).
Organizational Diagnosis
The previously described Gestalt concepts can be practically applied in the area of organizational diagnosis which usually takes place prior to, or at the very beginning of the coaching process. In contrasts to long and often tedious analyses, organizational diagnosis may be efficiently set using creative techniques. During the first session, a Gestalt oriented coach often invites the client to describe how she sees herself inside the organization (field approach) using creative techniques such as drawings or statuettes. The client forms a picture that represents an own unique Gestalt view of her current organizational situation, composed of her perceptions of different organizational elements (client, peers, structures etc.). After completing the picture, the client is asked to describe it. During this process the figure is typically formed in shape of a particular emotion, sensation or thought, leading to the client’s awareness of her current situation and, hopefully, the clarification of a particular coaching problem.
An example of this approach can be vividly seen in Figure 2. In the first session the client has been asked to draw a picture on the subject »Me and my organization«. Squares on the left side represent members of the management team inside the organization. The client is represented by one of them. There is no interaction or contact among elements. The circles on the right side represent the work force inside the company. The river in-between the two sides represents the gap between the management and the workforce. Two issues are brought up: 1. The client’s feeling of isolation inside the organization, 2. His feeling of personal as well as management inferiority. The question of the client’s further development inside his organization is defined as the main coaching theme.
Figure 2: Example of a drawing on the subject »Me and my organisation«
Example of an »Empty Chair« Experiment
Experimenting in coaching is often a great way to try out a new behaviour in a »safe space«. An experiment often enables full contact with the coaching problem. Here is one example of a very common experiment in Gestalt, called the empty chair experiment.
A client is engaged in the coaching process in order to develop his managerial skills. During the process a new issue arises: there is confusion in the client’s perception of the organizational structure because a peer colleague is acting as his informal boss. The coach invites the client to engage in an »empty chair« experiment, giving voice to his boss and engaging in a dialogue with him in order to stimulate an understanding and a feeling of the situation. The client is directed towards talking to his boss whom he imagines seated in an empty chair across of himself, shifting back and forth between chairs.
Client: »You have asked me to work on my managerial skills, but it seems to me that we have another problem here. Martin is constantly interrupting me and my team with his demands, and it seems to me that you approve of this behavior.«
Boss: »I trust Martin. He has achieved great results in sales and the management respects this. I am positive that he is acting in the best interest of the company.«
Client: »It is very hard for me to work like this. When Martin interrupts me with his demands I feel obliged to follow him as if he were my boss. Sometimes I have a feeling as if he actually was my boss and that confuses me. It makes me feel bad about myself.«
Boss: »I see that this situation really upsets you. I don’t want you to be upset and to feel bad. I am sure that there must be another way around. What would you like me to do about it?«
Client: »I would like you to support me in talking this through with Martin. And I would like to feel that your doors are open for me when needed.«
Boss: »This seems totally fine with me.«
This imagined conversation helps the client to feel and reconcile two polarities, two opposite sides of his character: the inferior, week part that makes him allow the colleagues’ bossy behaviour and the strong, rebellious part that wants to take full responsibility for his job and team. It also may help the client to prepare for the real life conversation with his boss, in order to clarify the issue.
4. Conclusion
In this article I have described some of the most important aspects of Gestalt coaching in the business environment. Gestalt coaching focuses on the relationship, the authentic dialogue between the coach and the client and different techniques based primarily on contact and awareness. In Gestalt coaching the client is seen as a whole, healthy and resourceful person and the coach as skilful practitioner who uses herself as an instrument to support the client’s change process. This approach empowers clients to explore their professional situation and to find own authentic solutions to their coaching questions. As change gradually develops from awareness of the here and now, the outcomes of the coaching process are strongly owned by the client. The biggest argument of Gestalt coaching is the sustainability of the change process.
Hans Baumeister
Coaching und Organisationsverständnis
Wie beeinflusst das Verständnis/Bild über Organisationen die Vorgehensweise im Coaching und damit den Coaching-Prozess?
Der Beitrag thematisiert den Zusammenhang zwischen Ausrichtung und Vorgehen im Coaching und dem vorhandenen Bild über Organisationen.
Je nach Sichtweise ergeben sich unterschiedlichste Themenfelder und Prozesse. Um eine grundsätzliche neue Herausforderung für den Coachee zu erzeugen, braucht es den reflexiven, den sich selbst infrage stellenden Blick auf die Welt der Bilder und Vorstellungen, der eigenen und der des Coachees. Hilfreich dafür ist die systemische Brille.
1. Vorbemerkung: Im Coaching spiegelt sich das Organisationsverständnis wider
Welche Geschichten über Organisationen erzählen Sie sich und anderen? Wie in allen Mythen, Sagen und Märchen haben Geschichten den Charme, schnell die komplexe und unsichere Innen- wie Außenwelt zu ordnen, zu versichern und einen Sinn zu verleihen.
Geschichten geben uns auch Halt für Handeln und bestätigen oder verstärken eigene Sichtweisen.
Im Folgenden einige Gedanken – ohne Anspruch auf Vollständigkeit – zum Anregen und Irritieren. Vielleicht entsteht eine neue Geschichte.
2. Modelle von Organisationen
Drei Bilder von Organisationen werden uns im Folgenden begleiten: »Maschine«, »Machtarena« und »System«.
2.1. Das bürokratisch-mechanistische Modell von Organisation
Dieses Organisationsverständnis besitzt in der Entwicklung der modernen Gesellschaft eine lange Tradition, insbesondere in seiner Idee und Durchsetzung der funktionalen Differenzierung. Die Arbeiten von Max Weber sowie von Frederic Taylor mit seinem »scientific management« haben dieses Verständnis im Prozess der Industrialisierung tiefgehend zum Ausdruck gebracht.
Klassische Managementtheorie
Die Erfindung und rasche Verbreitung von Produktionsmaschinen verlangte die Anpassung der Organisationsformen an die Erfordernisse der neuen Arbeitsform. Die verlangten kurze, schnelle und standardisierte Prozessschritte, einhergehend war die Reduzierung der menschlichen Arbeitskraft auf wenige, austauschbare Handlungsschritte.
Der Prozess der Planung, Organisation, Anweisung, Koordination und Kontrolle erfolgt über das Management, das selber nicht in die produktiven Abläufe eingebunden ist.
Einige Grundregeln der klassischen Managementtheorie
Einliniensystem und Einheitlichkeit der Auftragserteilung
Ein Arbeitnehmer sollte nur von einem einzigen Vorgesetzten Anweisungen bekommen.
Kontrollspanne
Die Anzahl der Leute, die einem Vorgesetzten Bericht erstatten, sollte nicht so groß sein, dass sich daraus Kommunikations- und Koordinationsprobleme ergeben.
Stab und Linie
Der Stab kann wertvolle Beratungsdienste erfüllen, sollte jedoch darauf achten, die Linienautorität nicht zu umgehen.
Arbeitsteilung
Das Management sollte für höhere Spezialisierung sorgen, um Ziele der Organisation effizient zu erfüllen.
Weisungsbefugnis und Verantwortung
Das Augenmerk sollte auf das Recht, Befehle zu geben, und deren genaue Befolgung gelenkt werden.
Zentralisierung von Autorität
Einige, zentral angesiedelte Manager sind für Ziel, Strategie und Umsetzung zuständig.
Disziplin
Gehorsam, Anwendung, Verhalten und Respektsbezeugungen nach außen entsprechend den vereinbarten Regeln.
Unterordnung des Individualinteresses unter das allgemeine Interesse
Durch Bestimmtheit, gutes Beispiel, faire Abmachungen und konstante Überwachung.
Gerechtigkeit
Auf der Basis von Freundlichkeit und Gerechtigkeit, um das Personal bei seinen Pflichten zu unterstützen.
(in Anlehnung an Vahs, D. 2005)
Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts entwickelte Frederick Taylor seinen Ansatz des »scientific management«, das die Grundlage der Arbeitsplanung in der ersten Hälfte dieses Jahrhunderts wurde und vielfach noch heute gültig ist.
Taylor vertrat im Kern fünf einfache Prinzipien (in Anlehnung an Bea, X. / Göbel, E. 2006):
1. Die gesamte Verantwortung für die Arbeitsorganisation wird vom Arbeiter auf den Manager übertragen: Der Arbeiter kann sich dann auf das ausschließliche Ausführen der Arbeit konzentrieren.
2. Die Arbeit ausgehend von wissenschaftliche Methoden gestalten und die genaue Ausführung der Arbeit festlegen.
3. Die für die geplante Aufgabe am besten geeigneten Personen auswählen.
4. Den Arbeiter zur effizienten Ausführung der Arbeit anleiten.
5. Die Leistung des Arbeiters kontinuierlich überwachen, um zu gewährleisten, dass die entsprechenden Arbeitsabläufe befolgt und die entsprechenden Ergebnisse erzielt werden.
Übertragen auf Führung in Organisationen bedeutet das:
• Führung als Aufgabe dient im Kern dazu, die Organisation in all ihren Bereichen so zu gestalten, dass sie die Zielerreichung bei sparsamstem Ressourceneinsatz gewährleistet. Die Führenden verstehen sich als die Ge stalter, die im Sinne der vorgegebenen Zielsetzungen auf die Organisation Einfluss nehmen.
• Führung ist eine Leistung, die in der Organisation für Ordnung in den Strukturen und Abläufen sorgt. Sie kontrolliert deren Einhaltung und greift bei Abweichungen direkt ein.
• Führung ist primär die Sache der beauftragten Personen, die dazu über besondere Eigenschaften und Fähigkeiten verfügen. Ihre »Leadership-Qualitäten« befähigen sie dazu, die Gefolgschaft ihrer Leute in den jeweiligen Verantwortungsbereichen so zu mobilisieren, dass die vorgegebenen Ziele tatsächlich erreicht werden.
• Auf Seiten der Führungskräfte begünstigt das ein idealisierendes Selbstkonzept, die »heroische Führungskraft« mit hohem persönlichem Selbstanspruch: Alles im Griff respektive unter Kontrolle zu haben, Dominanz des direktiven Eingreifens, Wichtigkeit der eigenen Person. Implizit ist ihr die Deutungshoheit für richtig-falsch und die Verortung von Schuld auf Faktoren außerhalb des eigenen Einflussbereiches. Das eigene Handeln ist der wesentliche Stellhebel, um die Dinge zum Besseren zu bewegen.
