Coaching in context

Richard Winfield - executive coach to directors and boards I am a systems thinker and my coaching focuses on such matters as vision, mission and values, sorting out structure and strategy.

I like the coaching model because it is very logical; as we increase someone's awareness, they see the structure and are able to make better decisions. As we help clients to clarify goals, they are able to build a route map of how to achieve them.

So, I was pleased at the recent ICF conference to attend a session in which context was being emphasised.

I was attracted to the session led by Joel Rothaizer because he was quoted as using the enneagram in his executive coaching and organisational consulting work. I am currently studying the enneagram in order to incorporate it into my own work.

Joel introduced the concept of a fundamental attribution error, which involves ignoring the the context. Contextual thinking, he said, means considering the system.

He introduced some questions that coaches might like to consider: -

"Before you make a decision, have you considered the context?"

"How do you know that's the right problem?"

"Why might a rational human being be acting in that way?"

"Is how you are behaving now more or less likely to cause your children to come to you when they really need help?"

"Are there contexts in which you tend to think at a higher or lower level than in other contexts?"

If we don't consider the context and the impact of the system, we can easily spend time coaching someone through a symptom without addressing the cause.

We often hear in the UK that our police forces suffer 'systemic racism'. If this is true, there is no point in introducing training courses or coaching to deal with employees' supposed racism; the likelihood is that individuals are not racist. The challenge is either how to change the system, or how to operate ethically and congruently within (in spite of) the system. This requires a different approach.

Very often, staff find themselves in difficult situations. Stage one is to recognise and accept the situation - and then to consider how to react to it. Simply attempting to change behaviour is likely to be continually undermined by the system. What is needed is a strategy for dealing with it.

Richard Winfield is founder of Brefi Group.
An international facilitator, he coaches and
facilitates directors and boards in transition:

helping them to make progress by

bringing structure and clarity

to their thinking.