Harvard psychology of leadership 1508 03 coaching

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 Model

Ac con
ce diti
pta on
nc al
(C e
arl
Ro

ge
rs)

Leadership Development
Daily Life
Relationships

Ap
Parenting
(D pre
av cia
Personal Development
id
tiv
Co e
op I nq
er uir
rid y
er
)



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


Customer Satisfaction

Enhanced Creativity

Increased Retention Improved Efficiency

Increased Profits

Employee Satisfaction


Defining AI
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.


“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 # 1
In 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 # 2
What we focus on becomes our reality.
• The problem with problem solving
“By paying attention to problems, we emphasize
and amplify them.”
Sue Annis Hammond


Basic Assumptions of AI
• Assumption # 3
Questions 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?
“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 longlasting 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

• Challenging questions too


“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