Using Objects in Coaching – Case Study

• Using objects while coaching Using Objects as an aid to a Coaching Conversation   Introduction This article explains how everyday objects such as a pencil, pen, cup, saucer or spoon can be used to great effect in a coaching session.  Applications This technique can be used in any coaching conversation of 30+ minutes where......
• Why is turning Managers into Coaches so difficult? The above question attracted by attention and I replied as follows:  (references are at the bottom of the post) Experience tells me that it's not appropriate to 'turn managers into coaches' and that it's much more relevant to support managers to have a 'coach approach' - seemingly subtle linguistically and......
• Building a Coaching Culture I often get asked about how to build a coaching culture in an organization. Lots of work is one answer, and it starts with getting clear about what you want to see at the end, (doesn't everything!). The map below is a session design for coaches, or those sponsoring coaching,......
• Coaching: Getting the best decisions So often when coaching I find that people get locked or stuck into a very polarized view of the world.  They see things as either 'right' or 'wrong' and this can really get in the way of good decision making.  An alternative is to use Implications Thinking where we include......
• Why Coaching? Performance Related Coaching, its relevance and place in business today   Coaching and being coached are essential activities for 21st century business leaders.  In an environment of uncertainty, intense competition and globalisation of markets, innovation, creativity and improved performance are vital to the survival of businesses.   “People, not capital,......

Using Objects as an aid to a Coaching Conversation

Introduction

This article explains how everyday objects such as a pencil, pen, cup, saucer or spoon can be used to great effect in a coaching session. 

Applications

This technique can be used in any coaching conversation of 30+ minutes where the coachee’s topic contains a number of elements.  The topic may be of a personal nature, an inter-personal issue, a structural or systemic issue or about a project or process. 

Benefits

The benefits include:

(a)    An opportunity to unravel a problem, identify its separate parts and to see the relationship between them. (spatial sorting)

(b)   The ability to look at the whole ‘system’.

(c)    Getting the issue/problem ‘out of the coachee’s head and onto the table’.  This usually helps the coachee look/see/feel the situation more objectively and as an observer (disassociation and/or 3^rd position)

(d)   More scope for the coach to come out and be more detached and to ‘play’.

(e)   An ability to see, through the simplicity of the process:

(i)      How the situation is now; and

(ii)    How s/he wants it to be.

(f)     The process appeals to people with a strong visual/spatial preference or a strong bodily (‘tangible’) kinaesthetic preference.

(g)   It helps the coachee reveal the root cause of an issue on a deeper level.  The objects can represent intangible as well as tangible things e.g. the component pieces regarding an issue around using time effectively might be (i) love of variety; (ii) No time for myself; (iii) I never do anything properly.

(h)   The emphasis is more on awareness raising/personal insights, gathering and testing data, unblocking an issue rather than creating an action plan.

Process

The coach needs to start with some coaching questions, focussing down on the issue before inviting the coachee to work with the objects.  Until you become experienced in using objects I suggest you restrict the number of components/issues to between 3-5.  So for example one object could represent the whole of a team, rather than having lots of additional objects which represent each member of that team. 

You can use the process at a variety of levels.  The coachee could use one object to represent his/her diary and, at a deeper level another object(s) could represent a fear, guilt, a belief, lack of self confidence. 

Suggest to the coachee that they are open to anything that shows up and say that they can end the process at any stage. 

As in any coaching situation use your intuition and sense where the energy is flowing and what is working or not working.  Also give the coachee the space and time to think and feel into the issue. 

Clear a table and sit opposite, or alongside or at 90 degrees to the coachee, whatever is more comfortable for the coachee.  The coach should not touch the objects on the table at any stage in the process.  

Ask the coachee to focus on the current situation.  Let the coachee choose the first object from what’s already in the room e.g. a pencil.  Ask the coachee to place the object thoughtfully on the table. 

Ask the coachee the following type of questions as appropriate. ‘In which direction is the future, the past?  In which direction do you want your object to face?  Is there anything that springs to mind? 

Then repeat the above process with the other components/objects.  With each object the coach should check what the object represents e.g. my boss, low self esteem and ask ‘Where do you want to place e.g. your boss in relation to the existing objects?  How far apart?  Which way is it facing?  What’s happening in that space?  What, if anything, is missing in regard to your issue/question? 

Once the current reality is in place check that the coachee is happy with how the issue is represented. 

Now ask the coachee  ‘Let each of the objects have a voice and an emotion and let each piece talk to you and to each other’.  Ask the coachee to take each object in turn.  A project might say ‘I would like to benefit more from X’s expertise’. 

Ask the coachee e.g. ‘What is the overall system telling you?  What are you experiencing in your body?  What do you notice that you were unaware of before’?

The coach may comment on anything that may be significant to the coachee e.g. ‘I notice that your deputy is standing in front of you and is facing you’. ‘What are the messages regarding this?’ 

The next stage is to ask the coachee one or both of the following types of questions:

(a)    ‘What piece(s) would you like to move to help shift your perception/feelings about the current situation? or

(b)   How would the objects need to be arranged for the situation to be more satisfactory for you?’The coach could then deepen what this might mean in terms of the steps s/he could take.  Then the coach could end by asking for example ‘How do you now see/feel/think about the issue?’  What has changed for you?  ‘What insights have you had?  To what extent has this process been helpful? 

If you would like to receive a copy of a case study send an e-mail to Richard Fox at rjfox@tlc.eu.com or download it from www.coachingknowhow.com

Author

Richard Fox is a partner in The Learning Corporation LLP, a pan European firm of coaches and training facilitators.  He is a qualified executive coach, a business mentor and a master NLP practitioner with a particular interest in helping organisations and individuals clarify their unique identity, meaning and purpose and values. 

Acknowledgements.

I would like to thank and acknowledge Meike Buegler, Constellator and Organizational Development Consulatant at Syngenta Crop Protection AG for introducing me to Organizational Constellations, using people as well as objects.  Also Lesley Pugh, an executive coach and NLP colleague for contributing to this paper and the case study

Richard Fox    6 May 2009

• What makes a Great Coach Coaching can be a very rewarding. It's the ideal career / activity choice for those who: Like to work with people Have a strong desire to see people excel in their lives Are prepared to let others do the talking Can connect with people and listen with interest and empathy......
• Effectiveness of Expenditure on Learning & Development Programmes For discussion purposes only Introduction. Management keep a close eye on the costs of most items in their profit and loss account e.g. office rent, salaries, rent and marketing.  The cost of learning and development programmes, including coaching, is usually less well controlled mainly because it is harder to measure. ......
• Building and applying real coaching skills in managers and leaders Often I hear of frustration and disappointment that managers and leaders  who have been on a coaching skills workshop do very little with it on their return to the workplace.  It seems, from my experience, that the introducing managers to the skills and models applicable in coaching is a realtively......
• Why Coaching? Performance Related Coaching, its relevance and place in business today   Coaching and being coached are essential activities for 21st century business leaders.  In an environment of uncertainty, intense competition and globalisation of markets, innovation, creativity and improved performance are vital to the survival of businesses.   “People, not capital,......
• Creating internal coaching capability Coaching Questions that have proved to be relevant when creating or planning to create coaching capability inside organisations. Some of the questions seem to be difficult to come to terms with, and from experience, when they are answered the end result is far more robust. Why Coaching? Why now? What......

• Creating Your "Objective Observer" - Step 1 Here is Step 1 in Creating Your Objective Observer To begin, I’m asking you to learn how to create your own internal “Objective Observer”. You will need to develop this objective personality in order to effectively and realistically analyze the thoughts, words and emotions you exhibit every day on a......
• Andy Murray Tennis Player Profile Andy Murray was born on May 15, 1987 and is a professional tennis player from Scotland who also happens to be the highest ranking player in Britain at current. He officially broke into the ATP Top 10 on April 16, 2007, and reached a career high of No. 4 ranking......
• Goal and Objective tracking in Evernote Pt. 1 - Collection {We're,We are} going to {tackle,attack} 2010 and our {objectives,goals} for 2010 head on. {You've probably,Quite possibly you've} tried to {reach, achieve} your {objectives,goals} {previously,before}. You've {must have,probably} spent {tons of time,hours,ages} {on the web,surfing the web,researching on the web,online} and reading about {those,the} goals you want to achieve. In this......
• Goals and Objectives for 2010! Need Help Solidifying The main reason I started this blog was to create a diary of My Journey and it didn't take long for me to realize that accountability leads to success.  As such, every year I create a sort of Goals and Objectives, my latest one being my Goals and Objectives for 2009.   I then highlighted......
• Jotronic's Photo Guide Why would anyone care about taking the best possible photos of their hair??? Well, some people may not care at all but if you want to accurately document your own hair transplant experience for reference then why not take the best photos possible? Also, if you are going to post......