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As more and more coaches explore the brain as a tool for enhancing and empowering their coaching, where does a grasp of consciousness fit in?
Eva Pinkavova, an executive coach in the UK, suggests that coaches could learn to support their clients in new ways with a thorough understanding of consciousness theory—“ the way we see our world is critical in enabling us to respond effectively to our experience,” she writes in the International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring.
Pinkavova advances a theory that determining a coaching client’s level—or “order”—of consciousness can not just assist in the coaching of the client where they are, but can enable a coach to help guide the client to “the next possible order of consciousness and new sense of self.”
For executive coaches, Pinkavova argues, this type of consciousness coaching would be particularly valuable when working with clients immersed in periods of organizational change—allowing a coach to support the client through the change and confusion at work. “This includes supporting positive outcomes for the client by helping them discover that how they see their world impacts on their experience and that they are able to change this thereby gaining a sense of control over their life.”
So what’s the underlying knowledge base a coach needs to do this kind of work?
Pinkavova offers a review of the work of Harvard developmental psychologist Robert Kegan, who has created his own hierarchy of consciousness that charts the stages of social maturity from birth to adulthood. Pinkavova believes a person getting “appropriate support and challenge from a coach” may “speed up development.”
According to Pinkavova’s research, 58% of adults do not advance to Kegan’s fourth order of consciousness (described by Kegan as a stage “which corresponds to the Interindividual self stage in which self-determination and tolerance and acceptance of formerly rejected aspects of self and society becomes possible”).
Kegan, Pinkavova reports, says that moving from stage to stage is not linked to age-related maturity. Therefore, coaching could help propel someone forward. “Kegan suggests that ‘the capacity for fourth order consciousness is not an instinct; it evolves’…and that this evolution can be encouraged. The role of coaching in this context may be to encourage this fourth order evolution during times of transition, thus supporting transformational learning.”
How can a coach support transformational learning?
Pinkavova suggests observing clients for signs of which stage they’re in, and how it’s affecting the hurdles they face. “My aim as a coach is to provide the client with sufficient support and challenge to generate opportunity for their personal growth, but what kind of growth the client experiences will
depend to some extent on their starting point.”
Simply put, using consciousness theory, coaches can effectively determine where a client is, and from there put the power of coaching into the question of how to help them forward. “Based on the principle that the order of consciousness is an indication of the capacity, the how or ‘way of knowing’ that the client applies to achieve the competencies, finding ways to encourage and fast track such development could be particularly useful when working with senior managers who need to manage complex
relationships,” writes Pinkavova.
Do you use consciousness theory in your coaching? If you do, does it work? If you don’t, would you consider it—or not?
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There are 5 Responses so far...
The thing about coaching is that we can have umpteen tools, techniques, methods, approaches, etc.; and still end up with little results just because the coachee is not in the ‘readiness state to be coachable (coachability)’.
So could working at the conscious and also the unconscious levels open up ‘coachability’?
Without the ‘readiness state to be coachable’; coaching to me is just a ‘waste of effort’. So how do we use the theories of consciousness and unconsciousness to ‘induce’ coachability?
Billy C H Teoh
Malaysia.
Brilliant article. I believe levels of consciousness are critical to understand as a coach. Since there is no “objective reality” we interact with our internal map of reality which can change as our consciousness changes. There are many theories about these levels and I’ll point to David Hawkins book, “Power vs. Force” as he describes the importance of moving from one level of consciousness to another. He also points out that a person can be operating on one level of consciousness in a given area of life and on quite another level in another area. We can witness this as coaches and encourage clients to explore transferable skills, if you will. The whole idea becomes practical when you realize that the internal shifts of consciousness automatically lead to new results in life. Rather than trying to control and manipulate behavior, shift consciousness and take the easy road to changing behavior. When we as coaches can point to new ways of being, I believe we are truly giving clients the fishing pole rather than just the fish. Their lives will be altered forever and they’ll know what to do when a new challenge comes up. I’m very excited to see this being discussed. Thank you!
How does this tie in with Spiral Dynamics? Same thing with a different name?
My coaching is based completely on consciousness theory, because consciousness is really the fundamental aspect of the world that we can change at will. I’ve studied many theories and developed a few of my own. When consciousness studies itself, things get slippery very quickly. I’ve written an article, “Viewpoints of Experience: A Multidimensional Meta-Map,” and would be happy to share it with coaches who want a larger perspective on theories and approaches to transformational coaching. (Write to me at lion@beliefcloset.com and request a copy.) My belief-change methodology, The BeliefCloset Process, delves into the deepest levels of consciousness, which Jung called The Imaginal Realm, where the subconscious mind can cooperate with the conscious mind to illuminate and eliminate negative and limiting beliefs that are no longer useful. Significant change happens immediately — not only internally in viewpoint, attitude, and orientation to oneself, but also externally: in behavior, relationships, abilities, and orientation to the world. I train coaches in this potent transformational methodology. More information at http://www.beliefcloset.com.
So do people think that as a coach it is possible to coach someone who has reached a higher level of consciousness than you? Why/why not? What would you do in that situation?