How Do Adults Learn? Why Does it Matter?

by Seth Sinclair

Over the past years I have had the opportunity to work with many emerging leaders within the context of leadership development and coaching engagements.  One of the things I have noticed from this experience is that leaders often lose sight of the progress they are making over the course of a one or two year program. 

They might learn a new concept but then struggle to apply it; they may feel that they are stuck in a loop with certain leadership issues, and in some cases they even feel that they are regressing with certain behaviors.  Leaders in this position may find it helpful to reflect on the process by which adults learn.  This will shed some light on the struggles that often accompany learning and growth and in turn build new perspective on what progress looks like.  

Unlike children, who implicitly accept new information and don’t always question the relevance of what they learn, adults want to learn in areas applicable to their futures; they challenge new information; and they understand that if they need to learn something, it’s their own responsibility to seek out and find the information or skills they need.

The science of developing learning strategies for adults is called andragogy.  One of the most important contributions to understanding how adults learn was made by psychologist Noel Burch.  In the 1970s, Burch suggested a simple, four-stage model to describe how people go from ignorance to mastery of a skill, and called it the “conscious competence learning model,” pictured below:

Level 1 of the model is called “Unconscious Incompetence.”  Adults at this level are “blissfully ignorant.”  They are bad at the skill they are trying to accomplish, and they don’t even know they are poor at it.  Their confidence vastly exceeds their abilities, and they don’t even know what it is they need to learn.

People at this stage need feedback to recognize their strengths and weaknesses.  Performance reviews; individual assessments such as 360 degree assessments; informal feedback from peers, colleagues, and family; and the support of a professional coach are all good ways to get the feedback adults need to uncover skills they need to master.

“Conscious Incompetence” is Burch’s second level.  In this stage, adults have become aware of the opportunity and need to learn and improve.   They notice that others are more advanced than they are, and that their lack of skill is holding them back.

People in this stage may become overwhelmed by what seems to be a vast body of knowledge they are not quite grasping.  Many of them give up.  Staying positive and becoming determined to learn and improve, is essential to moving on to the next stage, as is practice.  They will make mistakes—but they must keep going.

In the third level, “Conscious Competence,” a person has acquired the skill he or she set out to learn, and is able to demonstrate it regularly.  His or her confidence is improving—but it still takes concentration and intention for the adult learner to do what he or she has learned.  In this level, complacency is the enemy.  Practice must be continued, and mistakes are still made: in fact, trial and error is the best way to continue learning the skill.

Finally, those who have passed through all the previous stages reach the fourth and final stage, “Unconscious Competence.”  In this stage, application of the skill is automatic, competence is high, and the skill is now a strength. Those attaining this level of competence still must continually seek feedback and guard against regression, because without practice they risk going back down the ladder to previous stages.  Sharing what you've learned with your peers and becoming a mentor is another way to stay sharp. 

A simple sports analogy can further illustrate the process.  Imagine a golfer who is consistent and generally happy with his game.  One day, an experienced pro comments on the golfer’s swing and identifies some mechanical issues that are limiting the golfer’s performance.  The golfer is surprised to receive this feedback (Unconscious Incompetence) but is intrigued by the idea of getting better.

By paying more attention to his swing and videoing himself during practice, the golfer can now clearly visualize the flaw in this swing (Conscious Incompetence).  The golfer becomes determined to address is the issue; hiring the pro to help change his swing and committing to weekly practice sessions. 

Over the next months, the golfer is slowly able to apply the new swing, albeit inconsistently and with some setbacks and frustration, and begins to notice some measurable changes (Conscious Competence).  A year later the new swing has become automatic; the golfer no longer has to actively worry about employing the proper technique.  He continues to practice regularly and is able to move on to the next challenge (Unconscious Competence).

In summary, it is important to understand that learning is a journey, not a destination.  Those who want to improve must always be willing to seek feedback, prioritize their learning needs, and be determined to succeed.  If you feel stuck, try to identify where you are in the process and what steps might help you move to the next level.  

Crucial Conversations Part III

by Seth Sinclair

In my two most recent blog posts, I’ve provided some insight into the book “Crucial Conversations: tools for talking when stakes are high,” by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler. In this post, I’d like to summarize a few key take-aways to help you digest and better understand this important book. 

1)   Learn to spot crucial conversations themselves. According to the authors, a conversation is crucial when opinions vary, stakes are high, and emotions run strong.  They are conversations that have an important impact on your life, or your work.  Most of us avoid these conversations, especially when we think they won’t go well, or aren’t going well.  Instead, we need to learn to anticipate them and build up the ability to face them with confidence.  My first post on this topic identifies some common crucial conversations. 

2)   Prepare for crucial conversations before they take place. My second post on the book summarizes the eight steps that will help you create alignment and agreement by fostering open dialogue.  The eight steps boil down to this: think about what you really want to get out of a crucial conversation.  Explore your emotions.  Keep an open mind. That’s all you need to do to be successful.

3)   Learn to employ helpful behaviors during a crucial conversation. Pay attention to both the content of the conversation and the emotions of those taking part in it; watch out for counter-productive behaviors such as anger; seek a mutual purpose among all parties; speak persuasively but not abrasively; and try to remain curious about the other person’s perspective.  When dialogue is faltering, seeking to better understand what the other person is thinking can keep things moving.

4)   The end of a crucial conversation should always involve action. Come to an agreement on specific actions that will be taken and how and when follow-up will occur.  Without action, the conversation may lead to disappointment and hard feelings. 

In the final chapter of their book, the authors write: “If you read the previous pages in a short period of time, you probably feel like an anaconda that just swallowed a warthog. It’s a lot to digest.”  Practicing and adopting these behaviors is a learning process that requires commitment and time.  However, mastering the art of Crucial Conversations is undoubtedly a worthwhile effort from which anyone can benefit both personally and professionally.   

Crucial Conversations (Part II)

by Seth Sinclair

In my last post, I began a discussion of lessons from the book “Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High,” by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler. I wrote about what constitutes a crucial conversation; how such conversations are typically handled and why they tend to go poorly; and why it’s important to master the skills involved in conducting crucial conversations successfully.

In this post, we’ll discuss the steps the authors posit are involved in successful crucial conversations: steps that will help you create alignment and agreement by fostering open dialogue around high-stakes, emotional, or risky topics.  As I suggested previously, I strongly recommend you buy the book to gain a full understanding of each of these steps—but this post will give you a sense of the power of the authors’ suggestions.

First, get unstuck.  What kinds of conversations are getting you stuck; that is, those that you find difficult to take part in successfully? Crucial Conversations uses the acronym “CPR” to explain the three types of conversations that can happen when an issue is discussed.

·      Content: Conversations around content discuss the issue itself, and hopefully take place as soon as a problem occurs.  In a discussion about content, try to find out why the problem occurred—and try to reserve your judgments on the issue.

·      Pattern: Pattern conversations discuss that the issue keeps recurring, and why that happens.

·      Relationship: Relationship conversations discuss how the issue is affecting your relationship with the other party to the conversation.

Second, start with heart.  When you are discussing a problem, start by examining your personal role.  Then take a step back, and focus on what you really want to do, or to have happen.  When you’re discussing options, always look for ways to replace “either/or” thinking, in which you have to choose between one side or another, with “and” options, where you search for more creative and productive options.

Third, learn to look.  Look for the moment when an ordinary conversation becomes a crucial one (one in which the stakes are high, emotions are strong, and opinions differ), and when the dialogue is in danger of closing down.  Look for silences, which could mean one party is masking his or her feelings, avoiding dealing with the problem, or withdrawing from dealing with it.  And learn to look for your own conversational style when you are stressed—the style you naturally revert to when crucial conversations start getting tense.  Being aware of how you behave will help you guard against your worst tendencies in such situations.

Fourth, make it safe.  A safe conversation is one in which the other person knows that you care about their interests—and that you respect them.  When it’s appropriate, apologize.  And create what the authors call a “mutual purpose” by assuring others you care about their best interest and goals.  In crucial conversations, the authors believe that, more often than not, goals are compatible—only strategies are opposing.

Fifth, master my stories.  Mastering your stories means continuing the dialogue, even when you’re angry or hurt.  People often tell themselves “stories” to help them determine their responses to situations, and the stories create the emotion they feel.  Sometimes, they are the victim in those stories, and exaggerate their own innocence.  Sometimes, they make the other party out to be a villain, and overemphasize their guilt.  And sometimes, they perceive themselves as helpless—powerless to do anything healthy or helpful.  Try to take control of these stories, the authors suggest, so they won’t control you.  Don’t confuse stories with facts.  And tell the rest of the story, in order to get closer to the truth.

Sixth, STATE my path.  STATE is another acronym that Crucial Conversations uses to help you remember how to act during such conversations. It stands for:

·      Share your facts

·      Tell your story

·      Ask for others paths

·      Talk tentatively

·      Encourage testing.

In all cases, the authors state, speak persuasively, not abrasively.

Seventh, explore others’ paths.  Look to understand the emotions, thoughts, and experiences of the other party to the conversation.  Try to move away from harsh feelings and knee-jerk reactions, and towards the root causes of those feelings and reactions.  And be curious.  When others appear to be stubborn or acting strangely, try to figure out why a reasonable, rational, and decent person think or feel this way?

Finally, move to action.  The ultimate goal of any crucial conversation is to identify and take appropriate actions.  If action is not taken, the conversation will eventually lead to disappointment and hard feelings.  Once a plan of action is decided, agree on when and how follow-up will occur, and document who does what by when—and follow through!

Crucial Conversations (Part 1)

by Seth Sinclair

In 2002, Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler published the first edition of their landmark book, “Crucial Conversations: tools for talking when stakes are high.”  Since then, the book has been revised once (in 2012), has sold more than 2 million copies, and has been translated into 28 languages.  It is regularly listed among the most popular business books available anywhere.

The authors have written that they didn’t set out to write a book on communication.  Instead, they were researching the behaviors of high performing managers.  They found that, most of the time, these high performers were indistinguishable from their peers—but as soon as the stakes were high, emotions were strong, and opinions differed, top performers were significantly more effective than others.

When those conditions exist, the authors believe, learning to speak up effectively in conversations helps managers, or anyone, to achieve the results they are after.  These conversations are no longer typical, but become crucial.  Crucial conversations are common both in work situations and at home. 

Some examples of crucial conversations include ending a relationship; asking a friend to repay a loan; providing feedback to your boss on his or her behavior; critiquing a colleague’s work; talking to a team member who isn’t keeping his or her commitments; and talking to a colleague who is hoarding information or resources.

There are three ways in which crucial conversations are usually handled; they are avoided, faced and handled poorly, or faced and handled well. Unfortunately, most people handle these types of conversations poorly because our instincts tend to sabotage our effectiveness when we have opposing viewpoints, high emotions, or take part in high impact discussions.  We need skills to overcome those tendencies for better outcomes.

Those who master the skills in the Crucial Conversations book reap a number of very significant benefits.   Knowing how to implement crucial conversations can kick start your career; improve the operations of your organization; improve your personal and professional relationships; revitalize your family and community; and even improve your personal health.

There are eight steps outlined in the book to help you succeed in creating alignment and agreement by fostering open dialogue around high-stakes, emotional, or risky topics.  In my next post, I’ll discuss those steps in some detail—but I strongly urge you to buy the book and refer to it frequently, as I do.

Critical Thinking

by Seth Sinclair

Critical thinking is the ability to conduct disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence.  In today’s environment, where leaders are confronted with rapid change, evolving technologies, information overload, political uncertainty, financial risk, and many other challenges, critical thinking is an essential skill.  Fortunately, the ability to think critically as well as strategically (see my previous post on strategic thinking), can be practiced and mastered.   Some techniques to improve critical thinking include:

Reframe problems to get to the bottom of things.  Every situation can be looked at from different angles. By shifting frames of reference, and by looking at situations from different points of view, leaders get new, and different, kinds of insights that enable them to find the true causes of issues and ultimately result in better decisions.

Challenge current beliefs and mindsets, including your own.   John F. Kennedy once said, “Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”  Critical thinking requires a willingness to revisit our opinions, to assess how they were formed, and to look for prejudices and biases.  Having an open or “growth” mindset will allow you to consider new perspectives and theories, including those that may challenge your current position. 

In her book “Mindset, the new psychology of success,” psychologist Carol Dweck writes “the passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives.”

Explore analogies and metaphors.  Metaphors and analogies help us make sense of the world in which we live.  Analogies are comparisons between two different things in order to highlight some point of similarity. Metaphors are words or phrases for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to suggest that they are similar.

Using analogies and metaphors allows us to tap into our knowledge and understanding of something familiar to explore or express an unfamiliar concept.  When faced with a need to understand and make decisions about an ambiguous problem, a powerful technique is to explore parallels with some other experience.  If the purpose of critical thinking is to decide what to believe or do, an important approach is to use another circumstance to structure thinking about the problem. This facilitates analytical thinking, and supports both reflection and communication.

Ask powerful questions. In a previous post, we wrote about the importance of powerful questions in coaching.  Used at the right point in a coaching conversation, such questions have the power to reveal new perspectives and to find new ways to move forward and take action. 

Leaders find value in powerful questions as well.  A leader might ask herself or himself the following questions:

·      What might be possible?

·      What would I do with a blank slate if there were no limitations?

·      Who else has faced these challenges and what can I learn from those experiences?

·      What have we not yet explored?

·      What is holding us back?

By asking powerful questions, leaders can change their understanding about the way things are, look at things in a new light, and find different ways to solve both personal and professional problems.

Be prepared to practice.  Building the discipline needed to think critically takes commitment and hard work.  As with any skill, you will need to practice, first by becoming more conscious of your current thinking processes and then by identifying and exploring opportunities to instill structured checkpoints in your approach.  As you become more proficient, you will expand your capacity and increase the overall quality and effectiveness of your thinking.    

Ultimately, a good critical thinker not only questions everything, but also analyzes everything, and places everything in context. Critical thinkers are aware of their assumptions and prejudices, and understand how they affect their thought processes.  They look past the surface of things to get the whole picture.  And they come up with effective solutions, because they are able to address the real issues involved.  

Strategic Thinking

by Seth Sinclair

When people hear the terms “strategy,” or “strategic thinking,” they often think of visionary leaders such as Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, or Warren Buffett.  As a result, they have the mistaken belief that thinking strategically is something that’s beyond their capabilities, or above their level of responsibility.

Strategic thinking, however, can be as simple as becoming more in tune with how your decisions, and your actions, impact on your organization, and how those decisions and actions help your organization to reach its goals.  Everyone is capable of this kind of thinking.  Perhaps more importantly, taking a few simple steps can improve everyone’s abilities to think strategically.

Recently, I gave a talk at a strategic retreat hosted by one of SAG’s clients. Part of my talk covered issues related to strategic thinking: what it is, how it can be fostered, and what the barriers to thinking in this way may be. 

Essentially, strategic thinking is a broad, long-range approach to problem solving and decision-making.  Characteristics of strategic thinking include objective analysis, thinking ahead, and sound planning.

Almost to a person, great leaders are strategic thinkers.  They use their skills in this area every single day. These leaders have the ability to look at decisions before they are made and discern their impact on their organizations on every part of their organization, and on their customers and the public at large. 

Leaders with sound strategic thinking skills are also able to evaluate the impact of their decisions over time: not only what will happen immediately, but also what the effect of those decisions will be six months, a year, even three to five years from now.

How do they do this?  Strategic thinkers set aside time for planning sessions, both by themselves and with groups.  They seek out every opportunity to learn more about the industry they are in; the market for their products; their customers’ likes and dislikes; and new technologies that may change their organizations’ future.  They constantly share information with others, both within their company and with others in their profession.

Most of the best strategic thinkers have, or have had, had mentors and coaches to help them clarify their vision, evaluate their priorities and values, and hold themselves accountable to their goals. They are open to learning new things, and to the suggestions and best thoughts of others.

Obstacles that can get in the way of sound strategic thinking include the problem that tactical responses to immediate demands are often rewarded over long-term vision and planning.  Some leaders are not able to prioritize, and cannot accept that some projects they or others believe are important must be left behind to focus on others.

Some organizations focus too much on productivity, and too little on vision.  As the management consultant and writer Peter Drucker once wrote, “there is nothing quite so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” 

And some leaders are simply unable to make decisions.  In the words of the nineteenth-century French emperor Napoleon, “nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.”

Being a good strategic thinker will help you, and the organization for which you work, to accomplish goals more quickly.  Organizations that encourage sound strategic thinking are proactive, not reactive.  They are able to make the best uses of their resources, quickly take advantage of opportunities that present themselves, and solve problems instead of letting them fester and grow.  In short, organizations that encourage strategic thinking have a better chance of being successful.

To summarize, improve your strategic thinking skills by building in time to plan, alone and with others; stay on top of developments in your organization and your field of business; keep in touch with your customers: share your information with others; keep on learning; and get a coach or a mentor to help you in your efforts.  The time and effort you put in will be well worth it.   

  

Coaching and Skills Improvement

by Seth Sinclair

In our recent post on “Expanding Leadership Capacity,” we cited a number of ways in which great coaches help their clients.  One of the most important of these is skills improvement.

Improving a client’s job skills, strictly speaking, is not a function of coaching.  Sometimes, while assessing how he or she can help a client, a coach finds the reason a client is not performing up to capacity is because he or she doesn’t have the skills to do his or her job properly.  In that case, what is called for is not coaching, but training—and training programs are usually thought of as the responsibility of trainers and teachers, not coaches.

Training programs, however, have significant limitations.  For one thing, they don’t fit everyone’s different learning styles.  They don’t take into account the learning goals of each individual, and their lessons are often not applied once the student returns to the workplace.

Coaches can’t substitute for the kinds of best practices and techniques that are learned in training programs.  Instead, they help create new ways of thinking that make coachees aware of what they need to do to move forward, including determining areas in which their skills need to be developed. 

After a coachee receives training in a specific area, the coach and coachee can collaborate to identify pertinent “take-aways”; identify plans for implementing the behaviors and skills that have been learned; and then assess, over time, whether the skills learned in the training are having their intended effect.

Coaches encourage coachees to learn for themselves on a continuous basis.  This, in turn, helps coachees develop better learning skills, and makes them capable of learning, not only from formal training courses, but also from almost any experience they encounter.   According to Herb Stevenson of the Cleveland Consulting group, the more individuals are involved in identifying problems, working out their own solutions, and reviewing results, the more complete and long lasting the learning is. 

In one of Sinclair Associates’ current projects, we are holding group training sessions every month on topics including how to conduct “crucial conversations” (conversations that occur when the stakes are high) and “managing execution.”  To ensure that the lessons of these sessions have been thoroughly understood, we follow up with each participant in subsequent-one-on-one sessions to discuss what the topic means to them—and how they can apply the lessons they are learning in their lives and work.

In the end, coaching is not a substitute for training, but a tool that increases the effectiveness of training, and improves the ability of coachees to implement what they have learned.  Having a good coach can make a significant difference in whether the skills learned in a training program can take root and lead to permanent changes and improvements in skills and performance.

Can people truly change?

by Seth Sinclair

“How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?” goes the old joke.  “Only one,” is the answer.  “But the light bulb has to want to change!”

Light bulbs can’t change themselves, of course.  But on April 11, 2014, Jack Zenger, an expert in the field of leadership development and an executive coach himself, published an article on Forbes magazine’s blog addressing the issue of whether it’s possible for human beings to change.  The article, titled “Are people changeable, or are they cast in cement?” can be found here.

Zenger trots out the old clichés, “a leopard can’t change his spots,” and “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” to demonstrate the common belief that people basically are who they are.  Then he reminds his readers that there are libraries full of self-help books, and an entire adult education and development industry, predicated on the belief that not only is change possible in adults, there are no limits to the abilities of people to grow and learn at all stages of their lives.

As any good researcher would, Zenger accepts neither position as fact, but uses data to cast some light on the subject.  His company (Zenger Folkman, a consulting firm that provides consulting and leadership development programs for clients) has digitized more than half a million 360-degree feedback instruments written about 50,000 managers and executives.

(A 360-degree feedback evaluation involves obtaining different sources of information, including supervisors, peers, direct reports, and sometimes customers, about a manager’s performance, in order to help that manager become a better leader.)

By mining that data, he learned that forty-eight percent of those who received 360-degree feedback more than once had feedback scores that either stayed the same or declined over time—but fifty-two percent improved, many of whom had received “shockingly” low scores in particular leadership competencies in their first evaluation.

These “shockingly” low scores, Zenger believes, had the effect of “a whack on the head”—a strong message that change is needed if the leader is to continue in his or her position.  That group significantly improved their scores between evaluations—and their ratings overall were two and a half times better in the second rating than the first.

From this, Zenger concludes that those who receive strong messages are the most motivated to change, especially to change behaviors that significantly detract from their overall performance. 

Many people, however, don’t want to change, and if there’s no compelling reason to do the hard work involved in changing behaviors, they don’t.  Leaders can help that process along by taking an interest in the development of their employees and getting involved with their career development.  If they believe their employees can change, they will.  If they don’t, they won’t.  According to Zenger, it’s a self-fulfilling process.

As a coach, I’ve seen many dramatic instances where people have changed behaviors that were keeping them from reaching their full leadership potential.  Usually, but not always, those people needed a trigger, whether from a 360-degree assessment, a supervisor’s comment, or even their own acknowledgement of prohibitive behaviors or ways of thinking, that made them understand change was essential. 

A good coach will enthusiastically partner with those clients, providing a framework to learn the behaviors they need to make them more mindful and successful.

It turns out, therefore, that the old light bulb joke holds true about employees.  It takes only one executive coach to improve an employee’s leadership skills—but the leader, like the light bulb, must want to change.

Thanks to Kaveh Naficy, Program Director of Leadership Coaching for Organizational Performance at George Mason, and a founding partner of Philosophy IB, for sharing the Zenger article with me.

Expanding Leadership Capacity

by Seth Sinclair

In response to a recent request, I wrote the following:

Great coaches expand their clients’ capacity to lead; improve their skills in critical areas such as leadership, teamwork, communications, establishing relationships, and dealing with conflict; help them provide better service to their customers and stakeholders; drive new actions; and change old behaviors.

Those words embody the entire reason and purpose for executive coaching.  All leaders, or prospective leaders, would like to improve their abilities in each of those areas.  Coaching is, at its heart, a way of helping clients learn, and while no coach can guarantee success, there are techniques great coaches use to maximize their client’s chances to improve their leadership skills. 

In the next few posts, we’ll examine a few of these skills and demonstrate ways coaches help leaders to improve in these areas.

Our first topic will be expanding leadership capacity.  A Canadian leadership coach and blogger named Doug Blackie has offered an interesting way to think about what leadership capacity is and how it is developed. 

He suggests that a person can be hired to build a house, and given all the tools he or she will need to do so, including tools, lumber, building materials, blueprints, and even advice.  However, without the benefit of experience and the skill to execute the plan, the house is never going to get built in a satisfactory way.

In a similar fashion, Blackie argues, most leadership development training programs offer the tools prospective leaders need to manage groups of individuals—but without developing the capacity to lead, those tools will be of minimal utility. 

“Telling a leader that the best way to deal with conflict is to use respectful confrontation,” he writes, “will go nowhere if the leader fears rejection or has issues with conflict.”

Great coaches seek to expand leadership capacity by focusing on the individuals with whom they are working, instead of on specific leadership techniques.  They ask rather than tell.  They are partners in a journey towards greater competence and effectiveness.  They help leaders get as close as possible to achieve their full leadership potential, whatever that potential may be.

A coach can’t really help a client get better at something as specific as building a house—but a coach can surely help someone who knows how to build a house, but has a vision of becoming a successful developer.  In that case, coaching can help that person to get the leadership abilities and personal growth he or she will need to fulfill his or her vision.

Great coaches help leaders look within themselves, gain better perspective on their own beliefs and actions, and work with them to identify where these traits and behaviors are serving them well or holding them back. 

Great coaches don’t solve problems for clients.  Instead, they facilitate the kind of thinking processes that allow clients to solve their processes themselves. 

Finally, great coaches help clients look outside themselves as well as inside, and determine whether or not they are getting the support they need from employees, peers, and supervisors.  By identifying challenges and opportunities in theses in these areas, coaches support the client in identifying solutions, exploring changes—and expand their clients’ leadership capacities.

On Credentialing

by Seth Sinclair

One of the more unusual aspects of the executive coaching profession is that coaches need no specific license or accreditation to join its ranks.  That isn’t true, of course, of many other professions: lawyers need to pass bar examinations; doctors need to graduate from approved medical schools. 

The International Coaching Federation (ICF), of which I am a member, manages a formal certification program. While there are other associations of executive coaches, some of which have their own certification programs, ICF is the world’s largest and most recognizable.

The ICF credentialing program is designed to protect and serve those who contract with, and use, coaching services.  It is also designed to measure and certify the competence of those who have entered the coaching profession, and to inspire coaches to continue to develop and improve their coaching skills.

While having a credential doesn’t guarantee that a coach is a good one, it does show a level of commitment to coaching as a profession.  It’s also a significant way to discern if a coach has professional training and a verified history of experience.

According to the organization itself, ICF accredited coaches “demonstrate not only knowledge and skill, but also a commitment to high professional standards and a strong code of ethics.”

To receive the ICF’s designation of “associate certified coach,” coaches must have received 60 hours of coach specific training, 10 hours of mentoring with another professional coach, and have completed 100 hours of coaching others with at least 8 different clients, 75 hours of which must have been paid for by clients.

To become a “professional certified coach” as the organization calls them, coaches must have completed 125 hours of coach-specific training, and 750 hours of coaching others with at least 25 clients, 675 hours of which must have been paid for by clients. 

And finally, to reach the highest rung on the ladder, and become a “master certified coach,” coaches must have 200 hours of coach-specific training, and 2500 hours (2250 paid) of coaching with at least 35 different clients.  They must also send in two recorded coaching sessions so that their performance can be evaluated.

Coaches in all three groups must have their credentials renewed every three years, and must have taken 40 units of continuing education courses on coaching in that time.  Starting April 1, 2014, all coaches must successfully pass a coaching knowledge assessment—a multiple-choice, Web based exam that applicants can take on their home or work computers. The assessment is designed to demonstrate a coach’s knowledge of ICF’s core competencies and code of ethics.

To date, ICF reports that more than 11,000 coaches have participated in one of the three coaching programs.

The Ladder of Inference

by Seth Sinclair

Creating awareness is the essence of how coaches help clients to learn.  For me, creating awareness is the process of helping leaders step outside of themselves to get a more complete and objective picture of what makes them tick.

What kinds of things should leaders be aware of about themselves that they normally may not consider?  The list includes understanding how they are perceived by others; their assumptions and guiding beliefs; their personal values; whether their current mindset is fixed or open; their decision making style; the way in which they process and experience emotions; and their personality type.

Coaches help leaders dig into each of these areas to help them better understand why they do what they do.  Sometimes, coaches create this level of awareness during their coaching sessions, using tools like powerful questions—questions that make the person required to answer them think and reflect before responding.  Powerful questions play an important role in creating awareness, because a good coach will ask the kind of questions that will bring the leader to a deeper understanding of his or her goals, objectives, and current situation.

Other times, a coach will utilize assessments tools to provide leaders with objective data that can build perspective, open areas for discussion, and facilitate goal development.  These include psychometric tests designed to measure knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits. 

A common example is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which measures preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions.  360-degree assessments, which enable a leader to gather performance feedback from peers, direct reports, supervisors, customers, and others, are another useful tool to gather data and expand an individual’s self-perception.

An important concept related to creating awareness is called the “ladder of inference.”  The ladder of inference, developed by organizational psychologist Chris Argyris, describes the process each of us use hundreds of times a day to process what we see and feel, and to decide what action to take based on our observations and emotions.

The ladder of inference is a powerful tool to help people understand how and why they think as they do about an issue—their thinking and reasoning process.  It helps leaders recognize their tendencies to make claims and statements about the world they assume to be true, and expect others to unquestionably accept, but with which others may actually disagree. It also helps people understand why they think differently about various issues, and enables them to better empathize with others’ thinking.

Let’s review the ladder of inference together.

At the bottom of the ladder, on the first rung, is the pool of information that represents all of the raw information that could be relevant in any situation, what we might see or understand if we saw and understood absolutely everything that was going on. 

On the second rung is the way that we make selections from the pool, or our “selected reality.” None of us can notice everything, and we see things selectively based on our beliefs and previous experiences.  What’s important here is to understand that others may take different information from the pool based on their experiences and beliefs.

On the next rung, we describe to ourselves what we believe is going on, our “interpreted reality.” This tells us what the observations we have made on the previous rung mean to us.

On the fourth rung, we apply our existing assumptions to what we have observed and felt.  The things we have previously learned about similar situations have a powerful influence on how we interpret and evaluate what we see.

On the fifth rung, we draw conclusions based on our assumptions, using the facts we have interpreted and the assumptions we have made.

On the sixth rung, we develop beliefs, or theories, based on these conclusions. As humans, we seek consistency in understanding our experiences by weaving past and present experience into coherent actions.

And on the final rung, we take actions that seem right to us based on our beliefs.

What the ladder shows is that our beliefs have a major influence on how we select the facts we are going to use in making decisions.  We “jump to conclusions” when we miss important facts and skip steps in our reasoning process.  

I encourage leaders to understand their own ladders of influence, so that they can get back to understanding facts, and use their beliefs and experiences in a positive way.  My hope is that they will expand their “fields of judgment,” instead of limiting them.  The construct helps them draw better conclusions, improves their ability to analyze data, and enables them to better validate and challenge other people’s conclusions.

My goal is to provide leaders with better awareness so they can slow down reactions that might otherwise be on auto-pilot.  Better awareness gives them more control and allows them more choices. A self-aware leader is one who is able to identify and employ the most skillful response possible to any situation or challenge.

There are a number of good descriptions of the Ladder of Influence on the Internet and I have drawn from a few of them in this article.  If you’ve got a few minutes, you might want to check out this humorous video by Trevor Maber on TedEd: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/rethinking-thinking-trevor-maber. Enjoy!