If you follow this blog, you know that I am high on Bob
Dale’s book, Growing Agile Leaders: Coaching Leaders to Move with Sure-Footedness in a Seismic World, available in both hard copy and Kindle formats. This is a book about coaching. Dale looks to Co-Active Coaching for this
definition: “Coaching is a
growth-oriented, strategic relationship.
Coaching links two peers, equals who are in distinct roles, to
collaborate as thought partners and to find the way forward for the person being
coached.” This book is written for the
two participants in a coaching conversation—leaders who are ready to address
their situation in order to move ahead and coaches who work with them.
The underlying theme of the book is that we live in an
increasingly unstable world. In order to
find our way in such a world, we must develop new skills and ways of
thinking. Dale has a high regard and
respect for leaders, but he also realizes that a leader needs a companion for
the journey, “thought partner” who will both challenge and
support the leader.
For leaders, the book helps to clarify the situations they
find themselves in and to examine some tools that will move them beyond those situations. Even the best of leaders, those who have survived
and prospered in the past, often find themselves in rapidly changing situations
that demand a new way of thinking. I
recently facilitated an online coaching group of pastors, each facing challenging
situations. One pastor was moving his
congregation out of a facility they had sold to an adjoining business and were
moving into a temporary location in a school.
Another was considering what his impending retirement would mean both to
him and his church. The third was in the
middle of a capital campaign and working with his staff to establish a third
worship service. Although each person’s
challenge was different, they were all dealing with significant change with many
components that they did not create and that they could not control! These leaders are dealing with seismic
changes.
For coaches, the book takes the coaching relationship to
another level. I have described this
book to some friends as a “second level” coaching book. There is some attention to the fundamentals
of the coaching conversation, but Dale provides questions, concepts and
resources that move coaching to another level.
Each discipline Dale introduces provides a new lens to examine the
client’s abilities, situation, and response. He drops in some family systems
theory, “whole brain thinking,” creativity concepts, and insights from a number
of other disciplines to provide new perspectives to the coach. As the coach embraces these perspectives, he
or she can help the client to think about their situation in new ways that can
be tremendously productive.
Whether you are a leader or a coach, Growing Agile
Leaders will be a good resource for you as you face a rapidly changing world.
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