During This Season of Pandemic, Economic and Racial Crisis.
We are in an unprecedented, sustained period of uncertainty. In the U.S., the mysterious novel COVID 19 is once again surging with no vaccination on the close horizon. Our country is experiencing historic joblessness, and centuries of systemic oppression and racism has been laid bare.
Millions of people are afraid, de-stabilized and traumatized. Still, they need to:
- unleash their best thinking
- establish clarity in chaos
- decide their way-forward
- build resilience
- manage their stress
- take decisive action
This is exactly what coaching makes possible!
It is a very busy time for all the helping professions including psychologists, therapists, and executive leadership coaches. Are you aware that UC Davis Organizational Excellence has International Coaching Federation (ICF) credentialed coaches on staff to help leaders re-orient and thrive? Here’s the link: https://hr.ucdavis.edu/departments/oe/coaching.
Below are seven reasons to consider coaching for leaders and or managers in this moment.ii
1) Giving managers and leaders coaching provides a noticeable ripple effect. Research shows that leaders have a potent impact on the “weather” of their organization. When they are calm, emotionally regulated, thoughtful, and patient, those around them feel more able to respond more thoughtfully as well. iii
2) The small amount invested in coaching during a crisis will pay off in terms of larger gains. The companies and individuals that will get through this time are those that maintain a fair amount of calm center, limit the toxic impact of stress, are flexible and agile, and truly “think outside the box.”
3) Many tools and techniques of professional coaching are proven to reduce stress.iv When we are stressed, it is much more difficult to have empathy, think creatively, control impulses, and make effective plans. When stress is reduced through coaching, people have more access to creativity, empathy, and resilience, all of which are critical right now.
4) Coaching helps people process what is going on. This is an unprecedented time—the very fact that we have little to compare it to makes it exceptionally difficult to process and make sense of. Many people need the support of coaching to do this effectively.
5) Coaching helps people find their own resilience and capacity, even when we cannot change the external landscape. When people are what we might call, “returned to themselves” through coaching, they see more possibility and find more internal resilience. This restores some sense of control in what feels like an uncontrollable world.
6) This will most likely lead to permanent changes for individuals and organizations. We know coaching is an effective way to help people navigate change. v We are not going back to “business as usual” after this. Coaching helps us know and express our own needs, desires and boundaries as things change so we can be active “co-creators” in what is to come.
7) Coaches help people get unstuck and move out of fixed patterns or mindsets. Coaching helps people identify limiting beliefs and move into more open and responsive mindsets.
This can also be a time of unprecedented generosity, creativity, and expectation setting as to what is to come… what is evolving. To participate in this higher-level thinking, however, one must move through the threat-stress brain state. vi Coaching can help with that. Are you and your team prepared to co-create the post-pandemic, post-social unrest new reality?
- ii.Excerpted from Ann Betz and William Arruda, Top Ten Reasons You (and Your Organization) Need Coaching More Than Ever
- iii.Claudio Pousa & Anne Mathieu (2015) Is Managerial Coaching A Source of Competitive Advantage? Promoting employee self-regulation through coaching, Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 8:1, 20-35, DOI: 10.1080/17521882.2015.1009134
- iv.International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring Vol. 9, No. 1, February 2011 Page 29 Stress management through workplace coaching: The impact of learning experiences
- v.Making Positive Change: A Randomized Study Comparing Solution-Focused Vs. Problem-Focused Coaching Questions Anthony M. Grant University of Sydney, Journal of Systemic Therapies, Vol. 31, No. 2, 2012, Pp. 21–35
- vi.Arnsten A, Mazure CM, Sinha R. This is your brain in meltdown. Sci Am. 2012 Apr;306(4):48-53. doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican0412-48. PMID: 22486116; PMCID: PMC4774859