Published in Kingstown College Coaching Magazine 2019/2020
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift.
– Albert Einstein
In this article, Steven Lane explains his interpretation of Transformational Coaching, demonstrates how it can be used in the executive coaching space, and puts forward his own 8-stage coaching model from dependency to awakening.
I first encountered the above quote on Richard Branson’s Facebook page and I was instantly excited to wonder how many business leaders may be ready to go beyond the considerable limitations of the thinking mind, and by tapping into deeper aspects of themselves and their “heart wisdom”, become “transformed” leaders and thus a force for a more evolved and transformed world.
Like many people in our young profession, coaching was something of a revelation and an immediate calling. The idea that it is possible to bring forth a person’s greater potential via a series of meetings involving deep listening, questioning, growth of awareness and committed action, without supplying answers or imposing one’s own ideas continues to inspire me. Every time I see it work, and watch an individual blossom, I am left awe struck.
And yet, I am also aware that we are just skimming the surface; that most coaching is largely a horizontal and transactional journey designed to bring about specific goals and outcomes whilst affirming the sense of self that needs ongoing recognition and achievement.
Personally, on the basis of my own 35-year journey of meditation, personal and spiritual development, I wondered how applicable the vertical journey towards the greater Self could be within a coaching context, as opposed to a mentoring or teaching relationship.
Also, I kept recognising both my therapy and coaching clients presenting with a need to explore their inner dimension. For example: L, a 45-year-old, senior executive for a well-known Irish company opened with, “After 20 years working for this company, I feel spent, emotionally empty. The company in its quest for profit and following major corporate reorganisation, has turned us into mere cogs in a machine. Something inside me is waking up and knows there has to be more to life. I want to go to work feeling inspired; to feel part of a force for good. I want to come home and smile at my wife and children and feel my day has made a valuable contribution. And most of all, I want to discover the inherent joy of my being which I have read about in several books, but I have no idea how to reach it”
L is not alone with such feelings, though for the most, such feelings within the work environment are not expressed and instead are held in check, adding to the stress load and often an inner sense of fading away.
It was interesting to me, when I read Sir John Whitmore’s seminal book, “Coaching for Performance” how towards the end, he emphasises the need for evolved leadership and introduces “transpersonal coaching” mainly on the basis of “Assagioli’s” model of psychosynthesis (Assagioli was a psychiatrist and early pioneer of humanistic and transpersonal psychology who developed an approach which was years ahead of its time).
A few quotes from Whitmore’s book highlight the need for a transformational approach to coaching within leadership:
“So we need leaders who are values driven – that means collective values, not selfish values ……. “
“So leaders for the future need to have values and vision and to be authentic and agile, aligned and on purpose. Add awareness and responsibility to the mix, self-belief and a good measure of emotional intelligence and we have a powerful recipe.”
“A psychosynthesis trained coach will invite the coachee to reframe life as a developmental journey, to see the creative potential within each problem, to see obstacles as stepping stones, and to imagine that we all have a purpose in life with challenges and obstacles to overcome in order to fulfil that purpose.”
“transpersonal coaching opens the door to the superconscious”
“coaches are midwives at the birth of a new social order, one in which compassion for all people and caring for all of nature and our only home form the core theme.”
When you contemplate Whitmore’s words it is apparent that the transpersonal is a natural progression for coaching and “spiritual” within this context is about a natural inner evolution as opposed to adopting some kind of externally imposed belief system or religious dogma.
When I asked “L”, the executive mentioned above, what kind of a leader he wanted to be and what would make his work purposeful, he said, “ I want to show up for work as myself and be authentic. I want to bring my humanity to work. I want to make my employees feel valued and I want to be able to act not only from my head, but also from my heart and my spirit. And I want to feel alive and joyful and help my company be truly relevant”.
When you hear this, it is obvious that the executive needed transformational coaching (I use the word transformational as opposed to trans-personal because I feel it embraces more of the journey from self centered and goal orientated to being humanity and globally centred, based on Being, Heartfullness and Wisdom and the discovery of the Trans-personal Self. )
Personally, I felt the need to look at models other that Assagioli’s, not least because he prescribes lengthy psycho-analysis as the starting point and because through my own journey, I discovered many valuable approaches and tools which are as good if not more effective.
One such approach is that of Leon VanderPol, founder of the Centre for Transformational Coaching, author of “ A Shift in Being: The Art and Practices of Deep Transformational Coaching and probably the world’s leading authority on transformational coaching.
VanderPol sees coaching approaches as a polarity between transactional coaching (goal orientated) and transformational coaching (aimed at awakening a person to their true spiritual essence) with everything in between being what he calls developmental coaching.
VanderPol begins his book with: (Chapter 1: The Deep Coaching Potential)
“Evocation: Around the world, across cultures and religions, people are awakening to the potentials and realities of higher consciousness. More and more people are sensing and desiring a connection with their deeper essence, and feel compelled by an inexplicable life force to understand the greater nature and meaning of existence. What does it mean to awaken? Awakening is a rich and complex experience that defies a narrow definition, but the essence of awakening is the new-found awareness and experience of one’s spiritual reality. It’s not an event, it’s a process— a process in which spiritual consciousness flows into the mind, reorienting the mind to a reality that lies beyond the ‘veil’ of superficial definitions and material boundaries. The veil then begins to lift and the awakened mind becomes aware of living in a distorted perceptual reality, a dream of self-imposed limitations, where what was thought to be true is in fact a shadow dance masking an expansive and encompassing Truth.”
VanderPol’s approach to this is to facilitate a transformational journey via 9 coaching practices which he sees as the equivalent as the Core Coaching Competencies. For example, the first practice is: slow it all down and sync with the rhythm of life and spirit, Practice 6 is: attune to your client’s Deeper Sense of Self and let that lead.
So, instead of the coaching session being based on a model such as GROW in which a lot of questions are asked and actions agreed upon, the coaching is about the Coach themselves having the capacity to hold a sacred space, to tune into the emerging potential of the client and the situation, and often through silence to allow the coachee to tap into their true Self.
The first practice sets up the ability to enter this space: (from his book)
“In my experience, the closer I get to Spirit the better I am able to connect with the rhythms of life that are optimal for the well-being of my body, mind, and soul. For others, proximity to nature and its energies and rhythms creates that same sense of well-being. When I live in harmony with those natural rhythms, from wherever I derive them, I thrive. Conversely, when I get caught up in the hustle and bustle, succumbing to the pressure to get things done, move things forward, make things happen (the faster the better, of course), or when I try to push or force things to happen that are not ready to happen, stress and tension settle in, and I am no longer in my optimal state of connection, flow, and well-being. I am effectively acting against my own desire to live at a higher level of personal consciousness.”
This is very much how I worked with L, the executive. In our early sessions, we did some talking and exploring, and then we moved onto “inner” practices. One was to begin with something akin to mindfulness. I asked L to just sit and notice the totality of his experience. I suggested that by being aware of his experience, his tensions would dissolve, his thought flow would calm and he could shift to a heart awareness. Then I asked him to ask his deeper self, “ what am I being called to?”
This reminds me of my favourite business book: “Reinventing Organisations by Frederic Laloux”. Laloux charts the appearance, culture and practices of so-called TEAL organisations – that is organisations that have adopted higher consciousness practices based on a higher level of wisdom to run their businesses or organisations. Businesses are managed without the normal hierarchy or budgets, the evolutionary purpose of the organisation is key (which is discovered though employees sitting together in silence and listening for it or asking, “ what is the organisation being called to do” ) and the organisation is run on person centred practices with employees being encouraged to show up for work as themselves without the usual masks.
And in case you think this sounds like some crazy hippy idea, such organisations have proven themselves to be highly effective and profitable and more resilient than normal organisations. Key to such organisations though is an “enlightened” leader who does not so much do, but holds the space so the above practices can be implemented. For such leaders to exist, many leaders will need to go through a transformational coaching process.
The term TEAL is a description of a person or organisation who has arrived at a certain level of consciousness which gives them a specific perspective and enables them to act in different ways. (see my later description of the self-actualised person)
I was curious about this because many years ago, when I was a business consultant, we used a model based upon “Spiral Dynamics” in which a person’s values and intention were indicators of their behaviours. In fact, a number of people have attempted to develop a map of consciousness development including: Ken Wilber, Clare Graves, Don Beck, Chris Cowan, Susan Cook Greuter, Jane Loevinger, Tara Springett. The specific description depends how we are measuring growth – e.g. by values, stages of ego development, intention, way of relating to the world, direct experience.
I have found this to be immensely valuable when using a transformational coaching model – to have a model enables me to recognise where a person is on their journey and what practices may be helpful. I have developed the model and could write an entire book on it, but the below is a brief overview from the lowest level to the highest. But note that whilst we have a dominant level, we also show lower or higher levels from time to time, depending upon the situation. Also we will often have lower level “stuff” to resolve later.
[table “3” not found /]Most people who are attending transformational coaching are transitioning from level 4 to 5 or from 5 to 6. Very different approaches are needed. For 4 to 5 it is necessary to explore feelings, beliefs, values and purpose and connect a person to their inner world. A space similar to that proposed by the humanist psychotherapist Carl Rogers is useful (empathy, unconditional positive regard, congruence). For 5 to 6, Leon VanderPol’s model is more useful in which a person connects directly to spirit.
None of this can be rushed and certainly cannot be faked! Each stage needs to be completed more or less.
L, the executive attended for 12 sessions. During the first half we focused on exploring his inner world and finding out what he really wanted. He put much emphasis on coming out of his head and being able to live from his heart. We coupled this with his desire to be authentic and he started to act upon this at home and at work.
He arrived for session 11 glowing. He reported: “ I went for a walk in the rain and finished up sitting in the park for many hours. I suddenly became acutely present and everything took on a bright vibrant aspect. I could suddenly no longer separate myself from the trees and the birds and the rain. My whole being filled with bliss and a lifetime of sorrow was released”.
L went on to take a one year sabbatical from work before resigning and setting up a consultancy company specialising in employee engagement and wellbeing. His original company had failed to develop and there was no longer a match – they lost an awakening leader. Transformational coaching was exactly what he needed, and as the world goes though the challenging times we are now in, many can see the emergence of a new relationship with life, the environment and economic models. Transformational coaching will be highly relevant and only coaches who have gone through transformational coaching themselves will have the Presence to coach others.
By Steven Lane
Steven Lane is a personal development and transformational coach and trainer. With a varied background including coaching, therapy, 7 years as a Buddhist monk and a decade as a business and NGO consultant, he has spent the last 20 years dedicated to helping individuals heal themselves and discover the depths of their potential. He works with private individuals and organisations in person and via Skype/Facetime.
Tel: (00353) 0851003916
Email: [email protected]
