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     DEVELOPING MENTORING & COACHING RESEARCH AND PRACTICE  

Papers from the 3rd EMCC Research Conference 27 & 28 June 2013, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland              

Editors: Po Lindvall 

David Megginson  

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EMCC MENTORING & COACHING CONFERENCE

TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN

27th - 28th June 2013

Edited by: Po Lindvall

Professor David Megginson

© European Mentoring & Coaching Council 2013

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Published by

European Mentoring & Coaching Council PO Box 3154

Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 3WD United Kingdom

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© European Mentoring & Coaching Council 2013 V

CONTENTS

THE STATE OF THE RESEARCH GAME IN MENTORING AND COACHING CONFERENCE AND BOOK OVERVIEW ........................................................................................ 9 

GOALS IN COACHING AND MENTORING: THE CURRENT STATE OF PLAY ............. 13 

EMCC IRELAND COACHING MARKET RESEARCH IN PARTNERSHIP WITH IBEC ...... 27 

THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF COACHING IMPLICATIONS FOR COACHING TODAY ..... 37 

TEAM PROCESSES THAT MATTER MOST TO TEAM PERFORMANCE IN GLOBAL, CROSS-FUNCTIONAL PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TEAMS ....................................... 47 

HOW ARE ORGANISATIONS USING COACHING AS A TOOL WITHIN THEIR HUMAN CAPITAL STRATEGY? ........................................................................................ 59 

WHAT IS THE IMPACT ON SERVICE USERS OF DEVELOPING A COACHING CULTURE FOR HEALTH SERVICE MANAGERS? ................................................................... 73 

MENTORING FOR EMPLOYABILITY IN THE CONTEXT OF RACE, CULTURE AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC DIVERSITY: A PUBLIC SECTOR DEVELOPMENTAL MENTORING SCHEME ..................................................................................................................... 103 

WHAT ARE THE NEW RESEARCH FINDINGS ON TRAIT EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND WHAT IMPLICATIONS DO THESE HAVE FOR COACHES? ............................. 115 

MENTORSHIP AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION MUSIC CURRICULUM ................................................................................................. 147 

IT’S NOT ABOUT THE COACH - WHAT ARE THE BEHAVIOURS OF AN EFFECTIVE COACHEE? ..................................................................................................... 159 

UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESS OF REGAINING RESILIENCE WITHIN A COACHING RELATIONSHIP ............................................................................................... 173 

WHAT ARE THE EXPERIENCES OF EXTERNAL EXECUTIVE COACHES WORKING WITH COACHEES’ ASSIGNED GOALS? ....................................................................... 187 

AN EXPLORATION INTO HOW COACHING RELATIONSHIPS EVOLVE OVER TIME . 202 

© European Mentoring & Coaching Council 2013 VI

SYMBOLISM AND INCLUSION IN SUPERVISION. DEVELOPING PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AND REINFORCING THE GROUP DYNAMIC ........................................ 216 

DOES E-MENTORING WORK? THE EFFECTIVENESS AND CHALLENGES OF AN INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL MENTORING SCHEME .................................... 234 

A POLITICS OF GENTLENESS IN THE PRACTICE OF COACHING: THE DYNAMICS OF ENCLOSURE AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF ORDINARY ETHICS ............................ 246 

BEND OR BREAK? CONNECTING LEADERS WITH EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE ......... 260 

MENTORING NETWORKS AND OUTCOMES FOR NEW FACULTY .......................... 276 

© European Mentoring & Coaching Council 2013 VII

The European Mentoring & Coaching Council The European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) has been established to promote best practice and ensure that the highest possible standards are maintained in the coach/mentoring relationship, whatever form that might take, so that the coach/mentoring environment provides the greatest opportunity for learning and development The EMCC has more than 5,000 members in over 67 countries worldwide and 21 Affiliated Countries across Europe. It was created to promote professional good practice. EMCC welcomes coaches and mentors, sponsors of coaching and mentoring services, providers of coaching and mentoring training, researchers and others with an interest in the field. The European Quality Award (EQA), an international accreditation, provides rigorous standards underpinned by an evidence-based competence framework for providers of coaching and mentoring training programmes. The European Individual Accreditation (EIA) offers a similar accreditation for practitioners. The European Supervision Quality Award (ESQA) offers accreditation for providers of supervision training. The EMCC also publishes the International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching, a journal from and for Coaches, Mentors, Researchers, Human Resource Professionals and Training Institutes For more information on the European Mentoring & Coaching Council have a look at www.emccouncil.org.

© European Mentoring & Coaching Council 2013 9

THE STATE OF THE RESEARCH GAME IN MENTORING AND COACHING

CONFERENCE AND BOOK OVERVIEW

Po Lindvall

Success Cultures Research Centre Ltd & EMCC VP Research & EMCC Sweden President

Professor David Megginson

Emeritus Professor of HRD, Sheffield Business School, UK & European Mentoring and Coaching Council, UK

This third conference exhibited momentum – more people attending – and depth with more people clear about the kind of researcher they were. In the initial workshop when participants were asked what discipline they drew on in their research, among the answers were:

Performance, Gestalt, Goal-led Psychodrama, Communications theory After action review, Stoic, Zen Cognitive (Kegan and Argyris) Systemic constellations Empowerment, liberation Perfectionism Organisation behaviour, dog’s dinner; discourse, humanistic Executive and leadership development Coaching style, relationship, power, Carl Rogers, dependency-independency-

interdependency, McMurray, Foucault Adaptive mentoring Gender, adult development Alignment, transitional space Creating a coaching culture Learning, systemic, humanistic, NLP, solutions focus, positive psychology,

relationship co-creation Dropouts, coaching/learning styles, self-determination (Vygotsky) Resilience, narrative, cases, bricolage.

There are signs in this of practitioners conflating their coaching approach with their research approach, but two things need to be said about this:

Firstly, it is healthy to use the method of practice as the method of research Secondly, there is a more sophisticated feel to the list above than there was

to the dialogues last year in Sheffield and the year before that in Twente.

© European Mentoring & Coaching Council 2013 10

The conclusion of the workshop focused round the dimension of linear vs systemic and contrasted critical theory and performance measurement (efficacy, evaluation and efficiency) on the one hand, with emancipatory reflective practice, constructionism, thoughtfulness and retrospection.

PLENARIES

A fine plenary by Dr David McKevitt on public procurement mentoring for SMEs gave a ringing critique of positivistic mentoring research in the decades since Kathy Kram’s iconic (and qualitative!) paper. He was particularly scathing about the obsession of researchers about formal-informal distinctions. He said it was a clear example of the detachment of mentoring researchers from the grounded experience of practice. He outlined an interesting two by two matrix where the dimensions were certainty of outcomes and certainty about process. He also advocated using mentoring theory to explain practice in the case of public procurement from SMEs. We explored the question of whether mentoring and coaching were a profession or a discipline. His argument was that they were at best a discipline. Is there a bible of practice such as that held by the Project Management Institute? He suggested that we had a long way to go. Another plenary was stage managed by Paula King (president EMCC Ireland) and featured Pedro Angulo and two case studies – from the Irish Health Service (Jim Fleming) and Ireland’s local government (Maggie O’Brien). Pedro’s presentation was packed with data and provided a useful single country perspective on the work of the Ridler report and Frank Bresser’s work. An opportunity to review the data at leisure will repay the time and effort required (see page 27). The final plenary presented by Professor Bob Garvey was an illuminating perspective on the question of what the metaphor of the ‘wild west of coaching’ meant. He pointed out that you can constitute a river though discourse, but that you can still drown in it. He explored the discourses of therapy, control, fear, self-development and problematisation. He concluded that the discourse we choose affects our research fundamentally and that attention should be paid to it. He ended by making a plea for addressing the challenges of diversity, for complexity perspectives and for tolerance, acceptance and unconditional positive regard.

SUMMARY

EMCC’s 3rd Annual Mentoring and Coaching Research Conference in Dublin had an underlying theme of “bridging the gap between research and practice”. During the conference I referred to “the bridging” as a marriage between research and practice. A marriage can be a challenge, and it can be a developmental journey. I think it is fair to say that during this year’s conference, through the help of all the presenters and delegates, the marriage between research and practice took a step forward – for the better of mentoring and coaching.

© European Mentoring & Coaching Council 2013 11

For what reasons are the marriage between research and practice of importance for the professionalisation of mentoring and coaching? I can see several reasons, but I think a metaphor can help to bring the message through. A carpenter or an engineer will quite soon discover when they have not taken evidence from physics, chemistry or other fields into account in their practice. A chair built with too weak material, or the wrong glue, will fold under the weight of a user. As will a bridge or a house, were mechanics or materials have not been calculated correctly. The evidence base is natural and has long since been part of these professions’ professional knowledge and practice. As natural are the engineers’ or architects’ skills or craft, as it comes to play as they design the chair or the house, in a way that it attracts or repels potential buyers. In some coaching orientations the evidence base is not as “natural”. In others, such as Executive Coaching, were practitioners often have experience of leadership and a higher education (university diplomas), some sort of evidence base is more common (as they are often trained in economics, technology, behaviour science or psychology). Research does only give us information or evidence of what works and not. It does not give us answers on how to use that information. In architecture the evidence is always part of the work, as the content of the building needs to be calculated right not to break. Still the design that makes the content to be attractive to us is up to the creativity, intuition and experience of the architect. I don’t think any mentor or coach wants their clients to “break” – that is reason enough to know of, and base our coaching on, evidence. There is still room for us to form or design our style of practice, using our creativity, intuition and experience, when we use the evidence and adapt it to the context of the situation and the culture. There was lots of evidence presented at the conference that I know I will have great use of in my practice. Evidence that will help me become more professional, helping me chose the content of an intervention carefully, so I won’t “break” a client. At the same time the evidence started off my creativity: how could I use this knowledge to develop my style of coaching? I am working on that now, and will be testing how it works with my clients. I will also through my reflective practice document think about some of the things that will be happening in my practice and thus produce practice based evidence, to further develop my understanding of how the content and style used, works with different clients in different contexts. Thank you to all presenters and delegates for making the 3rd EMCC Mentoring and Coaching Research Conference into a contribution to the marriage between research and practice in mentoring and coaching.

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SYMBOLISM AND INCLUSION IN SUPERVISION. DEVELOPING PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AND REINFORCING THE GROUP

DYNAMIC

Florence Lamy

France

Dr Michel Moral VP EMCC France

Abstract: In group supervision of coaches, a process of inclusion might be used to help participants to express their emotions. This article is aimed at exploring how the inclusion could be set to develop the personal and professional identities of the participants, with possibly synergy between them, and to build a stronger group dynamic. To achieve this a projective test was used repeatedly according to a clearly defined process. This protocol has been applied to different groups of coaches and a transcript analysis was made. The results show that the approach is promising but needs further investigations to be developed into a research. Target audience: Supervisors, coaches, coach and supervisor training centres, HR Departments, researchers. Key words: Symbolism, inclusion, supervision, identity, presencing

INTRODUCTION

There are not many research work related to supervising coaches. During the second International Supervision Conference held at Oxford Brookes University in July 2012 it was not possible to identify any completed Ph.D. in the world. Quantitative researches, mainly surveys, were mentioned during the third Supervision Conference in June 2013. Research related to supervising coaches is in the exploration phase. The long term objective of our work is to assess the effectiveness of using a symbol-based stimulus in a ritualised way at the beginning of group supervision sessions. The use of some kind of opening is usually called “inclusion”. Our experience of supervision practice led us to study the effects of different types of inclusion and we set a specific protocol to collect and analyse some data. Over time we have seen groups benefit from the inclusion on a number of different levels: better group dynamics, collective consciousness and more authentic shared experience. Also, on an

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individual level, gradual development and synergetic integration of personal and professional identity of the supervised coaches occurred. We therefore constructed a quantitative and qualitative long term research project around the following objective: understand the influence of ritualised symbol-based inclusion sessions on two central themes: identity and group dynamics. These two factors are not always easy to establish in a group supervision setting. The present work aims at exploring how to organise a research which could meet the long term objective. Therefore it can be seen as a kind of pilot used to test the solidity of the methodology. Also it can reveal some potential improvement in the inclusion process. The populations are obviously too small to allow a generalisation of the results. We begin our presentation with a description of the approach we adopted, which, like all inductive research, was based on our modest experience of real working practice.

Background to the Project

Over years of supervision experience Florence Lamy developed the idea that the group could better support each member in building their professional identity. A prerequisite would be an increased level of trust and sense of group consciousness, a kind of state of grace or collective immanence, which can be felt in groups which have “an open mind, heart and will” (Scharmer, 2007). The “supervision contract”, established at the beginning of a supervision journey, provides the working conditions and the state of mind needed for effective supervision to take place. However the supervision contract is not enough to open hearts and minds. In order to reach that state of openness an “inclusion” is needed.

The concept of inclusion The word “inclusion” is first found in Buber (1923) and was further developed by Schultz (1958). His theory states that when people get together in a group they try to satisfy three key interpersonal needs: affection/openness, control and inclusion. Inclusion is the need to be accepted by others and to accept others. Different to empathy (Hycner, 1991) inclusion maintain a certain distance even whilst entering the world of the other. This is why inclusion draws a distinction between the relational aspect and the defensive aspect: the desire for contact and the anxiety it causes. It is therefore an important element when creating a group, especially in team coaching and supervision. Group facilitators, team coaches and group supervisors developed many tools and methods to fulfil the inclusion in Schultz sense. These tools were also called inclusion. Finally, “inclusion” became the process used to help people in a group to feel safe and comfortable. We’ll use this definition in the rest of the article. Many coaches and supervisors also use a “declusion” process to help the people to leave the group. Apart from its purpose in bringing participants together, inclusion can also have a developmental aspect. In our study, the key development in question, among others, is that of professional identity.

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Florence Lamy’s approach of supervision is to systematically treat the group as a participant in its own right, i.e. give to the group as much time as any other member of the group. This amount of time is distributed between an inclusion at the beginning of the session and a declusion at the end of the session. Inclusion can be done in many different ways which have different effects such as: Stimulate the group dynamic, increase cohesion, etc… It can be short or long, vary from session to session or be the same, and use various techniques including story telling or projective approaches such as photo language. Supervisors can also use the inclusion to show a number of coaching tools to the supervisees.

THE RESEARCH QUESTION

In 2009 Florence Lamy analysed her notes and noticed a relationship between the tool used during the inclusion and the level of authenticity and openness which was achieved during some of the supervision sessions: Especially the use of symbolic projective tools had a positive effect on openness within the group and encouraged the participants to comment about their personal and professional identity. Decision was made to go further and to use a controlled approach to explore the question. A hypothesis was formulated and a protocol established: the use of a given projective tool during one year with a given group. Experimentation started in 2011 and was conducted with four groups.

Research hypothesis

The present work was conducted as a part of a more general question that we ask ourselves as supervisors: “What reliable methods are available for the supervisor to support their practice in order to encourage the development of personal and professional identity of coaches and build up a group dynamic?” Why focus on identity? The authors of this article have noticed that this subjects is present in 100% of their supervisions. In the literature there are not a lot of evidence about the fact that personal and professional identity are key concerns for a supervisee. However two recent surveys addressed the question:

Grant (2012) did a survey in Australia showing that “reasons that coaches seek supervision” are 30% “personal development and developing self-awareness”, and 19% “developing coach ability”

Similarly, Dini (2012) did a survey in Italy showing that reasons for supervision are 27% “contribution to develop professional identity”.

A first very general hypothesis is that a particular form of inclusion process can create the conditions required to generate synergy between personal identity and professional identity and strengthen the group dynamic. Furthermore, based on our past experience, the use of the same projective tool at the beginning of each session has an effect on the development

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of a consciousness of professional identity, on group dynamic and on group consciousness (openness of attitude, defence mechanisms lowered, participants feeling confident and willing to contribute). Consequently, the question that will be explored in the present study is the following:

“How can the systematic use of a single projective tool in inclusion sessions as part of a process of group supervision contributes to develop the personal and professional identity of participants, to building a stronger group dynamic and to creating an environment that instils confidence and produces particularly high quality contributions?”

Context in which the study was conducted The research was conducted using four groups, two consisting of coaches under supervision, the other two are coaches learning to be supervisors. All participants in the four groups were already fully trained coaches, with qualifications either from a university, or with one of the major French private institutions (Transformance, International Mozaïk, Mediat Coaching). Both groups were closed groups. The study was conducted from the beginning of the supervision or training journey, with the informed consent of the participants. Each group of coaches comprised a fairly even mix of experience levels in terms of years of practice. The group which will be called A for the purposes of the study is a group of beginner coaches, with professional identity issues. Group A comprised six members. All except one of the group had been practising for less than a year. The group was self-organised and chose a ‘spokesperson’ to discuss group issues with the supervisor when necessary, particularly concerning administrative and contractual issues. This group was supervised by Florence Lamy whose reference in supervision is integrative, developmental and systemic. Her frameworks include schema theory, systems theory, interculturalism, and sophrology. She is familiar with a large number of models and tools used in coaching (Lamy & Moral, 2011). The groups B, C and D were made up of experienced coaches (not less than four years of practice), trained to become supervisors. The group comprised respectively nine, six and eight members. There was no organisation between the members at first. Some members of the group had previous experience working with projective tests. There were two supervisors (Florence Lamy and Michel Moral). Although supervision was a central theme of the process, they were not strictly speaking supervision groups, even if many supervision sessions actually took place during the course of the training. It was closed groups and the inclusion period was offered at the start of each two day module. The issue shared by the participants was the acquisition of a new occupation – that of supervisor. For Group A the chosen projective tool was a set of ‘Osho Zen Tarot’ cards. The illustrations on the 22 major arcana and 56 minor arcana of the Osho Zen Tarot provide plenty of inspiration for meditation and contemplation. The Tarot portrays the principal symbolic aspects of awakening of consciousness by exploring four thematic universes.

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The Fire cards represent action, answers and energy. The Water cards symbolise emotional aspects of human life. The Rainbow cards symbolise the element of Earth, but more specifically that which links the physical world to the mystery of the sacred. It is a game that is firmly embedded in a tradition of the search for the self.

For Groups B, C and D the chosen projective tool was a deck of cards named “Feminitude”. The deck comprises 55 picture-cards, portraying images exploring the theme of masculine/feminine duality, values, emotions and sensitivity. The illustrations are in colour and can be interpreted on more than one level. They provide plenty of scope for exploration. Each card has a title referring to archetypes and mythological references.

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The stimuli, cards with the themes of “Feminitude” and “Osho Zen Tarot”, were selected for their effectiveness in achieving the stated aim. These cards portray highly symbolic content which leads us to consider that the concept of the archetype should be included in the factors.

Inventory of the key concepts

This study is relevant to several different strands of thought: Identity, projective psychology and archetypes Clearly, this covers a broad range of concepts. We will begin with the final destination, i.e. personal and professional identity, and from there we will go on to explore the projective techniques and the concept of the archetype. Identity (personal identity) The concept of personal identity is huge and complex but the main schools of thought can be grouped into two branches:

Phenomenological (in which the Self is seen as a dynamic process) Cognitive (in which the Self is seen as a knowledge structure).

In both of these branches we can recognise two key concepts: self-reflection enabling the representation of Self, producing behaviour, and the perception that others have of that behaviour, producing changes in behaviour. In this study, we are focussing on self-reflection. The reason why it is the chosen direction is that, when supervising coaches, we are dealing with persons who are supposed to be emotionally less sensitive to the perception of others in their self-

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assessment. Of course coaches are attentive to the feedback given by others but they have the capacity to sort out what they should consider from projective mechanisms. Professional Identity Professional identity is what defines persons at work, i.e. the different roles they perform in their working life. Such an identity does not exist in itself, but is constructed, collectively, by the various participants of a given occupation, who may then tend to treat it as an essence, even if this does not necessarily correspond with previous scientific knowledge about that occupation. It is worth mentioning some relevant contributions to the literature on the subject. Sainsaulieu (1977) states that professional identity is defined as: “the way in which different groups at work identify with their peers, their managers, other groups; identity at work is based on distinct collective representations”. According to Sainsaulieu, identity is an identifying process of committing oneself to lasting relationships based firmly in “the relational and social experience of power”. This definition is favoured in this theoretical framework, but is not necessarily prevalent in the context of the coaching profession. Dubar (1998), an admirer of this approach, states that the biographical process of constructing an “identity for self” and the structural mechanisms of acknowledging “identities for others” are related. Acknowledging skills, knowledge and even of outward image are essential, just as much as the relationship with power, with the sense of being able to influence others. Berger and Luckman (1966) write that the creation of a professional identity is based on the concept of “secondary socialisation”, i.e. incorporating specific professional knowledge including a certain vocabulary, skill-set and above all a veritable “universe of symbols” encapsulating a view of the world. Unlike the fundamental knowledge of primary socialisation, this view of the world refers to a specialised set of theories and activities. Blin (1997) defines professional identity as a "network of professional representations aimed at identifying or differentiating between social or professional groups”. These different schools of thought highlight the ‘paradox of identity’ which stems from the conflict between the feelings of belonging against the risk of losing identity. In the context of coaching, in which the theoretical reference point is pluralist, the risk of loss of identity is expected to be limited, whereas building a sense of belonging is often difficult. For instance it is sometimes observed that coaches tend to be staunchly individualistic. If we have some indications about the personality profile of coaches compared to the population in general (for instance Passmore & al. (2006)) we lack data related to the individualistic/collectivistic cultural profile. We know about a project to clarify this question using the CTT tool (Barrett, 1998) but it is planned

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only in 2014. We also lack evidence about the development of professional identity of coaches compared to other helping professions. It is a further advantage of the approach that we have adopted that the construction of the professional identity of coaches is rarely touched upon in the literature about supervision. Lastly, we can anticipate that the professional identity of a coach is different to that of other mentoring or helping roles. Coaches have a greater responsibility due to the fact that they are counselling people who often hold positions of power. Also, the training that coaches receive is relatively short compared to the training of, for instance, a psychotherapist. It might be too short to build a professional identity. Projective Techniques The use of symbolic cards as stimuli places us in the paradigm of projective psychology, a field of study generally explored by psycho-analysis and cognitive psychology. There has always been considerable interest in projective techniques. The most famous one are the ‘Word Association Test’ introduced by Jung in 1904, the test invented by Hermann Rorschach in 1921, also known as the ‘ink blot’ test, the Thematic Aperception Test (TAT) developed by Henry Murray in 1935, and the ‘tree test’ developed by Charles Koch in 1957. The basic idea is to present a person with some kind of manifest content with the aim of eliciting latent content that reveals something about their personality or their symbolic representations. Frank (1935) produced a summary of them when he introduced the term. Psycho-analytical theory sees a paradoxical situation in projective techniques which leads to transitional mechanisms as conceptualised by Winnicott. Subjects find themselves offered a void which they can only fill by digging deep within their subconscious and their responses therefore reveal their inner conflicts. Cognitive theory suggests that links are formed between the material and the three different areas of long-term memory: semantic field, graphic representations field and behavioural scripts. As we are looking for inner conflicts and representations related to professional identity, the use of a projective technique seems appropriate. We have tested several decks of cards, for instance ‘Persona’ (Raman, 1994) or diverse sets representing animals, felines or young cats and none of them was as effective as ‘Osho Zen Tarot’ and ‘Feminitudes’.

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Archetypes An archetype in the context of Jungian psychology is a symbolic category which links a symbol with an emotion. It represents a psychic process that is at the very basis of human culture as it has developed down the generations, but also influences each generation in turn. Carl Gustav Jung proposes the premise that archetypes organise the deep structure of the psyche in universal patterns. He suggests they are elements of a collective unconscious which creates the structure of the human imagination, and more specifically, that the projective approach establishes a link between the offered stimulus and an archetype buried within the psyche (Jung & al., 1981). The archetypal aspect links people into groups of shared representations, sometimes without their knowing. A controlled quantitative approach is sometimes used in training and coaching (see for instance Hurley & Staggs, 2008). In the current study, the archetype is used as a stimulus.

METHODOLOGY

Separation of the study into two parts

Our study is made up of two parts, each of which explores a specific theme contained within the hypothesis.

‐ In Part 1, we tried to show how the use of the “symbolic cards as a projective tool” contributes to the development of the identity and professional identity of the participants

‐ ‐ In Part 2, we explored the qualities of the group and the contribution that the

participants felt inclusion played in the group experience, in terms of building a stronger group dynamic.

Method of delivering the projective tool

The inclusion process is ritualised. At each session, the participants and the supervisor(s) of both groups pick a card from the deck in random order. The first participant to volunteer picks first, followed by the participant on his or her left and so on until all participants have a card. The supervisor(s) picks last. When two supervisors are present, the last to draw a card leads the inclusion process and is the “supervisor” in the following. It is stated that each participant should say something relating to “the here and now” and their professional identity. Then the supervisor asks the following question:

“What does the card say to you about who you are here and now and in your professional life?”

After a few minutes of reflection, each participant in turn says something about his or her card. His or her exact words are transcribed by the supervisor.

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Participants express themselves freely and spontaneously, either talking about the title printed on the card, or about the iconography portrayed on it. The supervisor brings the process to a close by talking about his or her own card in an authentic and open way. This could provide an opportunity to talk about his or her identity and his or her personal experience of supervising the group. Talking in this way creates the type of “I-You” communication identified by Buber (1923). From the second session onwards, after each participant had expressed themselves, the supervisor asks the following question:

“Do you recognise a connection between what you have expressed today, and what you expressed last time?”.

Transcript Analysis

The analysis of the transcript is done by sorting manually parts of the text into different categories. Discriminant capability and reliability among coders are common problems in transcript analysis work. Discriminant capability means an unambiguous coding into categories. Reliability is related to lack of discriminant capability: when categories are not clear, discrepancies in coding might occur. The collaborative coding (2 coders) technique was used to limit bias. The number of categories was limited to 9 in order to contain the ambiguity risk. Automatic coding tools were considered but test were disappointing. Several recurrent and shared themes were identified among the participants’ transcripts and assigned as categories: Individually

Talking about identity Connections with cards drawn in previous sessions Talking about development of identity Enablement to touch upon the dark side of coaching in a ‘soft’ and ‘secure’

way Enablement to talk about “qualities”, “hopes”, “visions” contributing to

professional development. Collectively

Group dynamic going beyond simply managing the process Creation of a “Theory U” type field of consciousness (“presencing”) Ritual and symbols Collective containment: how the group acts to contain individual emotions.

Categories grouping

We grouped the 9 categories into three sub-sets.

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The first group, G1, includes everything relating to ‘personal identity’, ‘professional identity’ and ‘connections between personal and professional identity’. Within group G1, we identified two sub-sets:

‘Identity’, which included all the comments on identity and the connections between ‘previously integrated aspects of personal and professional identity’.

‘Integrated identity’ which included all comments relating to the ‘connection with daily working life’ and the ‘connection with professional ideals’.

The second group, G2, includes all what is said about the card (theme, title, details) ‘feelings and beliefs’ as well as ‘comments on the process’. In fact, everything not related to identity.

Analysis of the categories

Operational Hypothesis for part 1 If identity and professional identity develop, then G1 should increase over and G2 should decrease over time. This would indicate that the coaches are giving more space to discussing identity as time progressed. We also expected to see in G1 an increase of the second subset (integrated identity) indicating that individuals are connecting the different facets of identity more profoundly as the supervision process goes on. However, we presumed that in Group A, made up of recently qualified coaches, the comments regarding ‘professional ideals’ would be reduced to give way to comments from the ‘identity’ subset. The rationale behind this assumption is that as they become more professionalised, professional ideals are replaced by a more practical professional reality and an integrated identity.

Part 2: Survey related to collective experience

To measure the quality of the group dynamic, we drafted a survey comprising eleven questions. The answers were assessed using a 1-5 Lickert scale. The survey was presented to each participant in the groups and the results were analysed separately for Groups A, B, C and D, as well as together as a single sample population. Six questions (Q1) are related to the participant experience (cohesion, contribution, content, rituals, supervision methodology, and experience outside of supervision) and the other five (Q2) related to the inclusion process (symbolism, archetypes, group response to the individual, openness, authenticity). See appendix 1. The use of existing questionnaires was considered but none.

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Operational hypothesis for part 2 Our hypothesis that questions relating to the inclusion process would be given higher scores than the group experience itself, indicating that inclusion played a major role in enhancing the group dynamic.

RESULTS

To make the results easier to read, we have presented them as a series of graphs.

Part 1

On the graphs below, the horizontal axis shows the session number and the vertical axis the number of “analysis units” per session. In this study, “analysis units” are fragments of a sentence which falls into a given category or group of categories such as G1 or G2.

As we can see on figure 3, in all groups G1 linear regression has a positive slope and G2 linear regression a negative slope.

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On figure 4 linear regression of “integrated identity” has a positive slope for all group

On figure 5, the linear regression of Group A has a negative slope. It is positive for groups B, C and D.

Part 2

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DISCUSSION

Our question was as follows:

“How can the systematic use of a single projective tool in inclusion sessions as part of a process of group supervision contributes to develop the personal and professional identity of participants, to building a stronger group dynamic and to creating an environment that instils confidence and produces particularly high quality contributions?”

The results are encouraging despite the fact that if we look into the details, session per session, there are big variations in the number of transcript analysis units. Considering that the objective of this study is to test a methodology rather than establishing a proof, what we need to do here is to discuss what kind of improvements we can think about in the follow on studies. What is at stake here is the use of symbolic projective stimuli in coaching and supervision without being accused of sectarianism as the cards being used could be considered esoteric. Some of the coaching and supervision tools are sometimes seen as potentially dangerous for the coachee or supervisee and we need to define what conditions make the tool safe. As for constellations for instance it is absolutely mandatory not to give any interpretation of what is said par the participants. The protocol that was defined is not inductive in that sense and should not be modified. It is safe and we have experienced no negative effects on the participants. Without any doubt, recording the verbatim of the participants would ease the transcript and make it more accurate. The definition of categories can also be improved in order to simplify the coding which presents a risk of subjective bias. Lastly we need to define other methods to assess the group dynamic and the quality of contributions. Even so, the results were beyond our expectations. Putting words related to identity and professional identity strengthens the consciousness of the participants and has positive developmental effects. Also, the level of collective consciousness achieved through this type of more ritualised inclusion process generates a different mode of relationship within the group. The final question relates to the profile of the supervisor who deploys such a tool and how the effects relate to his or her personality.

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CONCLUSION

We would like to continue and expand our research, firstly by increasing the number of groups and sessions, and by improving the protocol to make it perfectly neat. In the longer term, we also plan to extend the scope of our research to examine the process of ‘declusion’ which we are also currently working on. More generally, we are working towards creating tools specifically designed for supervising coaches, with the aim of improving the field of supervision.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Berger P. & Luckmann T. (1966) La construction sociale de la réalité, Paris: Méridiens Klincksieck, 1986. Blin J-F (1997) Représentations, pratiques et identités professionnelles, Paris: L’Harmattan. Buber M. (1923) I and Thou. New York: Touchstone. Dini S., del Pianto E., Rizzo C., Soyez A. (2012) Taking the temperature of supervision in coaching/coaching psychology: SCP Italy first survey, SGCP Annual Conference 2012. Dubar C. (1998) La socialisation, Construction des identités sociales et professionnelles, Paris: Armand Colin. Frank L.K. (1935) Projective methods for the study of personality, in B.I. Murstein (1965), Handbook of projective techniques, NY: Basic books, p. 1-22. Grant A. (2012) Australian Coaches View’s on Coaching Supervision: A Study with Implications for Australian Coaching Education, Training and Practice, International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, Vol. 10, N° 2, August 2012, p. 17-33. Hurley T. & Staggs J. (2008) Using Archetypes in Coaching, in Psychometrics in Coaching, London: Kogan Page, p. 224-238. Hycner R.H. (1991) Between Person and Person: towards a dialogical psychotherapy. NY: Center for Gestalt Development. Lamy F. & Moral M. (2011) Les outils du coach, bien les choisir, bien les utiliser, Paris: InterEditions. Passmore J., Rawle-Cope M., Gibbes C., Holloway M. (2006) MBTI types and executive coaching, The Coaching Psychologist, 2(1), p. 9-12. Raman E. (1994) Persona, Kirchzarten : OH Verlag. Sainsaulieu R. (1977), L’identité au travail, 2ème édition 1985, Paris: Presses de la Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques. Scharmer O. (2007) Theory U, Leading from the Future as It Emerges. Cambridge: SOL. Schultz W. (1958) FIRO: A Three-Dimensional Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour. NY: Rinehart.

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Florence Lamy, founder and senior partner of Undici International, is coach, supervisor, psychotherapist and relaxation therapist. She is specialised in business coaching working with individuals, teams and organisations. Her approach is based on rational and organisational collective intelligence. She trains and supervises coaches in two Universities (Paris VIII, Cergy Pontoise) and in her private supervision practice. She also trains supervisors. She has published 4 books in French related to coaching and is also co-author of a movie and author of a theatre play. Michel Moral mmoral@attglobal.net is VP of EMCC France and senior partner of Undici International. He spent most of his career in an international environment where he managed teams in more than 30 countries. Since 2003 he coaches executives, multicultural executive teams and organisations. He teaches coaching in University, supervises coaches and trains supervisors. He holds a Master’s degree in Science & Technology and a Ph.D. in Psychology. He has published 6 books in French related to coaching and one in English.

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APPENDIX 1: SURVEY

1. How do you assess the level of cohesion in this group?

2. Is it possible to address sensitive and/or personal subjects in this group?

3. The key contributors to cohesion in this group were:

a. The need to be supervised

b. Group rituals

c. Supervision methodology

d. Conviviality out of supervision time (pauses, etc…)

4. From what you have experienced, the use of a symbolic tool was it

contributing to more openness in the group?

5. Was the share of comments about archetypes a contributor to group

cohesion?

6. Is the inclusion making easier your acceptation of the other members of the

group?

7. Is the inclusion contributing to your openness?

8. Is the inclusion contributing to your authenticity during supervision time?

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