Evidence Based Coaching Handbook

CHAPTER 11

Coaching from a Systemic Perspective: A Complex Adaptive Conversation

MICHAEL CAVANAGH

 

 

As coaches, we are pattern recognition experts.

—Paul Mitchell, coach and founder of “The Human Enterprise”

 

 

COACHING IS A JOURNEY in search of patterns. Our clients come to us, sometimes with fuzzy problems, sometimes with clear goals, but always with a desire to understand their experience in a way that enables them to move forward. We, as coaches, undertake to work with them to develop this new understanding, and to support them in taking the actions that flow from it. The value we add to our clients resides in our ability to help them see their experience in a new way. We do this by helping them to discover or notice previously unnoticed (or ignored) patterns in the complex mix of experience, thoughts, actions, and reactions that is their story. Coaching, then, is a journey in search of patterns.

The difficulty is that, in the complex world of human experience, there are many possible patterns to be found and many ways of helping the client make meaning of their experience. Precisely which patterns we detect as coaches will depend on the theories, models, and assumptions that we bring to bear on the client’s story. Our theories (like our clients’ theories) are the lenses we use to filter out what is important and what is not. They allow us to understand our world, and they guide both prediction and action. The best coaches are able to take multiple perspectives and select those ...