Meeting Clients Where They Are – the Adult Development Coaching GPS

In our engagements, we introduce the LMF concept to our clients to anchor our interventions and tools as we leverage them. If clients become interested in learning what their stage of meaning-making is currently, we explore providing them the Maturity Assessment Profile (MAP)⁹, administered by certified coaches. For us, whether we introduce the formal assessment or simply follow our GPS table, we find that by leveraging this leadership maturity framework, we are able to meet our clients where they are much more effectively than without using it.

All action logics are needed in the workplace – and – because the LMF has a hierarchical schema to it, there can be valid struggles for clients – and coaches – to be able to meet each other well when coming from different locations. While it might be tempting to succumb to “better than” thinking from later stages to earlier ones, the challenge for us and our clients is to meet everyone with compassion and curiosity, rather than judgement, wherever we are.

Healthcare is in a period of transformational change that is raising the bar for healthcare leadership skills, particularly regarding managing complexity and ambiguity.  Those areas require later stages of leadership maturity, as identified within the Leadership Maturity Framework.

To meet our clients where they are in their stage on that developmental journey, having a GPS table to orient us to their possible “center of gravity” has proven invaluable in co-creating the sequencing of coaching interventions that more deeply supports the client with forward, rather than potentially disruptive, progress along that path. Due to this noticeable impact in the level of work with our physician leaders – and their healthcare organizations – we are sharing our table and experiences with the hopes of broadening our community’s capacity for creating powerful and more transformative engagements to support and contribute to healthcare’s transformative process.

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REFERENCES:

1. Piaget, J (1954) The Construction of Reality in the Child, Basic Books, New York, NY
2. Loevinger, J (1966) The Meaning and Measurement of Ego-Development, American Psychologist, Vol. 21, pp. 195-206
3. Kegan, R (1982) The Evolving Self: Problem and Process in Human Development, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
4. Cook-Greuter, S.R. (2004) Making the Case for a Developmental Perspective, Industrial and Commercial Training, Vo. 36, pp. 275-281
5. Bergquist, W (2013) Searching for Vitality: Coaching through the Lenses of Adult Development Theory and Research, Library of Professional Coaching – Nov 5
6. Goldman, J and Platzer, P (2016) Physician Leaders and Self-Coaching: 4 Key Questions, Physician Leadership Journal, Vol 3, July/Aug, pp 54-57
7. Glaser, J.E. (2014) Conversational Intelligence: How Great Leaders Build Trust and Get Extraordinary Results, Bibliomotion, Brookline, MA
8. Wesorick, B. (2014). Polarity Thinking:  An Essential Skill for Those Leading Interprofessional Integration, Journal of Interprofessional Healthcare:  1: Iss 1, Article 12.
9. Maturity Assessment Profile (MAP): http://www.cook-greuter.com/SCTi-MAPForm.htm

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Joy Goldman, RN, MS, PCC

Joy is the Executive Director of Leadership Coaching and Mentoring for Wiederhold & Associates. Joy’s  mission is to inspire leaders to reconnect with their purpose to improve care for all. As a nurse leader, she has held learning and development, direct care provider and administrative roles within healthcare for over 35 years. As an executive and physician development coach, Joy partners with healthcare leaders in facilitating individual, team, and systemic transformation in service to greater health for all. She is the immediate past President for the Maryland Chapter of the International Coach Federation.​

Petra Platzer, PhD, PCC

Petra is President of Integrative Partners and Co-Director of the Health and Wellness Coaching certification program at Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership. As a former cancer researcher, her passion is to integrate leadership and team development to transform and sustain complex behavior change within healthcare. She is a valued speaker, facilitator and executive coach partnering with colleagues and clients to co-create a healthier future state for themselves and their systems.