A Developmental Perspective in Coaching

BEYOND THE SUCCESSION PLAN

Let’s consider Steve’s situation – he had been leading a large health care organization with great success for the past fifteen years. He had planned for his succession, and he and the board were in agreement about the timing and the important next steps. Yet, Steve had made no plans for the shift and  instead worked at his usual break-neck speed right up through his final day on the job. A month later when he had assumed he would be enjoying his new sense of freedom, he found himself instead in a very lonely and dark place – no more tight schedule and constant demands, no more  global travel, no more  admin  at his side,  no more title and identity; and most of all he was completely surprised by his own sense of loss and unexpected reaction to this new place. The change for Steve was enormous – no amount of small adjustments would bring him back to equilibrium. Steve was faced with peeling away an identity, a mask of sorts, and uncovering a new layer of self and identity -‘repurposing’.

As organizations and individuals we spend very  little  time  in this “Repurposing” quadrant and it’s likely as  individuals  we’ll only move into this transformative space a handful of  times in  our lives. Yet, each time we find ourselves here – whether it’s a loss or a new beginning, we inevitably face parts  of  ‘self ‘ that  we haven’t known much about. For Steve, he had been a very successful leader, but he had paid the price of single-mindedness and now the one string guitar wasn’t enough. He had to  do  the hard work of creating a new layer/dimension of  self, and this is  not a comfortable place. It requires self reflection of significant dimensions, it requires letting go of old identities, it requires some grieving, and it all takes

When we’ve traveled the quadrant of Repurposing we say goodbye to what we no longer need on the journey ahead. For Steve the work seemed enormous – he was genuinely surprised by how much his role as head of an organization defined who he was, what he did, and how others responded to him. Creating a new sense of Steve without his organization took time, space, self reflection, and he found some solace in writing as well. Finally, after nearly a year of sabbatical-like living, Steve was ready to move forward, to venture into new territory and try on some new ways of being. This is the quadrant we  term  “Getting   Ready”– the territory that requires new thinking, experimenting, and exploring new ways of being. At some points in the journey it’s likely to include forms of learning – maybe an advanced degree or more training. At other times, as in Steve’s case, it’s a time to harvest all of life’s skills and talents and test new ventures with fewer stakes and plenty of pleasure. We are a ‘doer-addicted’ culture and it’s our tendency to jump on the first experiment we try and often miss out on the value of real experimenting at this juncture.

Steve found himself tempted to try out the first idea that stumbled upon him – a call from a well-respected nonprofit agency in his community. But with the help of his coach, he stepped back and allowed himself to take a broader look at his options before settling on his next steps. Ultimately Steve decided to test out a dream he had many years ago to start a small business enterprise of his own. Once he moved into this new decisional place he was in the first quadrant we term “Go for It” – that place where we feel most alive, most aligned with our sense of what’s most important at this time in life. Steve’s stay in this place could be a long while, and it ,-vill inevitably lead him to that “Out of Sync” place a few times and require some adjustments in order to maximize this chapter. Then at some point it won’t be enough anymore or some major external change will rip him out of this chapter and require another longer journey through “Repurposing”.