In coaching, one of the first things we learn is to focus on the goal – how clear and compelling it is. It is not very often that you get clients coming to you with a clear vision of their goals. About a year ago, I was working with a client who knew exactly what he wanted – he wanted to quit his well-paid job with an international organisation and move on to do consultancy work. In the first couple of sessions, we realised that he had developed his vision for this new venture in quite some detail and so we soon moved on to the ‘how’ part of the work.
A couple of months later, in one of the coaching calls, I sensed that he hasn’t made much progress on some of the follow up actions we had previously agreed upon. His vision for consultancy was still equally strong, and the reasons why he wanted to make the change were also convincing – unhappy at work, likes the independence that comes with consulting, excellent analytical and consulting skills, and so on.
But in our third session, the discussion went somewhat like this:
1. In your current work, why are you unhappy? Because I don’t think I am being creative, I am perhaps doing the same thing year on year.
2. Why are you not being creative or you think you are doing the same things year after year? Because the pressure of work is such I am always led by events happening around me and I hardly get time to think creatively or do things which I think will bring about real change.
3. Why do you allow yourself to be led by events around you or other peoples’ priorities? As a manager I have to support my staff and I am there to solve problems.
4. Why supporting staff and problem-solving makes you feel that other people control your agenda? Because my peer groups also operate in this way – there is not a culture of strategic thinking and change in the organization.
5. If a culture of strategic thinking and change is so important for you, why couldn’t you attempt to change your own department or peer groups’ ways of working? Well, I probably accepted things as they were.
6. If your own style and that of your peers who you know very well can not be changed, why do you think as a consultant you can create that change in people and organisations you know less well?
I stopped at the sixth why. Because suddenly, we both realised that, instead of focusing on how to set up his consulting business, we were moving towards deeper issues in his current job. We were both glad we had this conversation – almost a year now, and we do not speak about consultancy anymore, and he is happily working where he was. He is excited by some of the changes he has been able to bring about in his department as well as in the senior management team, working with his boss. He is almost an inspiration for his peer group.
It is easy to forget anything that is simple. Since that lesson a year ago, I religiously remember to ask ‘why’ at least five-six times either when talking to a new coaching client or I am undertaking a consulting work for a client.
