Would you be prepared to spend not just hours but entire days with a client? Veteran executive coach Donna Karlin, the creator of an advanced form of observational and reflective coaching called ‘Shadow Coaching’ explains why she is prepared to go to such lengths for her clients. By Marie-Louise Cook.
For the past twelve years, Donna Karlin, an executive and political leadership coach has gone way beyond what most people would term the normal call of coaching duty. While many coaches book clients in for 60-minute sessions, Karlin’s appointments usually last five very long days. Why? What possesses her?
Karlin says she offers such intensive coaching to her clients – mostly North American CEOs, political leaders, and top (non-elected) government officials – to provide them with an awareness of the gap between what they say they do and what they really do hour-by-hour, day-by-day. At the heart of Shadow Coaching is the belief that the coach is an unbiased, independent observer who is able to provide real-time, first-hand observation of the client’s world with a focus on the difference between the client’s stated objective and his or her actual behaviour. The client is then able to identify choices between what they want and what they are currently doing.
Traditional executive coaching by comparison relies on feedback from the client, which comes filtered through that client’s perceptions of a situation.
‘I use a model that I’ve created myself,’ explains Karlin, whose background includes a university degree in organisational psychology with a specialty in executive coaching as well coaching experience that dates back to helping the ‘father’ of coaching Thomas Leonard with research and development into the field of coaching. ‘It’s a model that looks into the various facets of my clients’ lives, the various personalities at play and the behavioural patterns they have with a real-time intensity - it incorporates the payoff of their fast-paced world with the shadow personality they bring to the table, how comfortable they are with all facets of their personality, the assumptions they are making, the filters that are in place that they are not aware they are using in order to live their lives, make decisions etc. I’m not dealing with filtered information that my clients are giving me – I’m seeing the reality of it unfold in front of me. For me to coach an individual based on their perception is only giving them half of what they need. Coaching them on the content and context of their worlds as they happen gives them true reality. It’s fast, it’s dynamic, it’s powerful and because it happens in real time, it’s sustainable change.
‘Combining evidence with patterns of behaviour I can say that 50% of the data I use when coaching my clients is what they don’t tell me. It’s located between their words. I discern what wasn’t said, pick up what wasn’t evident and become a catalyst so my clients can discover what it is they aren’t aware of. What behaviour is no longer serving them? What information or knowledge is the piece of the missing puzzle?
‘What I do is make my clients aware of what they don’t know. If they knew everything and life was perfect, I wouldn’t be there in the first place. Sometimes it has nothing whatsoever to do with the knowledge or expertise needed for them to do a good job. My clients are amazing individuals, they don’t need to fix things: they just want to be better. It’s not important for me to know what they do for their work as much as how they do it. It is important for them to look at their worlds to see what dynamics aren’t working and what roadblocks are in place that are stopping them from succeeding. Often it’s the peripherals, the nuances, and the dynamics underneath a situation that gives us the answers.
‘Usually, the roadblocks have nothing to do with their extensive knowledge; it has to do with how they utilise that knowledge and interact with others in the process. Another layer to add is their shadow personalities. What aspects of themselves have they hidden away that might just serve them now if they embraced and accepted their shadow personalities? Why did they hide them away in the first place and are they using an inordinate amount of energy hiding that part of their persona away?
‘‘Blind spots’: two words that are a key factor in discovering what they don’t know or what they aren’t aware of. Once it’s “in their face” they can make an informed choice as to what to do about it. Thus, the shadow coach emerges in the clients themselves as their knowledge of the worlds they live in expands. Their worlds as they know them will never be the same as they will be looking at them from a more global perspective. The world is more than mere facts, data and knowledge. It’s rich with the nuances that gives us and everything we experience our uniqueness, it’s honing in on what’s unique that really lets someone fly!’
Typically, Karlin will conduct a two-hour interview with a client before embarking on an intensive three to five day Shadow Coaching session. ‘I don’t do standardised assessments,’ she says. ‘I find out a lot about them on a personal level. In the end the only thing that matters is: who do they want to be and what do they want their lives to look like.’
During the intensive Shadow Coaching session, she will take careful notes of what her client does in meetings, including details like body language, tone of voice, and co-workers’ reactions as well as how clients handle their stressors, work day intensity, problematic situations, schedules, paperwork, mail, email, telephone calls and breaks. ‘The first few days there is more observing, particularly observing them in meetings and other interactions and less interaction between myself and the client. Unless there is something critical that I have to mention right away, we have laser sessions as we go and if we’re lucky and time allows, a debriefing at the end of each day where I share my observations and find out what the client’s intentions are in these areas.’
Although she shadows her clients for days, Karlin says the opportunity to provide a coaching interaction can be measured in mere minutes, which is why she’s called it Laser Coaching. ‘I coach them laser as we run.’ Sessions can be as brief as two minutes. ‘Oftentimes, it’s about all the time I have with a client in a secure elevator waiting for a car to whisk us to the Hill or another department or meeting. Sometimes, we’re lucky enough to be in the car without other staff and can actually expand a session to 15 minutes. But even then, we’re usually focused on the meeting that will happen so all conversation is around that, not the client’s world.
‘I, on the other hand, from a Shadow Coach’s perspective have to absorb everything from time lines, dynamics, conversations, energy levels, engagement, level of responsibility, global or financial implications, mandate, hierarchy, volume of memos, reading material, emails and correspondence, processing time and staff support to name a few areas of focus. This is my clients’ world. It defines the term “intensely complex”.
‘Sessions are fast and I mean laser fast. I have to get to a key dynamic of a situation in seconds, articulate what I need to get across in as clear a manner as possible so my client gets it instantly; processes a quick clarifying conversation and integrates whatever changes are necessary now, not later. Later for most of my clients isn’t an option.’
She recently described her day as being similar to a day on the political TV programme, West Wing. ‘That is the norm on a good day when all isn’t going to hell in a hand basket. Add a crisis like a war, tsunami, earthquake, bombing, or a plunge in the value of the dollar, or a product recall and then it actually gets really busy. I can’t remember a day in the not-so-recent past when there wasn’t a natural disaster, threat of a terrorist activity, war-related or even bottom-line challenge. Let’s face it: to some people a fluctuation in the value of the dollar can be as devastating in their world and that of their shareholders as an earthquake is to others. … It’s not for me to rate crises on a scale of one to 10. It’s for me to help them get to wherever they want to and have to get to by their definitions.’
Although she has no desire to expand her company by hiring more coaches, Karlin now teaches Shadow Coaching to others through two-day introductory courses and a comprehensive 12-month accreditation programme. She admits Shadow Coaching is not for everyone: ‘A lot of people would have trouble knowing when not to speak up. The focus is on the client. It’s not to take the client’s focus away from his or her work. It also takes an incredible amount of energy to stay focused on the client’s every interaction, behavioural pattern, habit and effectiveness. It’s the subtleties that speak volumes to a Shadow Coach.’
FURTHER INFORMATION
You can contact Donna Karlin, CEC, Principal and Founder of A Better Perspective™ Executive Coaching & Training and the School of Shadow Coaching Advanced Coach Training at www.abetterperspective.com and www.schoolofshadowcoaching.com. Shadow Coaching™ is a registered trademark of A Better Perspective™.
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