{"id":1051,"date":"2010-04-28T07:23:02","date_gmt":"2010-04-28T07:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localenterprise.wordpress.com\/?p=1051"},"modified":"2010-04-28T07:23:02","modified_gmt":"2010-04-28T07:23:02","slug":"reflections-on-the-enterprise-coaching-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2010\/04\/28\/reflections-on-the-enterprise-coaching-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on the Enterprise Coaching Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Enterprise Coaching conference held in Derby yesterday got me reflecting again on what I have learned from 20 years experience\u00a0in working with\u00a0enterprise\u00a0coaches and people looking to make progress in their lives. \u00a0It also prompted me to re-read Ernesto Sirolli&#8217;s PhD thesis &#8211; available on the web <a href=\"http:\/\/wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au\/adt\/pubfiles\/adt-MU20040820.143953\/02Whole.pdf\">here<\/a> (PDF).<\/p>\n<p>He suggests that 4 key principles should underpin the work of the enterprise coach (Sirolli calls them Enterprise Facilitators\u2122 &#8211; a term on which he claims a trademark). \u00a0These principles are:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Only work with individuals or communities that invite you.<\/li>\n<li>Never motivate individuals to do anything they do not wish to do.<\/li>\n<li>Trust that they are naturally drawn towards self-improvement.<\/li>\n<li>Have faith in community and the higher social needs that bond it together.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Each of these principles stems from an\u00a0approach\u00a0to\u00a0providing\u00a0help that is genuinely person\u00a0centred\u00a0and responsive rather than interventions designed to achieve the policy objectives of the state.<\/p>\n<p>Sirolli argues compellingly that any violation of these 4 principles may lead to a self satisfying and self serving illusion of help but will in practice inhibit the long term development of an enterprise culture in the community.<\/p>\n<p>Each of these 4 principles is worth significant reflection and its implications for our practice as coaches, and perhaps more importantly service designers and managers should be careful considered.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few questions to prompt the process:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What would you and your service need to be like so that the people that you wish to support w0uld actively and willingly seek out your support? What would you have achieved? \u00a0What would your reputation be like? \u00a0Would you use offers of money or marketing campaigns to win attention in the community? \u00a0If you only worked where people really invited you, would you have any work? \u00a0What would you have to do in order to start &#8216;winning invitations&#8217;?<\/li>\n<li>If we do not <a href=\"http:\/\/localenterprise.wordpress.com\/2009\/05\/26\/why-doesnt-motivation-work\/\">motivate <\/a>people then how can we help them to change? \u00a0Do they need our encouragement and motivation to pursue\u00a0objectives\u00a0that are in their own self interest? \u00a0What\u00a0are the risks of motivating and initiating?<\/li>\n<li>What would happen if we just trusted people to move in a direction that leads to self improvement? \u00a0If we rely on the development of a natural human instinct rather than imposing an external perspective of what\u00a0constitutes\u00a0progress will ANY of our\u00a0clients\u00a0move forward? \u00a0What might happen to our performance metrics if we really worked at the natural pace of the client? \u00a0What might happen in the long term to our effectiveness and impact &#8211; if we survive the short term problems? \u00a0What is the role of the enterprise coach in working with\u00a0clients\u00a0whose <a href=\"http:\/\/localenterprise.wordpress.com\/2009\/02\/02\/learned-helplessness\/\">natural \u00a0inclination to self improvement<\/a> has been somehow stalled?<\/li>\n<li>Is it sufficient to just have &#8216;faith&#8217; in the &#8216;higher social needs&#8217; that bind\u00a0community\u00a0together or does our work require a more\u00a0practical\u00a0approach\u00a0to developing the role of the community in supporting individuals who are looking to make progress?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Our work needs to be grounded on principles if it is to be effective. \u00a0It is not just about the techniques of coaching versus advising, mentoring or counselling. \u00a0It is not just about managerial pragmatism in pursuit of the narrowly economic objectives of most funders and policy makers.<\/p>\n<p>It is about our role in engaging with individuals and communities on the agendas that matter most to them.<\/p>\n<p>It is about how best we can help people to engage in the rich infrastructure of services and support that is already out there if they wish to use it.<\/p>\n<p>It is about how we can influence the design and\u00a0delivery\u00a0of these services (including mainstream business support) to ensure that they are both cost effective and relevant.<\/p>\n<p>But most\u00a0importantly\u00a0it is about how can provide consistent and long term relationships that people can trust enough to help them as they confront the risks and challenges that come with stepping outside of the comfort zone and continuing the journey of self improvement.<\/p>\n<p>Encouraging people to start on these journeys with promises of help and support, and then withdrawing that help and support when funders and policy makers shift their priorities not only destroys trust in us but also leaves our\u00a0clients\u00a0high and dry. \u00a0If current\u00a0funders\u00a0are not willing or able to honour the long term\u00a0commitments\u00a0that serious endeavours to change the enterprise culture in\u00a0communities\u00a0requires then we perhaps need to find some new investors.<\/p>\n<p>As George Derbyshire said &#8211; perhaps it is time to &#8216;Sack the Boss&#8217;.<\/p>\n<div class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Posts\"><ul class=\"entry-meta\"><li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"Olympic Gold &#8211; It all starts with a dream&#8230;.\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/08\/10\/olympic-gold-it-all-starts-with-a-dream\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Olympic Gold &#8211; It all starts with a dream&#8230;.<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"An imaginary open letter: To those who would &#8216;engage&#8217; us&#8230;\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/08\/09\/an-imaginary-open-letter-to-those-who-would-engage-us\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">An imaginary open letter: To those who would &#8216;engage&#8217; us&#8230;<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"Some thoughts on Best City outcomes\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/07\/05\/some-thoughts-on-best-city-outcomes\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Some thoughts on Best City outcomes<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"Some Barriers to Engagement\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/06\/13\/some-barriers-to-engagement\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Some Barriers to Engagement<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"Getting to Grips with Social Finance &#8211; FREE TRAINING\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/06\/12\/getting-to-grips-with-social-finance-free-training\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Getting to Grips with Social Finance &#8211; FREE TRAINING<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Enterprise Coaching conference held in Derby yesterday got me reflecting again on what I have learned from 20 years experience\u00a0in working with\u00a0enterprise\u00a0coaches and people looking to make progress in their lives. \u00a0It also prompted me to re-read Ernesto Sirolli&#8217;s PhD thesis &#8211; available on the web here (PDF). He suggests that 4 key principles [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[38,39,65,67,69,110,123,141,151,164,210],"class_list":["post-1051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-enterprise","category-management","tag-community-development","tag-community-engagement","tag-enterprise","tag-enterprise-coaching","tag-enterprise-journeys","tag-inspiration","tag-management","tag-operations","tag-policy","tag-professional-development","tag-transformation","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1051\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}