A corporate client came to see me. I thought it was to discuss a program that I had facilitated but he handed me a cheque instead. I asked: “What is this for?” He said “executive coaching”. I protested that I was a facilitator not a coach but he insisted that the role I had been playing with him was that of a coach. That got me thinking about this role. Along with my colleagues Gail and Dick West, I have been a mentor and coach for many people who have developed into a great community of competent, authentic and confident colleagues.

Coaching is like the role played by a sports coach. He must be close enough to the action to help support the specific skill development in each player and the team. I coach in areas such as leadership and facilitation. And when mentoring, I help someone who knows how to do something but is not performing to the level expected to discover what is blocking him or her.

I remember being mentored by ICA colleagues in India when I arrived there in 1977 to work in village projects. Desmond Balm said: “Larry, welcome to India, assume you know nothing.” And in a coaching session, Joe Slicker said: “You said you would select a project village before coming to this meeting; come back when you have done as you said.” These sessions changed my life. I have been blessed to have mentors and coaches who have challenged and supported my learning.

Playing these roles is more than just checking with the person you are coaching – they take place on the level of spirit, where there is respect and healing. It includes building a safe space for reflection on challenges and learnings.

Gene Marshall, who had also worked with the ICA, described three elements of consciousness related to this in a recent email:

1. Consciously taking-in Reality (Knowing) or Attentionality
2. Consciously being-aware of being conscious (Being) or Presence
3. Consciously putting-forth conscious responses into action (Doing) or Intentionality

Frederic Laloux, who uses colours to characterize stages of organizational development in his book, Reinventing Organizations, describes the “teal” (a kind of blue) organization as soulful workplaces where authenticity, community, passion and purpose thrive. It selfmanagement (systems in place that support and expect individuals or teams to make most decisions); bringing my whole self (structures that support reflection and sharing so that the system and an individual has access to his/her entire self in decision making); and listening for the evolutionary purpose (consciousness of purpose and practices that support continuous input of all members).

As a coach, I find the ICA's ToP Focused Conversation method developed by the ICA and its work with image change most useful. The following are two coaching tools based on these concepts.

Conversation format: Reflecting On Your Year

Objective level
• What has been happening? Let’s review your year’s objectives (if set)
• Take a moment to review the input from your team.
• Are there specific problems or difficulties that you would like to talk about?
• What is your role in these? Who else is involved? What are they doing?

(Feedback – share any data or other perspectives you know of)

Reflective level
• How do you feel about the year so far?
• What’s your mood: Excited? Frustrated?
• How do feel your team is doing?
• What is going well? Difficulties? What have been high points?

Interpretive level
• Where is a breakthrough needed? (Inquire for clarity and discovery)
• What will help you move forward?
• What will enable the project to move forward?

Decisional level
• What are you going to do next?
• What are the three key steps for you to take?
• What resources do you think you’ll need?
• Is there anything else you or I can do to help you succeed?

Conversation format:
Leadership Role

The ICA has experimented with an approach to education based on Kenneth Boulding’s concept of the image. In his 1956 book, The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society, he says: “What determines the image? The image is built as a result of all past experiences of the possessor of the image. From the moment of birth, if not before, there is a constant stream of messages entering the organism from the senses. Every time a message reaches us, our image is likely to be changed in some degree by it, and as our image is changed our behaviour patterns will be changed likewise.”

After chatting with Duncan Holmes of ICA Associates, I came up with the following series of questions for use in mentoring.

(Coach explains the image concept)

• What is leadership? What are the different ways you talk about leadership? What role does leadership currently play in your function?
• What are its gifts? How does the current leadership pattern strengthen the team or organization?
• How does the current leadership pattern limit the team or organization?
• What role do you want leadership to play in the future?

(Coach explains how images are changed)

As the ICA collaborates with other groups, our grasp of facilitation, coaching and mentoring has been changing. The following are some reflections on this triggered by questions posed to me by ICA colleague Dharmalingam Vinasithamby.

Q: How have non-ICA facilitators contributed to the methods you are using?

• Introduced me to coaching with the GROW (Goal-Reality-Options-Wrap up) model
• Appreciative Inquiry – an approach that ties directly to ICA’s stance that “all is good”
• Open Space Technology – an approach driven by two things: passion and responsibility.
• Learning to listen and share while building a sense of self and community. This is based on the Foundation for Community Encouragement started by M Scott Peck.

Q: How have ICA’s methods made a difference to them?

• ORID and Personal Planning
• ICA’s facilitation style/discipline – the sense that it changes everything that you do as a coach or mentor. You are no longer limited by a tool or method. You bring your whole self and that of your client into the conversation.

Q: What have you been doing with mentorship?

• In-house training of mentees and mentors for two multinational organizations • Mentees in the ToP facilitation certification process – Taiwan and Ukraine
• Creative facilitator mentoring along with training in Shanghai
• Supporting reflection on one’s life journey for individuals and leaders

Q: Where is the edge today in mentoring/coaching?

• Context: Understanding the moment
o Interior: Who am I and who do I intend to be?
o Exterior: How do I interpret the world and the opportunities or    challenges it presents?

Impact of imaginal education and image change on process work such as Theory U in the context of an individual.

Lawrence Philbrook, a certified ToP Facilitator and Certified Professional Facilitator, is director of the Institute of Cultural Affairs Taiwan