“A misconception about coaches is that they tell their clients exactly what they should do. In reality, coaches listen to their clients, ask questions to get them thinking differently, and help them come to their own solutions. The process is creative and thought-provoking to help the client maximize their own potential.”

Experience Coaching, International Coaching Federation

Coaching is a collaborative partnership that connects at the deep personal level of beliefs, values, and vision. It is based on a body of knowledge, proven methodologies, and a style of relating that focuses on the development of human capacity. It is a powerful tool for learning, change, and transformation. While there are many types of coaching, leadership (or executive) coaching is embedded in organizational and systems contexts. Its purpose is to enhance a person’s leadership impact by helping them to develop mindsets, abilities, and skills to perform better as a leader and to help their organization achieve its vision, mission, and goals. Effective leadership coaching provides a customized approach that acknowledges and honours the leader’s individuality, and creates a confidential space to pause, explore, and reflect upon the many issues they are grappling with. The coaching process enables leaders to set goals to change behaviours that are holding them back.

Coaching is a form of active learning and is tailored to the individual. It integrates unique personal and professional development, as well as organizational needs. It works because it helps leaders adapt to new responsibilities, learn more productive behaviours, enhance teamwork and alignment, facilitate succession, and support organizational change.

Leadership coaches are not technical advisors, mentors, or consultants; we are partners that believe you have unlimited potential to achieve the goals and outcomes you set. We are invested in supporting  your leadership development and change. We will engage you in honest self-assessment and deep personal exploration of your challenges and assumptions, and will hold you accountable. We will challenge old stories that are no longer useful, and help you learn and reframe thoughts, patterns, and behaviours that are getting in your way.

Benefits of leadership coaching include increased self-confidence, improved work performance, better communication skills, and sustained behavioural change. Coaching also helps leaders to broaden their thinking, challenge assumptions, and learn new ways to respond, which encourages flexible and adaptive mindsets. With more self-awareness and improved skills, an empowered leader has the potential to increase productivity and create positive shifts in their teams and organization, which directly impacts employee well-being and engagement, workplace effectiveness, and bottom line results.

Today’s world is complex and changing, and organizations need different approaches to respond to many emerging challenges. They need to develop sustainable and effective workplaces, and need to be more collaborative than ever. Developing high performing teams that can create connections and shared goals on multiple levels are the key to wider organizational effectiveness. Systemic Team Coaching strengthens teams internally and supports teams to connect to external stakeholders for better team results.

Systemic Team Coaching (STC) is a powerful and effective process that enhances the performance of the whole team to enable the team to improve its ability to deliver sustainable and inspired high performance. The approach focuses on the team, rather than the individuals making up the team, as the “coaching client” and creates an environment where the team can get beyond their differences and competing interests to align with collective goals and collaborative KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). The approach is “systemic” because the work goes beyond the internal team – it helps the team bring in stakeholder perspectives and how the team can integrate these perspectives as they work towards common purpose and goals.

The benefits of Systemic Team Coaching are a better understanding of team dynamics, shared working agreements and norms of engagement, increased understanding of collaboration and increased commitment to working towards shared goals.

The role of the Systemic Team Coach is to partner with the team to co-create a learning environment where the team can explore how better to connect internally (as a team) and with their external stakeholders. Over a period of several months, the Systemic Team Coach facilitates team conversations that are driven by the team’s priorities, that supports the team to:

• Align on common purpose, collaborate and mutual accountability;
• Learn across diversity and develop collective leadership;
• Explore issues that relate to collective performance, enabling the team to recognize and manage influences on its performance, now and in the future;
• Take a systemic view of those influences, which may concern the team’s internal dynamics and/or how it interacts with its stakeholders;
• Explore how to effectively engage with their key stakeholder groups;
• Jointly align with and transform the wider organization.

Systemic Team Coaching relies on a blend of skills: coaching, facilitation and consulting. In addition to being a Professional Certified Coach (PCC), Jocelyne is a skilled facilitator and is a certified Practitioner in Team Coaching (2021) as well as certified in International Systemic Team Coaching (2019). The Systemic Team Coaching model incorporates five key disciplines that involve a focus on both internal and external team learning and development goals. The approach is non-linear and adapts to the team’s priorities, which are identified through a scoping and inquiry process at the outset of the engagement, and that is further refined in the first team engagement. The 5 disciplines are:

Jocelyne is trained in Peter Hawkins Systemic Coaching Approach, which forms the backbone of her team coaching work. As a holistic practitioner, Jocelyne also draws on many other “systemic” and “team” theories, tools and approaches, including Organization and Relationship System Coaching (ORSC), Jennifer J. Britton’s work on group and team coaching, and Mary Beth O’Neill’s systemic leadership coaching. She also draws on years of experience and training in leadership, adult education, and facilitation. Jocelyne is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC), a Certified Team Coaching Practitioner (Global Team Coaching Institute) and has Individual Team Coaching Accreditation (ITCA) Practitioner with European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC Global).

Relationships are connections built on a foundation of shared experiences and future expectations, and organizations are interconnections of relationships – people who interact in big and small ways every day. Core Strengths defines Relationship Intelligence (RQ) as insight to adjust your approach to make interactions more effective. Core Strengths training introduces you to more effective options for dealing with the most challenging situations and people.

The SDI is a powerful and effective tool for understanding and influencing the motives that drive behaviours. The SDI plays off people’s basic need to better understand themselves and others, and that understanding allows them to lead with clarity and empathy, build stronger teams, and more effectively navigate conflict.

Most people don’t realize that they have more strengths than they are presently using. Nor do most of us understand the underlying motivations that drive our behaviour. Rather than focusing on WHAT we do, the SDI 2.0 helps us to understand WHY we behave and HOW we relate to each other. Using Relationship Intelligence (RQ), the SDI 2.0 provides a common language for understanding what’s important and produces four interrelated views of a person:

Core Strengths RQ and SDI-2.0 is a unique assessment and training system that will help organizations to:

As a licensed and certified Core Strengths and SDI 2.0 practitioner, I will link you to the assessment platform where you can review personal results and facilitate learning conversations that invite your team to engage in practices that develop greater Relational Intelligence (RQ).

There many personality assessments available and research comparing the SDI 2.0 to other assessments clearly differentiate it from other personality assessments such as the MBTI, DISC or Hogan. “The SDI 2.0 does not measure people’s skills or point out deficiencies that would disqualify them from advancement. Instead, it offers a common language that people can use as they collaborate to achieve results.” (Patterson, Scudder).

You might also wonder if another strengths-based tool is just the same old approach with a new name?  While the SDI 2.0 may share the same word as CliftonStrengths (or Buckingham’s Stand-out)  it is not defined the same. Both Clifton and Buckingham define strengths as talents and focus on working with top strengths, which has limitations. Core Strengths, on the other hand, shows people that they can have access to a wide range of strengths. “Core Strengths connect every strength to individuals’ underlying motives to help them find personally meaningful and compelling reasons to bring any strength to a situation and get better results through relationships.” (Patterson, Scudder).

For more information on how the SDI 2.0 differs from other assessments:

Which Assessment Will Really Make a Difference? By Patterson, M.L. (Ed.D) and Scudder, T. (PhD), accessed October 18, 2020.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is about being aware of your feelings, how they affect your behaviour, and using this information to be a positive influence on yourself and others. It’s also about recognizing other people’s emotions and using emotions wisely in social contexts. Emotion Quotient (EQ) is a measurement of a person’s level of EI. Both are important concepts to help you understand how you can be an effective leader and team player.

Scholars have been exploring the concept of multiple intelligences related to feelings and knowing since the early 1920s. Israeli psychologist Reuven Bar-On first developed the term “emotional quotient” or “EQ” (1985) and the term Emotional Intelligence was coined in1990 by psychologists Peter Salovey (Yale University) and John “Jack” Mayer (University of New Hampshire).

Since then, an emerging body of knowledge related to EI and neuroscience continue to add to our understanding that EI is so much more than soft skills. Because EI is a group of skills, it can be measured objectively through normative, validated psychological assessments, such as the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i 2.0). It has been proven that EQ, the measurement of a person’s level of EI, can change over time. EI is, therefore, a distinct ability that can be learned and improved by enhancing elements of the skills sets that relate to it.

In the past few decades, EI has been popular in many sectors, including business, education, and health, and there has been increasing interest in how a person’s EQ impacts their performance. What is clear is that EQ is not the same as IQ (Intelligence Quotient), which measures cognitive intelligence (intellectual, analytical, logical, and rational abilities). IQ is a fixed measure and can predict how well one will do in passing exams and working with objective information such as numbers and facts; however, it does not measure how well one copes in a working environment, especially in terms of relating to others. EQ, on the other hand, is not fixed and can be improved.

Like IQ, there are statistical tests that measure EQ. Numerous studies have linked high EQ with greater work performance and more success in the workplace than those with high IQ: employees who were better at interpersonal skills systematically succeeded in getting promoted and earning higher salaries. Other studies have correlated high EQ scores in predicting success in varied professions, including healthcare, teaching, business, and many more. EQ has also been linked with leadership, and a study indicates that 67% of leadership is dependent on EI (Bar-On, 2006). EI has also been linked to greater mental health and resiliency, especially in one’s ability to bounce back from psychological injuries that might occur in workplaces (trauma, anxiety, bullying, burnout, and stress). A study of over 1,700 participants in Tasmania, Australia, found a correlation to greater levels of EI and higher levels of resilience and mindfulness and lower levels of occupational stress (Palmer, 2018).

Investing in nurturing people and cultures that are emotionally intelligent creates many positive outcomes that affect the bottom line, including increased leadership ability, increased team performance, improved decision-making, increased personal and workplace well-being and resilience, decreased toxicity and stress, decreased absenteeism, and lower turnover.

Higher EQ has been clearly linked to improved ROI in a number of areas of human resources. HR costs such as absenteeism and employee turnover can be significant for organizations. However, people with higher EQ tend to be more engaged, take less time off from work, report higher levels of employee engagement, and aren’t as likely to leave their jobs.

Many studies indicate that leaders with high EI, and therefore high EQ, have more positive attitudes, and this in turn sets the tone for their employees. The science of mood contagion and how it relates to bottom line results demonstrates that the mood and behaviour of the leader is directly related to productivity and outcomes. Leaders that demonstrate high levels of emotional intelligence create healthy work environments that are conducive to trust, information sharing, risk-taking, and learning, which leads to greater productivity and innovation. Alternatively, leaders with low EQ demonstrate emotions and behaviours that create workplaces where employees are fearful, anxious, and lack trust. While this type of leader may get short-term results caused by fear, it does not last. Therefore, leaders that are optimistic and upbeat will have more positive influence on employees’ productivity, engagement, innovation, and retention (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee, 2001).

Interested in learning more about Emotional Intelligence and measuring your Emotional Quotient? There are many excellent resources available online and in print that can help you to understand more about EI and EQ. Then when you are ready to take the next step for yourself or your organization, you can invest in assessments and training for your leaders and teams.

Jocelyne Hamel is certified to administer the Emotional Quotient Inventory 2.0 (EQ-i 2.0) assessment and the EQ 360 (a multi-rater assessment), and can provide you with custom reports and coaching to support you in understanding your results. Jocelyne has delivered numerous “Leading with Emotional Intelligence” workshops and can tailor workshops specifically to your organization’s and your team’s needs. Learning about EI competencies and behaviours will support your efforts to shift organizational culture and provide a common language for your team to grow together.

For more information on EQ-i 2.0 and EQ 360 assessments, see Tools & Assessments on the Services page.

References

Strategic planning enables organizations to examine where they are, where they want to go, and how to get there. Strategic plans are not meant to be static, and while strategic directions are critical to ensure mission alignment, today’s organizations must have adaptive mindsets and be able to adjust their plans and priorities to meet the changing needs of their stakeholders as well as environmental factors.

While there are many techniques for facilitating this process, there are two basic approaches: a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) and SOAR  (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, Results). While both have merit, each approach will get different results.

A SWOT analysis allows an organization to looks at where they are in the present and analyzes where strengths and opportunities can be highlighted or advanced, and where weaknesses and threats can be shored up. This process leads to recommended strategic alternatives that would best serve the organization. External elements play a major factor in how strategies are developed in SWOT analyses.

SOAR is a strategy formulation and planning framework that takes an appreciative approach to engaging an organization’s stakeholders in planning for their preferred future. In contrast to a traditional SWOT analysis, which focuses on the present, SOAR enables an organization to see where they are today from a strength-based perspective, and builds on this to create a vision and aspirations for the future. Because of the appreciative stance, the approach tends to be generative, engaging, and inspiring to the participants.

Both SWOT and SOAR are valid strategic planning methodologies and have some overlaps. The difference is that while SWOT includes discussions about weaknesses and threats, SOAR embeds conversations about aspirations (who we should become) and results (what do we want to be known for and how do we measure results). In SOAR, weaknesses and threats are not ignored, but they are reframed as opportunities. Additionally, like Appreciative Inquiry, the positive stories and experiences that participants bring to the conversation are SOAR’s foundation. Through common language and inspiring stories, with SOAR, participants tend to feel more invested in the outcomes and directions of the strategic plan.

For more information about SOAR, see the Appreciative Inquiry Commons website. For more information about SWOT, see the SWOT analysis Wikipedia page.

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a way of thinking, seeing, and acting for powerful, purposeful change in people and organizations. The AI approach assumes that whatever you want more of already exists in the system, and inquiry is based on the discovery of what gives “life” to a living system when it is most alive, most effective, and most constructively capable in economic, ecological, and human terms. Rather than focusing on problems, the AI approach starts with a very specific affirmative question about a topic of choice. This is based on the premise that the questions we ask will be the focus of our findings. When we focus on problems, we tend to find more problems. When we ask questions about the “best of what is”, we create an environment for generative conversations.

Appreciative Inquiry is based on the work of David L. Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva (1984) and is still best known as methodology for generating large systems change in the organizational development world. Yet the concept of AI been adapted into many forms of inquiry and practice, such as strategic planning, leadership approaches, and coaching.

I am experienced in facilitating Appreciative Inquiry in organizational development, strategic planning, and team building processes. I embedded AI in my Masters project both as an approach and as a meta-analysis. This was published in 2009: Choosing Appreciative Conversations for Nonprofit Board Development: Using an Appreciative Inquiry Lens to Align Board Action Plans with Organizational Mission and Strategies.

As a coach and consultant, I bring an appreciative lens to all my work. To be clear, I do not ignore problems; however, I will support you in reframing your challenges from a strengths-based and solutions-oriented approach.

For more information and resources about Appreciative Inquiry, see the Appreciative Inquiry Commons website.