KNOWLEDGE STEROIDS
By Nancy Moynihan, M.Ed., LPC

Several issues past I wrote an editor’s note regarding the growing devotion of our culture to expediency in all things, noting how this is cleverly and effectively illustrated in marketing by the advertising invention of the easy button. I connected this to an evolving standard in coaching and other human resource/development environments where practitioners are rewarded for expediency, cleverness and profitability, often discounting long-term solutions, relevance and professionalism.

The larger topic for me, especially in light of the IDM mission, is looking at the parallels between emerging helping profession standards and practices and rapidly evolving cultural standards and practices. From an IDM perspective I believe that well educated, competent and personally developed coaches and other helpers have the potential to affect the course of evolving cultural standards as well as professional standards. This month, I am continuing along that path looking at the topic of steroids and more specifically, knowledge steroids.

What, you may ask, do "knowledge steroids" have to do with helping professionals? The answer is found by examining the parallel between professional athletes and professional helpers. Consider for a moment, the idea that professional athletes and professional coaches are traversing a similar arc of influence.

Professional athletes have an impact. Typically, all of them are coached and/or mentored. During the past 30 years their influence has increasingly permeated much of society, the economy, politics, business, even fashion. Along with that has come an influence on the rules for living and succeeding, especially for young boys and men, but also for a minority of girls and women. Until recently, professional athletes have modeled hard work, dedication, resilience, endurance, the ability to be coached and structured and a single minded focus on continually improving their performance.

Professional helpers, whether in sports or otherwise, have an impact. During the past 30 years, their role has evolved to a growing position of influence in business, personal and family life. It seems plausible to speculate on the possibility that well educated, developmentally advanced coaches are poised to become the premier change agents in our culture (which seems increasingly in dire need of change agent influence!), capable of influencing developmental advances in both individual and cultural evolution. Achieving true professional status would further strengthen our position at the tip of the arrow of change awareness and mental growth.

Along with influence comes a mandate to access resources. Professional coaches have access to a huge array of training programs, online resources, peer groups and text books. In the midst of all the resources available are those offered by IDM — what I call knowledge steroids. What IDM offers is an elegant, powerful compaction of 30 years of social science research. It is a resource whose sole purpose is to increase capacity, capability, and ultimately the performance of professional change agents. In the IDM perspective, the coach has to use these resources him- or herself before any client can truly benefit.

Over-use of resources, specifically chemical steroids, has been the downfall of athletes as a group, possibly inflicting serious damage to their credibility as cultural leaders, as well as the direction of their arc of influence. In the case of coaches, under-use of resources, of the sort I call knowledge steroids, may be the downfall of professional helpers as a group, especially coaches, inflicting possibly serious damage to their credibility as change agents, as well as the direction of their arc of influence.

Think of it. Thorough education in and regular use of IDM brand knowledge steroids will result in tremendous mental growth. Growth evidenced by a full and comprehensive understanding of adult development, increased capacity to manifest an evolving developmental capability, precision and reliability in assessing the developmental level of clients, expertise in gauging return on investment for all interested parties, and the highly valued ability to influence change in individuals and communities.

In my own experience, the use of knowledge steroids is resulting in considerable increases in my clients’ developmental "muscle mass". As a coach, my consumption of IDM knowledge steroids has led to an increased capacity to lift heavy weights, enough to reveal hidden developmental evidence and a path to relevant change. I am formally encouraging you to get pumped up on IDM brand knowledge steroids if you truly want to expand your nascent capacity and capability for excellent performance!

in this issue
	Change of IDM Focus Invitation to the free Teleforum on how IDM's advanced coach education differs from conventional coach training 4-hr post-graduate Teleclass in “Mastering Developmental Listening in Coaching” starts Nov. 29, 2005 DeutschsprachigesTeleforum fuer Coaches und HR/OD Experten, Montag, 5 December 2005, 18-19 CET, by Otto Laske Developmental Interviewing Practicum will start in January of 2006 Advancing IDM at the ICF Conference, by Antoinette Dawson Featured Article : : Short Description of Measuring Hidden Dimensions, by Otto Laske (on IDM web site) Book Review #4 of "Measuring Hidden Dimensions" by Frank Ball The Relevance of Developmental Coaching for Coach Education and its Practical Value for the Sales Manager By Wendy Knowles Schedule of Courses taught during the period of November 2005 to March 2006
	CHANGE OF FOCUS Starting this Fall, IDM’s overall emphasis is shifting from an exclusive focus on coaching to the much broader issues of HR and OD. Our methodology (the Constructivist Developmental Framework, or CDF) fully equips us to provide assistance in Human Resources Management and Organizational Development. We include coaching as an integral part of these broader disciplines, rather than a stand-alone specialty. Our certificate and non-certificate courses are henceforth explicitly based on Otto Laske’s forthcoming book MEASURING HIDDEN DIMENSIONS: THE ART AND SCIENCE OF FULLY ENGAGING ADULTS, issued by the IDM Press. The book will appear in four volumes. Volume 1 will be available as a paperback in January of 2006 through the IDM Press. Already in December, volume 1 will also appear as a series of e-books. E-book and book orders will be accepted beginning December 1, 2005, at http://interdevelopmentals.org/book.html.   ***Special Invitation to our Newsletter Subscribers!*** FR^EE TELEFORUM :: HOW IS IDM EDUCATION DIFFERENT FROM CONVENTIONAL COACH TRAINING, AND HOW IS IT INTEGRATED WITH HR AND OD CONSULTATION?

POST-ICF CONFERENCE ARTICLE: There is More to What Your Client Tells You Than You Think

By Antoinette Dawson

This year, IDM presented a workshop on the topic of “There is more to what your client tells you than you think!” The workshop was presented in order to showcase the conceptual frameworks taught at IDM. It was centered around Developmental Listening and Interviewing. We learned that this presentation was one of just 36 selected from over 190 proposals submitted to the ICF organization. The conference was attended by more than 1700 attendees from the U.S. and around the world, and 170+ coaches came to hear us.

Otto was introduced as a pioneer and researcher of evidence-based developmental coaching, and I was introduced as an Executive Coach & Business Strategist seeking post-graduate certification from IDM. As an Ambassador, this was a great opportunity to team with Otto on designing and delivering the 2-hour workshop.

The format of the workshop was in two parts. Part 1 introduced developmental concepts. Part 2 consisted of a "live" demonstration of developmental interviewing, to show how the hidden developmental dimension becomes observable through interviewing when using special prompts. In this way, an audience of about 170 people witnessed developmental interviewing first hand.

It seemed appropriate to launch our session with an evidence-based question...”What has been your development over the past decade”? Ironically, it was the 10th anniversary of the ICF conference! Perhaps a topic for another conversation is this: “what has been the development of the industry in the past decade from a research point of view?” The question created an interactive buzz in the workshop when attendees had the opportunity to ask this question in small groups around the room.

To conduct this type of demonstration in a room full of "curious coaches" was energizing and a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate first-hand what sets evidence-based coaching apart from traditional coaching. We invited the volunteer to review and select one Developmental Prompt (learned in Gateway and Part A). After selecting the prompt, the volunteer was asked to reflect on a recent experience where this prompt had meaning for him or her, and this led to an – at times moving – deep conversation between volunteer and developmental interviewer.

After completing the interview, the volunteer, the interviewer and the observer (the audience) shared observations about the experience. Comments about the demonstration and the overall sessions included the following:

• “I really thought (as the client) this was getting to my issues.”
• “As the client I felt heard and not rushed.”
• “I was surprised at how involved and emotional I got during the interview and forgot I was in front of a room full of people.”
• “I generally coach from strong intuition but I can see how this might add to my work with my clients — and myself.”
• “The starting prompt is a new idea and I'm anxious to try it.”
• “The client had the freedom to just talk to the interviewer”
• “The interviewer was empathetic and totally focused on the client”
• “The client sure covered a lot of ground in just 10 minutes; does this happen all of the time?”
• “I never knew that you could hear so much from the use of one word. How do I get a copy of the prompts?”
• “The two of you are so different in your style and are incredibly accomplished in your way of presenting; this was great for me to see.”
• “How can you get to determining a stage by way of just one interview?”

After our workshop, we had the opportunity to visit the conference bookstore where we learned that all of Otto’s books Measuring Hidden Dimensions were sold out. From there, it was a short walk over to the Exhibit Hall where we planned to connect with a few vendors. As we were walking and reflecting on the session, several new book owners approached us and requested a personal autograph. Each had a story of how they had heard of the book and why they decided to purchase it. One person said, “This is exactly what I have been looking for and I even bought a copy for a friend”. Another person was writing a dissertation in a doctoral program and thought the book offered "depth" compared to other topics on display in the bookstore.

The objective was to begin to demystify the process of evidence-based coaching and to generate interest from this group of coaches in learning more about IDM. I believe we indeed accomplished the IDM presentation objectives. We are now planning to follow-up with a 4-week Developmental Listening teleclass for ICF-oriented coaches, and open the IDM Program up to as many as will listen.

MEASURING HIDDEN DIMENSIONS: THE ART AND SCIENCE OF FULLY ENGAGING ADULTS

By Otto Laske (IDM Press, January 2006)

Copyright © Interdevelopmental Institute

Designed to comprise four volumes, the book’s first volume introduces the reader to a developmentally based model of professional consultation. Building on the work of Michael Basseches, Elliott Jaques, Robert Kegan, Edgar Schein, and Ken Wilber, the author concentrates on what for many years Edgar Schein has addressed as Process Consultation (PC), a mode of helping that is distinguished from both the ‘expert’ and the ‘doctor-patient’ models of helping. In PC, it is the task of the professional to consult to the client’s mental process, rather than delivering solutions or diagnoses per se.

Taking these three models of consultation into account and analyzing them developmentally, Laske introduces a fourth model, developmentally grounded process consultation (or DPC). DPC addresses helping processes as delivered by consultants, HR and OD professionals, social workers, mediators, coaches, lawyers, and clinical and social psychologists. In most general terms, then, Laske’s book is a developmentally based theory of professional helping. It makes full use of adult-developmental research since about 1970.

Book Review by Frank Ball, PCC, Co-director, Leadership Coaching Certificate Program, Georgetown University, Washington, DC

The underlying premise of Otto Laske’s new book, Measuring Hidden Dimensions: The Art and Science of Fully Engaging Adults, is that most coaches don’t know enough about their clients in a developmental sense, and our clients can’t tell us directly what we’re missing. Regardless of our skillfulness in listening for content, content alone won’t reveal the missing information.

The two missing elements, in Laske’s view, are 1) a well grounded knowledge of the research into how adult humans develop, learn, and grow over a lifetime and 2) skillfulness in listening beyond the content of our client’s conversation to its structure. Listening for structure, beyond content, is the only way to discern the client’s developmental level. These topics are not part of the training and education most coaches receive.

In this book he seeks to remedy that situation, and he does so in a rigorous and comprehensive way. He outlines developmental theories refined over decades of research and describes how coaches can acquire skillfulness in listening for the structure of our clients’ conversations using those theories and models.

In addition to making the case for the “why” of developmental listening, this book has a lot of the “how” and a number of examples, exercises, and case studies through which the reader can strengthen his or her mastery of the concepts. Though this book does an excellent job of introducing and explaining these concepts, mastery of their application is another story. This reviewer’s learning journey to acquire those skills has shown that a significant amount of supervised practice is required to master those skills. Reading any book alone about human development and developmental listening will not suffice.

So what is this different kind of listening called developmental listening? At its simplest, it is the difference between listening for content and listening for structure. Content, as Laske uses the term, describes behavior and often includes the client’s explanation of it. Structure explains behavior in a developmental sense rather than the client’s narrative of the “why” he or she is conscious of. This is what Laske calls the hidden dimension. The client is unaware of it, and unless the coach is trained in developmental listening, he or she will remain unaware, too.

A simple, familiar example may illustrate this distinction. When offered the choice of a nickel or a dime, children below a certain age (and developmental level) will consistently select the nickel. Children beyond that age (and developmental level) will select the dime when offered the same choice.

The structure beneath the first child’s choice is an unstated belief that larger items are worth more than smaller ones. The structure beneath the second child’s choice is an awareness that size and value can vary other than directly. In fact, in the case of nickels and dimes, they vary inversely, thereby accounting for the smaller dime being worth more than the larger nickel. No two or three year old will describe the reasoning behind their differing decisions in quite that way. It is our knowledge of the different thought processes and ways of determining value that children develop at different ages that explains each child’s choice and points to the shift that has to occur beneath the surface for the child to become capable of making the new choice of dime over nickel.

The stages of child development are much more evident than those of adults, which are more subtle and reveal themselves through the structure of conversations more than they do through observable actions. Hence the need for coaches to develop an ability to listen for and discern the underlying structure that the client cannot see themselves and consequently can’t describe. That’s what this book is all about. A coach who is able to listen for structure in the client’s story has a much more expanded capability to help clients develop in more strategic, even principled, ways, with the principles being integrity, self authoring, and service orientation vs. ego orientation. To do any less is to shortchange the client and miss the full possibilities of coaching for development.

The approach to coaching Dr. Laske advocates in this book focuses on increasing the coach’s understanding of the clients developmental capabilities in a very rigorous, scientifically based way. For those who want to take their coaching to a higher level of insight and impact, this book is an excellent primer.

Frank Ball is an independent organizational consultant and Co-director, Leadership Coaching Certificate Program, Georgetown University, Washington, DC. He can be reached at Frankball3@aol.com.

WHAT IDM TEACHINGS HAVE MEANT TO ME: The Relevance of Developmental Coaching for Coach Education and its Practical Value for the Sales Manager.

By Wendy Knowles

I coach managers, executives, and salespeople to be more effective and produce greater results. Since encountering Dr. Laske a year ago and taking some courses at IDM, my thinking about my practice has been greatly deepened. Below is my commentary on what IDM teachings have meant to me. The commentary focuses on two areas:

1. Impact of the Developmental Coaching Model on Sales Force Recruitment, Development, and Retention
2. Selection of Dr. Laske’s program as an Integral part of the Seneca College Coaching Program

Impact of the Developmental Coaching Model on Sales Force Recruitment, Development, and Retention

“This is something!” I was intrigued. Last year at the International Coach Federation Conference I was listening to Dr. Otte Laske speak about developmental levels in adults.

It was as if he was speaking to something that made sense to me on an intuitive level. I had been commissioned by Seneca College, the largest college in Canada with over

25,000 students per semester, to create a coaching program. I was at the ICF with the mandate to select a program to market through Seneca.

Some background might be useful. I have been coaching for over 5 years and have 20 years experience in sales. I assert the following: As a coach there is a natural evolution in our abilities. First we learn the language of coaching, and then we learn to notice how we listen. We learn to get out of the way of the client — remove our personal biases — ask intriguing questions that open up conversations. All this takes time to develop and years of practice to attain a level of proficiency. I am clear that I am a good coach. But what does it take to be a great coach? I felt often that the level of my interaction with clients was mediocre — that there were underlying issues/challenges/ blocks that got in the way. Sometimes the client would commit and then fizzle. What was missing was a deeper understanding of the client — how clients make meaning and make sense of what is happening, then how they take action, and finally what was their will to “stay the course”. Both the client and myself needed to know this.

Well, along comes Dr. Laske with his quiet but profound arguments. It was like a breath of fresh air to hear him talk about developmental levels — how a person ‘makes meaning’ actually impacts how they make decisions and ultimately achieve their goals.

Since that time, I have taken several of the IDM courses and find myself consistently listening from what level people are communicating. This has enabled me to listen more profoundly, enter into stronger conversations, and be much more focused in making requests.

The Developmental Coaching Gateway course by IDM now offered at Seneca College is a natural compliment to the more traditional coaching course that we offer. The students are excited and the concepts are relevant. We are delighted to support the program.

Impact of Developmental Coaching Model on Sales Force Recruitment, Development, and Retention

I work with sales teams. I coach managers, executives, and salespeople to be more effective and produce greater results.

I would like to talk about business-to-business sales teams, namely teams who sell in situations that I call complex sales involving multiple decision makers, multiple meetings, and significant investment or impact of both products and services.

One could say that sales are the lifeblood of a business — without sales there is no business. There are several challenges facing executives who manage such teams. The challenges facing sales force management are threefold:

1. Finding the right people,
2. Retaining them
3. Helping them reach their potential

Some of my clients have upwards of 30% annual turnover in their sales force. What is the problem? Let's start with hiring. Frankly, it is very difficult to hire the right person. The interview as typically conducted doesn't reveal very much.

Tolerate with me with this example — I think it's worth a bit more reading...

Below is a list of qualities that were honed from my observations of ten sales people over four months in 2005.

Salesperson Qualities/Abilities (This list is not all inclusive)

1. Significant confidence and strategy in managing internal superiors
2. Strong overall account strategy e.g. Planning three meetings ahead
3. Ability to build Return on Investment (often ‘on the fly’) through asking great questions
4. Art of asking questions that move the sale forward
5. Transcending their Ego so as not to offend nor get lost in their own persona (avoiding ‘chip on the shoulder’ defense mechanism)
6. Listening far more effectively than the average person
7. Speaking with greater eloquence than the average person
8. Ability to absorb tremendous amounts of sales data and hone in on what will sell
9. Ability to work with numbers quickly both written and verbally
10. Honesty and Integrity
11. Fine tuning customer conversations quickly and getting to the point
12. Reduction in talking about product features too early in the sales cycle
13. Delegating and using the internal resources more effectively
14. Mitigating the impact of personal life challenges
15. Creating work/life balance which impacts productivity in the longer haul
16. Disengaging clients who are not profitable or who take too much energy
17. Ability to determine the client's business need and personal result (win)
18. Speaking less and listening more
19. Developing marketing strategies to support the sales effort eg. Seminars, direct mail/email campaigns
20. Qualifying accounts
21. Planning the day for Increased productivity
22. Understanding one's weaknesses within a sales situation. Being able to self-correct
23. Optimal use of internal associates e.g. Technical team
24. Managing a customer meeting with multiple internal and external people including multiple decision makers
25. Understanding the unique buyer types within a company and qualifying buyers
26. Self-awareness of own personal communication style both strengths and limitations
27. Time management in order to minimize the length of the sales cycle per sale e.g. quantity and duration of meetings
28. Raising and maintaining personal boundaries so at to not waste time
29. Ability to ‘see’ the clients bigger picture and apply product or service to fill the need
30. Ability to both strategize and develop a geographic or account territory
31. The ‘will’ to stick with it over time and suffer many business challenges in order to succeed
32. Ability to sell a solution that supports a need of the client
33. Ability to stick with the job for at least one year before making appropriate returns

What a list! I was surprised. I am sure that a person fulfilling all these criteria would have to rank highly in terms of adult developmental levels. Interestingly, in the case of this client of mine, the salespeople are on a very small base draw which is basically straight commission! So we are asking for someone to do all the above, work on straight commission or small draw against commission and hang in for at least a year before making decent money. Not an easy sale!

So how does a sales manager hire for all these qualities? What is the cost of a ‘bad’ hire? A ‘bad’ hire can cost a company upwards of several million dollars. For a major account representative, it can easily cost $100,000 per year to carry a senior sales person. This person’s sales target could be $2,000,000. The cost of a wrong-hire is enormous. Consider the cost of replacing the sales manager who may have eight salespeople under him! And the opportunity cost of those eight salespeople not performing!

Sales Managers are looking more and more at profiling based on assessments in order to better hire and mitigate risk. They know they need help. It is a great opportunity for coaches and consultants who can assist in developmental interviews and interpretation. Imagine what would happen if large companies had a “Developmental Coach’ on staff or on contract.

I assert that Developmental Profiling/Assessments could save hundreds of millions of dollars in wrong-hires.  And, through better hiring, companies could reap millions in sales they otherwise would not enjoy.

And we have yet to talk about retention. What if managers knew the developmental level of their sales team individually and as a team? What kind of conversation would occur? Once again, I assert that the quality of the conversations would be much higher. The sales manager’s coaching would be more appropriate and match the developmental level of the team. She would speak to their level of listening and how they make meaning. Would they be more intrinsically motivated? I say they would.

Developmental Coaching is an obvious tool and model for the corporate world. The challenge is that the assessments require interpretation by trained professionals. Business leaders don’t have the time or the inclination. Consequently, the best of Dr.Laske’s work needs tuning to match the “hearing” of the sponsoring executive and his managers.

Frankly, we are looking at a whole new paradigm in communication and developing potential in others.  Let's not waste the opportunity.

Wendy Knowles is a Leadership and Sales Coach with The Mentor Coaching Group. www.mentorcoachinggroup.com. She is the Part-time Program Coordinator for The Performance Coaching for the Workplace Program at Seneca College, Toronto, Canada. www.senecac.on.ca/performancecoaching

Non-Certificate Courses Fall-Winter 2005 Course or Workshop Start Dates 2005 (2006) Time ET (2-hr Sessions) Tuition Business Coaching for Potential [1] Individual assessment recommended Mentoring available Wednesday 4 sessions Nov. 23 to Dec. 14, 05; Jan 11 to Feb 7, 06; Feb 21 to March 21, 06 10 am to 12 n ET $349 Understanding Coaching Bottlenecks [1] Includes personal assessment and feedback Mentoring available Wednesday 4 sessions Nov. 23 to Dec. 14, 05; Jan 11 to Feb 7, 06; Feb 21 to March 21, 06 1 pm to 3 pm $429 Hidden Dimensions Workshop [2] Individual assessment recommended Wednesday 4 sessions Nov. 23 to Dec. 14, 05; Jan 11 to Feb 7, 06; Feb 21 to March 21, 06 5 pm to 7 pm $349 Verborgene Dimensionen Workshop [German] [2] Individual assessment recommended Friday 4 sessions Nov. 18 to Dec. 09, 05; Jan 13 to Feb 03;Feb 10 March 03, 06 18 to 20 CET oder 20-22 CET $349 (€290) Certificate Courses Fall-Winter 2005 Gateway (General introduction to developmental coaching) Individual assessment recommended Tuesday 8 sessions Nov 22 to Dec 14 & Jan 10 to Jan 31; Feb 7 to March 28, 06 1 pm to 3 pm $495 Program One, Part A (Developmental coaching techniques) Individual assessment recommended Tuesday 8 sessions Nov 8 to Dec 13 & Jan 10 to 17, 06; Jan 24 to March 14 4 pm to 6 pm $700 Program One, Part A (German & French) Individual assessment recommended Thursday 8 sessions Nov 17 to Dec 15, 05 & Jan 12 to 26;Feb 2 to March 23 16 – 18 CET $700 Program One, Part B (Cognitive coaching techniques) Individual assessment recommended Thursday 8 sessions Nov 17 to Dec 15, 05 & Jan 12 to 26;Feb 2 to March 23 2 pm to 4 pm $700 Program One, Part C (Behavioral coaching techniques) Individual assessment recommended Thursday 8 sessions Nov 17 to Dec 15, 05 & Jan 12 to 26;Feb 2 to March 23 4 pm to 6 pm $700 Program One, Part D (Case Study Preparation) [3] Individual assessment recommended Mentoring available Thursday 8 sessions Nov 17 to Dec 15, 05 & Jan 12 to 26;Feb 2 to March 23 12 noon to 2 pm $900 Program Two (Case Studies Master Class) [4] Mentoring for academic studies available Friday 8 sessions December 1, 05 Time open $1,750 [1] Program One Part C can be entered with a 20% tuition reduction [2] Participant is eligible for entering Gateway with a 40% tuition reduction [3] Precondition: Part D: Parts A to C [4] Precondition: Program One, Part D (Client Case Study) IDM Payment Policy: All workshops, courses, and intensives must be paid prior to the first class at the very latest. Non-payment will result in exclusion from the class until payment is made. Payment by Paypal is preferred. Payment by check needs to be received one whole week before the start of the class. IDM Cancellation Policy: Withdrawals up to 14 days before start of the course or intensive receive a 50% discount. Cancellation by IDM: full refund. To Register, see http://www.interdevelopmentals.org/registrations.html For logistic questions please contact Greg Welstead at info@interdevelopmentals.org For further information see http://www.interdevelopmentals.org/hdworkshop.html For questions regarding the European courses, kindly address yourself to Jon Ebersole, MA, MSc, jon@dialogueservices.com, or to Otto Laske, PhD, Psy.D. otto@interdevelopmentals.org.