Implications for Coaching
While we might not have a Scarecrow, Tin Man, Lion—or even a good doctor or Vulcan—to assist us in our journey, we can look to assistance from a professional coach. We suggest ways in which a coach can provide some guidance (or at least ways in which we can self-coach). This will mean that we need to return briefly to the concepts that were introduced earlier in this book: the domains of information, intentions, and idea. And we will be directing our attention initially to those who do the coaching.
The Nature of Effective Coaching
First, it is important when coaching someone to acknowledge that those people who tend to dwell more on reflection than action are oriented either toward “realism” or “idealism.” The “realists” who are assertive tend to be aligned with extraversion and Golden Yellow, while the idealists are likely to be aligned with an extraverted Azure Blue. When we are unsure about the preference of our coaching client, we might want to consider either the introverted Golden Yellow or the introverted Ruby Red. We might have to wait for a while to gain a clear sense of the preferences shown by those who are reticent to act. On the other hand, there is one introverted preference that is usually displayed fairly early in a relationship. This is the introverted Azure Blue. Their caring attitude is usually right there: they’re “wearing their heart on their sleeve.”
By contrast, the extraverted Ruby Red is inclined to embrace an activist perspective. As activists, they tend to dwell in the domain of actionable ideas. As we have noted, the activists perceive the overly analytical realist as an immobile, often obsessive person. Similarly, an activist views the idealist as hopelessly romantic—a person who would rather build castles in the air than build a durable bungalow on earth. The realist, while very “well-informed”, may never lift his or her head long enough or far enough to see what is actually happening in the world beyond the data. While these perspectives have already been offered in these two companion essays, they should be guiding the professional coach in determining which approach to take, the issues on which to focus, and the questions to ask their client.
Executive coaches are likely to find that the leaders they are coaching are often pulled not only between reflection and action, but also between realism and idealism. The realist is careful and cautious, because of their legitimate concern that problems may appear to be “solved” through wishful thinking (the failure of idealism) or without anticipating the consequences (the failure of activism). Too many people, according to the realist, go off half-cocked, with very little sense of the resources needed to solve a problem and without a clear understanding of the current situation to anticipate all the consequences associated with a particular solution.
