ODN EUROPE

WEBINAR WITH LARRY HIRSCHHORN

A PEER-TO-PEER COACHING SESSION IN THE TIME OF COVID

THURSDAY 21 MAY 2020 – 16.00 to 18.30 GMT

 

We invite you to a zoom session in which coaches and consultants can provide coaching to each other on the issues and dilemmas we all face helping our clients, particularly in the time of COVID-19. Our clients are facing unprecedented situations in which their skills, capacities and resources are being tested as they try to be effective in their roles as leaders, executives and professionals.

We will conduct the session using the well-known “Balint” methodology. The method works as follows:

• One person presents a case issues for about 10 minutes. A case issue is not a full case presentation. Rather it is a dilemma or question: For example, “My client feels overwhelmed by the current uncertainty and I don’t know  how to help her recover her sense of agency,” or “My client is leading a division and can’t get any useful information about near terms plans from her executive committee. This makes her feel stuck.”  Or, “My client is obsessively plugged into news about the virus and can’t let go enough to do useful work. My simple suggestions to get him unplugged are not helping.”
• His or her peers ask questions of clarification for about 10 minutes. In this part of the process peers do not provide interpretations or suggestions, just questions to ensure that they understand the case-presenter’s issue.
• Then the case-presenter listens in, without responding, as the peers explore hypotheses about the dynamics of the presenting situation. What do we think is going on? What issues underlie the dilemmas and choices the case presenter faces? This takes between 10 and 15 minutes.
• Finally the case presenter returns the conversation to present his or reactions and the group as whole considers what practical next steps the case presenter can take. This takes between 10 and 15 minutes.

 

The merits of this process are:

• It differentiates the stages of understanding a dilemma or choice, and then providing advicefor how to address it. Too often we jump to advice without first joining with a peer in her exploration of an issue.
• It harnesses the power of good group thinking without falling prey to group think.
• It provides a safe setting in which peers can share their dilemmas and challenges.

 

Larry Hirschhorn will facilitate the session

 

LARRY HIRSCHHORN

Larry is a founding partner of CFAR, a management-consulting firm in Philadelphia.  He has a PhD in economics from MIT and was on the faculty of the Wharton school, the University of Pennsylvania. He is a founding member and past president of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations (ISPSO). He is the director of Dynamics of Consulting, a nine-day program for experienced consultants and coaches. The program is divided into three modules, each 3 months apart, and takes place in New York City. Larry has written five books, among them, “The Workplace Within: The Psychodynamics of Organizational Life,”  “Reworking Authority: Leading and following in a Postindustrial age,” and “Managing in the New Team Environment.” He won the 2008 Elliot Jaques award from the Society of Consulting Psychology for his article, “The Fall of Howell Raines and the New York Times,” a study in the psychodynamics of leadership. He lives in Philadelphia.