service to and to include commitment at the very senior levels of
the organization.
CW: Your post-mortem of the credit crisis includes a
scathing indictment of group-think while acknowledging
that teamwork and group cohesiveness are central values
to most (if not all) organizations. How can coaches give
clients what they require—which, often, is coaching for
team effectiveness—in a responsible, appropriate way
that encourages cohesion while discouraging group-think?
A&S: We saw group-think as largely a dogmatic position
which discouraged questioning (which, of course, was to
the advantage of those in power), and skepticism as a
method of resisting this. Greater utilization of critical theory
enables coachees to see that there is in fact a wide range
of interpretations possible as regards any set of beliefs, and
that dogmatic positions can always be subjected to question.
Indeed, our overriding point throughout the book was that such
positions must always be subjected to questioning, that this
was the only way to ensure that belief systems remained open
to new ideas. Unless new ideas are continually coming forward,
authoritarian behavior tends to set in, and that is never in any
organization’s longer-term benefit.
Angélique du Toit
had a career as a senior
international manager
before embarking on a
career as an international
Executive Coach 16 years
ago. She works with leaders
in both the public and private sectors. She is
widely published on the subject of coaching and
a regular speaker at various conferences and
events related to coaching and leadership.
Stuart Sim is a professor
of critical theory and 18thcentury English literature
at Northumbria University,
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
He is a Fellow of the English
Association. His latest
book is “50 Key Thinkers in Postmodernism”
(Routledge, 2013).
CW: As we slowly climb out of crisis and toward economic
recovery, what’s your vision for the future—of coaching,
of banking, of society at large? What steps can members
of the coaching profession take now to help us move in
the right direction?
A&S: Clearly, there has to be a change of consciousness within
the business profession in general about its relationship
to the general public, and coaching seems an ideal area in
which to make individuals think more deeply about the beliefs
they hold and operate by. The dangers of group-think and
dogmatic belief-systems are only too evident in the prolonged
aftermath of the credit crisis, and we do feel that coaching
could play a key role in changing the culture that created this
socially destabilizing situation. The more reflection there is by
individuals on what they are doing within their organization, and
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