What’s meant by ‘Human Potential’?
Human potential is about the pursuit of individual excellence for the benefit of all, being the best you can be – for the common good. It involves developing unrealized capabilities or capacity, and going beyond self-imposed limitations. Greater meaning or purpose is gained through increased concern for the wider world. Expressed simply, it is about becoming more fully alive or more fully human.
Abraham Maslow, a humanistic psychologist, put forth the idea that self-actualization (the fulfillment of self through reaching one’s potential) is the highest expression of a human’s life. He advocated a list of behaviors that he felt lead to self-actualization.
Some of those behaviors are:
- Be open-minded and try new things.
- Find out who you are, what you want and what’s important to you.
- Don’t be afraid to open yourself up to new experiences.
- Take responsibility for your life and your actions.
What is Professional Coaching?
Coaching is greatly influenced by Positive Psychology. Focus is on “What’s right instead of what’s wrong”, “Creative talk instead of Problem solving talk” and ‘Future oriented’ rather than ‘Past oriented’.
Let’s look at the definition given by International Coach Federation:
“Coaching is partnering with Clients in a thought-provoking and Creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. It is an ongoing professional relationship that helps people produce fulfilling results in their lives, careers, businesses or organizations”
Coaching is a process which is facilitated by powerful empowering questions.
The power of questions:
- Invites creativity and new possibilities.
- Generates curiosity in the listener.
- Surfaces underlying assumptions.
- Generates energy and forward movement.
- Channels attention and focuses inquiry.
Thoughtful questions are the first intervention to implementing change by disrupting normal and mostly unconscious pattern of thinking.
It is useful to understand the 4 different Coaching mindsets.
- Consulting Mindset: “Solution-ing” to create forward action.
- Counseling Mindset: “Resolving” to fix a problem.
- Training Mindset: “Bridging” to close skills & knowledge gaps.
- Coaching Mindset: “Heightening” awareness to “deepen” the learning.
Coaching is the only co-creative partnership model while all others are primarily hierarchical in nature. Ultimate goal of coaching is supporting people in moving forward to realize their desired outcome.
The Link – How professional Coaching can advance human potential?
Professional Coaching happens in a deep and a focused conversation. This Coaching conversation gives the Clients the opportunity to think what they have not thought, say what they have not said, dream what they have not dreamt and create what they have not created. Coach believes that people are naturally creative and resourceful and therefore seek to elicit solutions and strategies from them.
The adult learning process can be broadly divided into Horizontal and Vertical learning ways. Through Horizontal Learning we see tactical and/or a transactional approach of coaching where the focus is about increasing factual understanding and technical expertise by acquiring knowledge or skills.
In Vertical Learning we see adaptive or generative approach which is about the transformation of how one thinks, feels and makes sense of the world about how we relate to it and to what we know. Therefore, through Vertical Learning the coach can make the client think about how they are thinking which will create deep learning results in deeper understanding.
In professional Coaching it’s about
- Bringing them into alignment with their highest goals and inspirations.
- Showing people how to take mere possibilities and translate them into an action plan.
- Listening for people’s greatness and encouraging them to stretch and pursue results that are beyond themselves
Coaching conversation happens using Awareness-Clarity-Choice (A-C-C) Framework, a Proprietary coaching framework designed by Coach Masters Academy. 3 essential competencies required for this conversation to be successful are the Coaching presence, Active listening and Powerful asking.
Brief explanation of A-C-C framework is as follows:
A- Awareness Conversation
This is about “What happened?” Focus is to create space in the Client’s mind and inviting to tell the story. Utilizes several tools to expand the mind and then request for an outcome for the conversation (focus). Clients transit from ‘reactive’ to ‘receptive’ state of mind been present in the NOW moment.
C- Clarity Conversation
This is about “What really matters?” Client’s mind is expanded further around the ‘focus’ to determine the real Coaching issue. Through powerful questions Coach stimulate reflective thinking of the Client. Beauty of this process is, in gaining clarity on what really matters most for the clients, they reflect on their experiences to explore any unmet needs, blind spots or resistance that is holding them back.
C- Choice Conversation
This is the “Accountability” conversation. The Client is moved to “Do it now” mind, explore and help to create support structures to hold themselves true to their decision and commitment and to move forward boldly. Accountability conversation increases client’s self-response-abiltiy and let them get to their own authority.
In summary we can see that by using A-C-C framework and other tools, and having trained, skilled Coaches who ask powerful questions, practice active listening while been present to the Clients actually let them bring out behaviors that Abraham Maslow listed out which will lead to Self Actualization. Hence it proves that Professional coaching can advance human potential. Furthermore Professional Coaching promotes self-awareness, stimulate reflective thinking at a deeper level to find the knowledge/wisdom that’s already there beneath the surface, generates energy and forward movement, empower the Clients to create meaningful ideal solutions they strongly connect with which they will be committed to follow through while accepting and embracing their authentic self. This is indeed advancing their full potential. I conclude my discussion with the below quote from John Whitmore
“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.. we are more like an acorn, which contains within it all the potential to be a magnificent Oak Tree. We need nourishment, encouragement and the light to reach toward, but the oak-treeness is already within”.