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Coaching People in Homeostasis

I wrote previously about the stages of transition.  Here’s a reminder:

Homeostasis
Transitions (adapted from William Bridges’ work)

For every external change, there is an internal transition that needs to take place.  This picture shows that endings come before beginnings; and that there is a no-man’s land or neutral zone in the middle, where there is confusion and doubt.

As human beings, we tend towards stability and what we know – hence the homeostasis, even when we know that change will help us to learn and grow.

Coaching through homeostasis

When coaching, we can help people who appear to be in homeostasis – or their comfort zone – by asking these kinds of questions (edited from William Bridge’s book Transitions, and Otto Sharmer’s Leading from the Emerging Future)

  • What is it time to let go of in your life right now?
  • What is standing backstage in the sings of your life, waiting to make an entrance?
  • What is dying?
  • Where do you see something waiting to be born?
  • What re the indicators that your work life is in transition?
  • Imagine you are really old, looking back on life.  From that vantage point, was this present point in your life a time when it was a good idea to keep on in the same direction, or was it a time that cried out for change?  If the latter, what kind of change was called for? Knowing what you know at 90, what would you tell yourself now?

What other open questions might you use to help someone in homeostasis to identify emerging changes in their life and work that could enable them to learn and grow?

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