From the author: This article is one of the first publications about systemic coaching in Russia. The article was published in an abridged version in 2005, in the Russian-language version of one of the international glossy magazines. Today we bring to your attention the full version of this article. …Moscow. Modern business center. In an office similar to hundreds of others, but with a strange sign that says “coach consultant,” two people, a man and a woman, sit in chairs opposite each other and talk quietly. Anya Petrova, the secretary of the head of company "N" flies past the office for the thirtieth time - no less - this day with a pile of papers and an unfinished cup of coffee, and through the slightly open door she hears a pleasant male voice. "I want you to know how I will work with you. I will work with you on two levels. On a heartfelt, human level, I like you... (Anya stops abruptly and listens - what an intrigue!)... and I really want to help you!" Anya tiptoes to the door and sees that the man expressively puts his hand to his chest in the area of ​​his heart. “And on the intellectual level (he intentionally noticeably touches his forehead with his other hand) - I don’t care. On the heartfelt, human level, I really, really want to help you, I really do! But on the intellectual, “cerebral” level - it’s all the same: one more client - one less". Well, impudent! - Anya is mentally indignant from behind the door. After a short pause the man continues. “Do you know what this gives you? Freedom. Because I don’t want anything from you. To bring you benefit, I want. To give you something useful, I want. To find a solution with you, I want. But from you, nothing.” Pause. "Is it clear what I'm saying?" The woman in the chair opposite looks at the man with interest, leans forward slightly and nods her head in agreement. Anya is outside the door too. The man continues. “There is “pigeon coaching”, this is when, no matter what you tell me, I say “oh!”, “uh!”, “uh-huh!” and all this with nods of the head. And I don’t do this. If you come to me, you will change. If you work with me, you will change! After all, coaching is learning. Be careful with learning. You won’t forget the taste of strawberries. Pause. imagine, besides the physical body, this is the result of learning through experience. Everything: how we think, how we react to events. And coaching can change what is learned through experience.”... How interesting and incomprehensible! “Coaching,” “strawberries,” “experience,” Anya thinks. ...The door, unable to withstand Anya leaning on it, suddenly and creakingly moves forward. Anya manages to retreat into the corridor and, scolding herself for her curiosity, runs with the papers to the boss... Unexpectedly for herself, Anna found herself witnessing the work of a professional coach consultant. The beginning of the coaching session, which Anna heard and saw, and which surprised her so much, was built according to all the canons of solution-focused coaching or systemic coaching - the most promising and effective direction in modern coaching. We will look at this direction in coaching in more detail, but a little later, but for now we will answer the first question. What is coaching? One of the definitions of coaching reads: “coaching is a solution-focused, result-oriented and systematic collaborative process in which the coach promotes improved performance, increased life experience, independent learning and personal growth of people from normal (i.e. non-clinical) populations." (Anthony Grant, Ph.D., founder and director of the department of coaching psychology at the University of Sydney). Analyzing the theories, methods and techniques used in coaching, as well as the list of problems and tasks solved with its help, we can confidently say that the closest to Its meaning is “career counseling and psychological support for activities.” Essentially, coaching is a type of career counseling. Why is coaching so in demand by society? Let’s turn toresearch and conclusions of American scientists.1. The need for career counseling is greater than the need for psychotherapy. A career is more than a way to make money. Career has an impact on a person's life as a whole. Professional roles are closely related to other vital roles of a person. “Income level, stress, social identity, recognition, education, dress, hobbies, interests, choice of friends, lifestyle, permanent residence and even personality traits are associated with a person’s professional life,” write career counseling experts Herr & Cramer, 1996 You can imagine what an imbalance the life of a modern person sometimes comes into if something doesn’t work out in his career! That is why the role of career counseling (coaching) as a system of support and human development cannot be overestimated. Career counseling deals with the inner and outer world of the individual, while most other counseling approaches deal only with internal events.2. Career counseling can serve therapeutic purposes. There is a positive relationship between a person’s career and personal adaptability. Coach clients who successfully tackle a career issue can gain the skills and confidence to take on challenges in other areas. They may invest more energy in solving non-career-related problems precisely because they have clarified their career goals. Many researchers argue that career and personality counseling are inextricably intertwined and should often be done together. For example, if a woman has lost her job and is worried that she won’t find another one, she is simultaneously faced with a career problem and a problem of high anxiety, and may face a lack of understanding of her experiences and a lack of necessary support in her circle of close people. If she became a client of a coaching consultant, then work with her would be built in two directions: developing an effective career path and supporting her determination to bravely face and overcome the emotional problems associated with finding a new job or changing direction in life. Creator of the first method of group psychotherapy - psychodrama, Dr. Jacob Levy Moreno once joked, saying "... who is psychodrama for? Any person who has or has ever had parents!" To paraphrase Moreno, one can note that coaching is useful to all those people who have gone to work at least once! From the history of coaching. According to one version, coaching appeared in the 1980s in the USA. Financial advisor Thomas J. Leonard has discovered in his work that many of his clients need more than just financial planning skills. They asked him about a variety of questions regarding his career or life plans. To refer to the work that Leonard carried out with his clients, he used the sports term “coaching,” derived from the English word “coach” - trainer, mentor, tutor. Over time, this type of consulting has become more and more popular, going beyond financial consulting. In 1992, Leonard founded the Coaching University; it is currently one of the largest organizations in the world that teaches coaching. According to another version, shared by many academic practitioners, including Anthony M. Grant, Ph.D., coaching, in a sense, arose out of “nowhere.” This approach to planning and implementing positive changes has been used by many people who have achieved success. The theoretical basis of this approach, first of all, lies in the work of the great psychotherapist, MD Milton Erickson on hypnosis and communication and a number of other famous psychotherapists, created in the 1950s - 1970s, as well as research in cognitive psychology and the works of Alfred Korzybski on general semantics. This approach is called solution-focused coaching, orsystem coaching. Currently, systematic coaching is one of the most advanced and effective career counseling technologies. Its popularity is growing among both clients and professionals. Many great coaches, while proponents of other coaching approaches, integrate the fundamentals and techniques of systematic coaching into their practice. They are guided by a simple principle - when helping people, you need to be as effective as possible in the minimum amount of time! Key premises in coaching. Solution-focused coaching (hereinafter referred to as systemic coaching) is based on several premises. It is important for a consultant to remember that: Change is constant and inevitable .Changes come from many different directions. Small changes lead to big ones. A person already knows what he needs to do to solve his problems that brought him to a specialist, he just doesn’t know that he knows it. Even an old problem is constantly not appears. There are always exceptions. If a person knows what he is striving for, it will be easier for him to achieve it. By imagining his future, he will help himself to find it. A person lives in a context (for example, family, school, work group). Symptoms and problems are an expression of the internal processes of the individual, as well as the processes of interaction and relationships between people. The Paradoxical Approach to Coaching An effective coach takes a paradoxical approach to working with his clients: he is on the side of reality rather than on the side of change. In a sense, he continues the tradition of the aforementioned Milton Erickson, which he began as a young man helping his father with housework. But I must tell you that in his youth Milton Erickson suffered from polio and was very weakened by the disease, and for some time he walked relying on a stick. So, one day one of the bulls did not want to go to the stall. His father pulled him in one direction, and he pulled his father in the other. Milton Erickson saw this picture, took a closer look, and, quickly assessing the situation, asked dad to move away and... grabbed the bull's tail! The bull was taken aback by such impudence and ran into the stall!.. Milton Erickson grew up, became a doctor of medicine and used this approach as one of the most important strategies for generating positive changes in the lives of his patients. It is precisely this method of action that a coach who has undergone professional training turns to. Systemic view: A coach is trained to look at himself and the client, as well as his situation and problems, in a special way. In other words, a professional coach is able to work at several levels of perception. Dr. med. Gunhard Weber, director of the Wiesloch Institute for Systems Solutions, a leading expert in the field of systems work and my teacher, offered a succinct metaphor for understanding what a professional systems view of a situation is and what is not. Let's talk about a topic that is unloved by many women, like football, and imagine that a certain person who knows nothing about football, wanting to pass the time, turns on the TV and watches a broadcast of a football match. And as luck would have it, there is a glitch in the broadcast, and only one video camera filming the judge continues to work. The viewer sees a man running across a green field, in a black T-shirt and shorts, wet snow is falling, his clothes are wet, he is cold, but he is in no hurry to leave the field, but jumps up, waves his arms, blows his whistle and shouts something. The viewer looks at a strange man for five minutes and decides that in front of him is a mentally ill person. And this is not a systemic view. But let’s imagine that the cameraman filming the referee was instructed to film everything that happens on the field. And our viewer, not knowing the game and the rules, will slowly understand them. For example, he will see that there are a lot of people on the field wearing T-shirts and shorts. And that a man with a whistle whistles and shouts if one of those running across the field knocks another down. And that the point of the game is to score as many goals as possible into the opposite goal. And if the cameraman also films the fans, then the viewerwill see that most of them support the team in white uniform. One goal - the stands rejoice, the second - they rejoice. The game is over and the fans leave sadly. It is not clear why, if you don’t know that in the previous game the team in white uniform lost with the score: 3:0. This view is systemic. The “ordinary” coach believes that his task is positive changes in the client’s life. A systems-minded coach understands that making positive changes in a client’s life is the client’s task. In addition, the coach is confident that a person’s life and the person himself can change only through actions. The task of the coach (within the framework of a coaching meeting-session) is to create conditions for preparing the client for action. Thus, an athlete trains in the gym under the guidance of an experienced coach, but competes on his own, and, nevertheless, the work of his mentor shines in his medals. At the same time, the coach is required to understand human nature: he must remember that changes, even positive ones, are what people are afraid of. Imagine: a client comes to a coach - a successful person who really wants to change, and is very afraid of it. As a rule, such a client does not face his problem, avoids it. And one of the things that the coach tries to give the person is to bring him face to face with the problem and make sure that he, the client, solves his problem with dignity. Real stories. Tatyana Vladimirovna Makhina - business trainer, coach consultant, candidate of psychological sciences, Obninsk, Kaluga region. For the first time, the thought of seeking the help of a professional in the field of coaching consulting came when I was faced with the problem of choice further professional development and search for internal resources to change my unsatisfactory work situation. The situation that developed at work did not suit me in many respects. But at the same time, for a long time I did not dare to change anything. I was overcome by doubts, uncertainty about whether I could make the right choice and not make a mistake. Working together with a coach helped me: see perspectives, find resources within myself, remove doubts and anxieties, work out professional development goals, and outline the first steps that I had to take to start moving in the direction I needed. In addition to strategic life tasks, I address to a coaching consultant to solve smaller, tactical issues. For example, in managing people, it was difficult for me to control and demand the completion of assigned tasks. Working with a coach helped me adjust my management style and become more successful in communicating with employees and managing. In general, I began to be more careful with my time, which in fact is not enough to achieve my goals, I became more confident in chosen path and now I cope with many difficult life situations faster, because I know how to help myself, since the coach also gives such tools into my hands. Natalya Nikolaevna Tararukhina, training manager, coach consultant, HR manager of JSC Akvion ", Moscow. Sooner or later a person faces the need to choose. Choice of what he wants from life. Who and what does he want to be? What does he need for this? So at one point in my life I had a difficult situation. When I realized that I can no longer live THIS way, but I still don’t know HOW differently. My nerves are on edge. I worked for one company for quite a long time. Work processes were brought to automation. The bosses could not provide me with an alternative, and professional burnout began. Dissatisfaction with work began to affect family relationships. There was no longer any need to count on understanding and help from loved ones. Physical ailments began. It seemed that no one understood me, neither at work - colleagues, nor at home - in the family, nor myself. At that time, I was lucky enough to study at the Institute of Effective Training, where I learned about coaching. In classes with coaching consultant Alexey Gerashchenko, I was able to understand what I want, determine for myself a goal and methods for achieving it. I couldunderstand what I need to live differently, determine how I want to live. Now I'm a coach myself. I help people understand themselves. Yana Leonidovna Kaplun, training manager, coach consultant, leading manager for personnel training, Mostransagentstvo JSC, Moscow. “Where can I get inspiration and strength?” a colleague asked me. “I don’t know.” “What’s going on, some kind of burden of problems is pressing,” she continued. I suddenly clearly remembered my first impression when I once asked a coach consultant a similar question. The simplicity, logic and correctness of the coach’s questions in the communication process were simply amazing, the reasons for the inconsistency of my own desires and goals lay in front of me in full view. In the process of further communication, long-awaited feelings of calm began to appear with a long-forgotten feeling of inner warmth. Feeling stronger and more determined after a series of meetings with a consultant, I was able to realize my goals, understand myself, learn what was right for me. using simple techniques to mobilize inner strength. For myself, I concluded that I was lucky, I met a professional coach. What is coaching? Coaching is difficult to describe in words, you have to try to try it on yourself, and if during the coaching process you feel misunderstanding, pressure, you see that you are not moving towards your own goals, your future seems vague, know for sure that you are not communicating with a coach. What do you think? I advised a colleague? How to look for and find a coach in Russia? All coach consultants in Russia, and indeed in the world, are divided into three categories. Category one - qualified psychological consultants or psychotherapists who specialize in coaching. You can become a consulting psychologist or psychotherapist on the basis of higher medical, psychological or pedagogical education by completing a training program at one of the psychotherapy institutes. As a rule, these specialists can provide services of the highest quality, due to the fact that they have a fundamental psychotherapeutic education - the training usually lasts 2-3 years and totals, on average, 1450 ac. hours. However, the number of hours can vary greatly depending on the method they are studying. A large number of training hours as part of this training and practical training under the guidance of a supervisor - a specially trained and experienced mentor also contribute to high-quality training. In addition, a number of psychotherapeutic and training institutes offer separate coach training programs that take into account international standards for coaching training, based on the psychotherapeutic method , which underlies one or another coaching model, on average, from 150 to 210 ac. hour. Thus, on the market there are: Gestalt coaching (from Gestalt therapy); systemic coaching (from systemic counseling and psychotherapy); NLP coaching (from NLP, respectively) and many others. etc. Category two - coach consultants who have been trained according to programs approved by the International Coaching Federation, from 150 ac. hours, on the basis of higher education. Category three - coach consultants who have been trained in master classes by leading foreign and/or domestic specialists. The number of hours depends on how many seminars a person has attended. As you probably guessed, there are no uniform international standards for training coaches, which would be a solid guideline for all schools of practical psychology without exception and would be supported by them. And therefore it is extremely important to protect yourself from low-quality coaching. How? Ask for documents confirming qualifications. Ask the coach to make a self-presentation. Pay attention to experience and recommendations. Ask for an explanation of how coaching will take place. None of your questions, within the bounds of decency, should confuse the coach. You yourself must remember that good coaching is short-term coaching. A good coach, as it were, speaks through of his skill: “my task is to leave myself without work.” So, the cycle of coaching meetings is from 5 to.