west midlands coaching and mentoring pool conference and leadership team... · west midlands...

© Coaching for Leaders, 2014 coachingforleaders.co.uk

West Midlands Coaching and

Mentoring Pool Conference

The right thing at the

right moment

7th Annual Conference

10th November 2014

Crowne Plaza NEC, Birmingham

W: www.wmemployers.org.uk @WMEmployers.org.uk T: 0845 352 7015 E: [email protected]

W: www.wmemployers.org.uk @WMEmployers.org.uk T: 0845 352 7015 E: [email protected]

Thanks to our Sponsors:

Thanks to our Speakers:

West Midlands Coaching and

Mentoring Pool Conference


Group Soup for Coaches

The Psychodynamics of Groups

A Masterclass for West Midlands

Coaching & Mentoring Conference

Linda Aspey

10 November 2014

Crowne Plaza, NEC Birmingham


Session aims

• To look at our own experiences of groups and teams

• To understand the surface behaviour of groups

• To understand what may be going on beneath the surface

of groups that hinders effectiveness, including

defence processes

• To discover what groups and teams need in order to

learn together

• To relate some of these concepts to some of the

current neuroscience

• To share some simple techniques that can be applied to

enhance your success when coaching groups and teams.


Psychodynamic Theory

• A large part of our mental life is unconscious – we

see the tip of the iceberg

• Unconscious instincts, inner conflicts & difficult

emotions drive our thoughts, attitudes and behaviours

• The personality is made up of the id, the ego and the

superego, which are in constant conflict (child, adult

& parent in TA)

• We use unconscious defence mechanisms like shock

absorbers to reduce discomfort & anxiety (caused by

excessive stimulation from the outer or inner world)

• We learn how to cope with life from birth onwards and

our early experiences are important to understanding

current behaviour


Defence Mechanisms

• Normal and how we cope with life; they help us to feel

safe

• There are over 40 defence mechanisms, mature and

immature

• They tend to distort, transform or otherwise falsify

reality

• Unconscious but once we become aware of them they can

(usually) be usefully managed so we don’t overuse them

& lose complete touch with reality

• Present in individuals, groups and whole organisations

– wherever people are, there you will find them

• Many of them overlap, operate in tandem, or lead to

others

• Early experiences and personality will influence which

defence processes we tend to use more than others


Common Defence Mechanisms

Repression Displacement

Projection Identification

Projective identification Introjection

Splitting Rationalization

Sublimation Denial

Idealization Distortion

Humour Intellectualization

Reaction formation Regression

Acting out Withdrawal


Transference &

Countertransference

Transference

• The unconscious act of using relationship patterns from the past to

deal with situations in the present. Like a confusion between time

and place. It is an “as if” phenomena.

• It usually gives rise to a number of unconscious assumptions about

others (which can become stated views) that are rarely accurate.

• It provides invaluable information about someone’s inner world.

Countertransference

• When the “helper” gets entangled with the client & their story,

picking up on their feelings and identifying strongly with them,

sometimes too personally.

E.g. Client is lonely and we find we wish they could be our friend, not our

client; they have a need for love and that brings out sexual or maternal

feelings in us; they express stuckness & we want to rescue them from it.

Normal and indeed useful phenomena in facilitating awareness and

enabling growth. But having & maintaining clear boundaries is crucial

for good work to happen.


Group-as-a-whole Approach

• Primary task of any group is what it must do to survive.

• Group has a life of its own only as a consequence of the

fantasies and projections of its members.

• Group uses its members in the service of its primary

task.

• Behaviour of any member at any moment is the expression

of his/her or own needs, history, and behavioural

patterns and the needs, history, and behavioral patterns

of the group.

• Whatever the group is doing or saying, the group is

always talking about itself, reflecting itself.

• Understanding the process of the group enables heightened

awareness and the ability to make previously unavailable

choices about their identities and functions in a group

setting

• You will always experience what a group cannot tell you

about itself

• Every event in the life of a group is a communication


Wilfred Bion’s

Work Group & Basic Assumption

Groups

The Work Group

Has a real purpose on which it focuses. Members know and

feel that they are there to achieve – to do some real

work. Examples:

• A project team discussing how they will meet the

challenging timelines for delivery

• A sales team focused on meeting targets for next year

• A group of employees working together to raise money

for charity

• A group of strangers on a beach helping to save a

swimmer in distress

• A coach supervision group taking turns to present

client casework.


Wilfred Bion’s


Groups

The Basic Assumption Groups – examples:

• A project team meeting focused on complaining about

another team that’s slowing them down

• A sales team expecting the sales manager to provide

ideas about how to achieve their targets

• A group of employees bickering endlessly about which

charity to support

• A group of strangers shouting at a vagrant that he

should move on from this street

• A coach supervision group in prolonged silence waiting

to see who will present first.


Wilfred Bion’s


Groups

The Basic Assumption Groups (Bion, 1961)

• Basic Assumption Dependency (baD)

• Basic Assumption Fight/Flight (baF)

• Basic Assumption Pairing (baP)

Later, others added two more Basic Assumptions:

• Basic Assumption Oneness (ba0 -Turquet, 1974)

• Basic Assumption Me-ness (baM - Bain, Lawrence, and Gould,

1996)


The Scarf Model

Status

Certainty

Autonomy

Relatedness

Fairness

David Rock – www.neuroleadership.org


Thinking Dynamics ™

• Thinking: ”The process of considering

or reasoning about something; a

person’s ideas or opinions”

• Dynamics: ”The forces or properties

which stimulate growth, development, or

change within a system or process”

e: [email protected]

t: @lindaaspey

w: coachingforleaders.co.uk

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west midlands coaching and mentoring pool conference and leadership team... · west midlands...

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