Team & Leader Performance via Harmonized Relationship
Lorsque je pose la question « aimez-vous votre voix ? » à des groupes de managers en entreprise, j’ai rarement des réponses très enthousiastes.
Les griefs courants sont « je chante faux », « ma voix est éraillée », « ma voix est inaudible », « ma voix est trop forte », « ma voix est rauque le soir », « je déteste entendre ma voix enregistrée »…
Dans votre quotidien professionnel, quelles que soient vos responsabilités ou votre activité… un outil universellement actif est votre voix.
Pourtant, outre les professionnels de la scène, je croise peu de personnes à l’aise avec leur voix et leur posture, et conscientes de leurs pouvoirs.
Notre voix et notre posture corporelle sont pourtant de magnifiques pourvoyeurs d’informations, qui influencent la relation, et l’impact des messages que nous délivrons.
Ils sont également des indicateurs précieux de notre état intérieur et émotionnel.
Article in English & links below
Les références sources ICF et EMCC sont en lien en bas d’article.
Cet article vient compléter les articles :
Les coachs professionnels travaillent à partir de qui ils sont.
I coach as I am – Je coache comme je suis
Cette réalité est tout à fait fondamentale.
Les outils des coachs sont également essentiels.
Pour autant, c’est surtout la façon dont ils sont utilisés qui a un impact. Et la variété dont dispose le coach, permet de sortir de l’adage « pour un marteau, tout est clou ».
Ainsi, les référentiels des compétences des coachs professionnels permettent d’évaluer les compétences sur des critères explicites et partagés.
Ce sont également des référentiels qui permettent au coach de mesurer sa progression dans sa professionnalisation et sa capacité à accompagner des situations de coaching de complexité croissante.
Ces capacités du coach sont également en lien avec son propre développement, au sens du développement de l’adulte.
Les deux associations professionnelles des coachs ICF et EMCC ont écrit des référentiels, qui, s’ils présentent des différences, sont également très cohérents.
Par ailleurs, le référentiel ICF a été réécrit en 2020, afin d’être en meilleure adéquation avec les résultats des recherches menées par l’association.
Vous êtes coach ?
Comment vous appropriez-vous ces compétences, pour les vivre au quotidien ?
Vous êtes client ou acheteur de coaching ?
Comment ces compétences résonnent-elles dans votre choix ?
This article completes these previous articles:
Professional coaches work from who they are. Thus, we say « I coach as I am »
This reality is absolutely fundamental.
The tools of the coaches are also essential.
However, it is mainly the way they are used that has an impact. And the variety available to the coach, allows to get out of the adage « for a hammer, everything is nail ».
Thus, the competency frameworks of professional coaches make it possible to evaluate skills on explicit and shared criteria.
They are also benchmarks that allow the coach to measure his progress in his professionalization and his ability to accompany coaching situations of increasing complexity.
These abilities of the coach are also related to his own development, in the sense of adult development.
The two professional associations of coaches ICF and EMCC have written standards, which, if they present differences, are also very consistent.
In addition, the ICF standard was rewritten in 2020, in order to be in better adequacy with the results of the research conducted by the association.
Are you a coach?
How do you integrate these skills, to live them on a daily basis?
Are you a coaching client or buyer?
How do these skills resonate in your choice?
Article in English below
« Le meilleur moment d’un concert, c’est quand la musique s’arrête. »
What relationship do you have with silence: what place does it hold in your life?
« The best moment of a concert is when the music stops. »
C’est quelque chose que j’expérimente quotidiennement, à travers la voix. En voix chantée ou voix parlée. Et c’est bien l’alternance voix-silence qui donne toute sa richesse au son et aussi au silence. L’impermanence de l’un confère sa valeur à l’autre.
Dans ma pratique de coach professionnel, je prends régulièrement la mesure de la richesse du silence.
Quand je sens les mots se bousculer dans ma bouche, et ma pensée qui s’emballe, il est temps de faire une pause ! De revenir à la présence à moi, à l’autre.
Avant ou après une question. Je prends le temps d’accueillir ce temps de silence, signe de la réflexion en chemin, prémices d’une prise de conscience, d’une pépite qui émerge, là, sous mes yeux, dans un émerveillement chaque fois renouvelé.
Quand le client ou le groupe est en silence,
en pause,
en suspension,
en réflexion.
En atelier de méditation de pleine conscience, lorsque le bol a retenti et que les vibrations sonores s’amenuisent, laissant place au silence et chacun à sa bulle, à sa propre présence intérieure.
Je convie le silence à s’installer avec moi, sur mon coussin de méditation, dans la pièce où je suis, le siège du train qui m’emmène, la nature où je marche, la foule où je déambule.
Dans le silence, l’écho de ma pensée monte, bruissement ou tempête. J’observe l’évolution de ce qui advient, m’émerveille de ce que me livre mon intuition, curieuse de ce que je vais y découvrir, avec toute la bienveillance dont je suis capable à ce moment- là.
Une incroyable richesse nait de ces moments, une fulgurance, une clairvoyance. Et s’il ne devait rien advenir de particulier, ce serait juste un bon moment passé en présence avec moi, une connexion authentique et ressourçante.
Le dernier silence ?
Hier midi, en savourant un carré de très bon chocolat noir.
What relationship do you have with silence: what place does it hold in your life?
« The best moment of a concert is when the music stops. »
Silence is something I experience daily, through the voice. In sung or spoken voice. And it’s really the alternation between voice and silence that gives all its richness to both sound and silence. The impermanence of one confers value on the other.
In my practice as a professional coach, I regularly appreciate the richness of silence. When I feel words rushing in my mouth and my thoughts racing, it’s time to take a break! To return to presence with myself and with others. Before or after a question, I take the time to welcome this silent moment, a sign of reflection in progress, the beginning of an awareness, a gem emerging right there before my eyes, in an ever renewed awe.
When the client or the group is silent,
on pause,
in suspension,
in reflection.
In mindfulness meditation workshops, when the sound of the bell has resonated and the sound vibrations fade away, giving way to silence and letting go each person in their own bubble, in their own inner presence.
I invite silence to settle with me, on my meditation cushion, in the room where I am, on the train seat taking me somewhere, in nature where I walk, in the crowd where I wander.
In silence, the echo of my thoughts rises, either as a rustle or a storm. I observe the evolution of what’s happening, in awe with my insights, curious about what I will discover there, with all the kindness I can muster at that moment.
An incredible richness is born from these moments, a flash of insight, a clarity. And if nothing particularly special happens, it would still just be a good moment spent in my own company, an authentic and refreshing connection.
The last time in silence?
Yesterday at noon, while savoring a piece of very good dark chocolate.
Voice, embodiment and leadership for better decision making
Have you ever been touched or charmed by a voice, or on the contrary troubled or disturbed?
What about music? Some music are attractive, while others are not, or are even repellent. Some music have the power to change or influence your mood in a certain way. You might even consciously choose a particular music to slide into a chosen mood.
Voices and behaviors act that same way, be they individual or collective as in a team. They have the power to change what you think, feel, do.
So how can a team make better decisions, by growing its capacity in voice, embodiment and leadership?
After a session I lead at War school, a female American GI came to talk to me and shared her striking discoveries. I can still remember she was tiny and very discrete, not exactly what first comes to your mind when you imagine a GI. She spoke some French, but as required by the client, the session was in French. I had improvised three different characters, saying the same sentence. The embodiment of three different leaders. My intention was to bring the participants to experience differences, and unfold the experience, with their different points of view, backgrounds, international culture…
That very experience, lit a bright light in her mind. It made her realize that, if what you say is important, the way you say it conveys lot of information too. As her French was quite poor, she was more connected to the rest of the signals. And, though she had learned, from her educational and professional background not to show emotions, and not to smile, that experience made her switch to a new skill: be able to adapt to the situation by smiling, acting and playing with her voice.
In other words, she had experienced a brain switch from automatic mode – what you know, you have learned, you take for granted, you believe – to adaptive mode – from where you can innovate, be creative, be agile in this situation, in this moment; because it is you and them, now and here.
We all have beliefs locking some behaviors, depriving us of liberties, that could be useful to adapt to complex situations. Increasing our capacity to be self-related, to work with our signals (thoughts, emotions, behaviors) and our reflexive analysis is a development path. Working on our behavioral liberties improves our capacity to make better strategic decisions in complex situations.
Voice and embodiment experience twined with cognitive work is a powerful approach to boost complex decision-making capacity.
I am always amazed when in the end of a coaching, I see an expert walk on his/her two legs: expertise and human, dancing with more flow, lightness and depth, to promote expertise, often a passionate choice, in her/his company, in international teams, all over the continents.
I work with international stature experts. I have seen several of them entering an individual coaching with a heavy load of doubts about their effectiveness in their company, being overwhelmed by tough relationships, restraining their expertise to spread out in the company or even lightning the idea that their expertise would be better empowered elsewhere. A considerable loss from an HR point of view, experts of that range being at their peak after several decades! And through the coaching sessions, I see them reconnect to their core passion, and find more means to enhance their relationships and unfold their leadership.
As a former expert in civil engineering, and today an expert in leadership coaching, I am very proud to contribute to build bridges between technical expertise and human extraordinary capacities.
It is actually a challenge to understand how a human brain works and how it impacts decision-making and leadership, both individual and collective.
Experts are used to work with complexity, so their capacities to address complexity twined to their dedication to their expertise can be very useful to understand models and exercise to develop their leadership.
I bring experts to understand how their brain works and how to set up changes, to reach their coaching objectives. After this cognitive work, they experience the change they have chosen in their professional life, and sometimes also personal.
A Board or a Team is linked through shared objectives, connected to the company’s performance, colored by its culture, field, environment, background, context and ecosystem. These objectives are supported by individuals, with their specific voices and expertise, and also by the specific sound of this team. How can this team align and build on differences to be even better and even more agile in an ever changing world?
In a direction board or a team, members have different roles, different experiences, and of course different voices, male, female, high or low pitched, slow or swift, weak or loud… Just like different instruments. When you listen to the global sound of this board, it has its distinctive, unique sound. How does this board sound, to onboard change in the company?
Moreover, the sound of this board, like the sound of an orchestra is constantly changing. Some instruments or voices being more present than others, and some being sustained by others, some being solo… This piece of music is telling a story, with an introduction, movements and an ending. And hopefully also sometimes improvising freely from the score!
Quite often when I meet a team for the first coaching session dealing with conflicts, I can feel the tension in the air. Were it a sound, it would be a very disharmonious one, and sometimes squealing or grinding, rattling or rumbling…
Conflicts are part of relationships. They are a sign that something is trying to happen. Mature teams are able to perceive those signals and to work with them. They can hear the different voices of the system and build on it.
Organisational and Relationship Systems Coaching bring teams to grow as a system, to deal with conflict constructively, to hear each voice as a precious instrument of the orchestra, and to be able to define and produce the sound that is appropriate for the team and the objectives.
From that team capacity, two main outcomes are:
We also work on shared leadership, with vocal improvisation. Standing in a circle, we improvise, starting from an instruction, and off we go! Improvisation is led by one person, until she passes the lead to somebody else. This experience connects each person to her/his inner confidence and specific leadership. And improvisers are confronted to social image, with the same brain mechanisms than when they are in relationship with a group. It is also an opportunity to test other leaderships and to dare, explore, observe, learn and innovate. This group process is utmost powerful to be more agile in complex situations, individually and collectively!
In a company, growing leadership for individuals and teams is a key to cope with change.
One person after another, one team after another, one board after another and vice versa.
Coaching with brain, voice & body on board is an asset to face those challenges and spread thought leadership in our world.
This article was first published on The HRDirector.com
About the author: Agnès Grisard, Professional Certified Coach (PCC), trainer and expert in Neurocognitive and Behavioral Approach, International Coaching Federation
Les équipes et réseaux en entreprise doivent faire face à la complexité, en permanence.
La complexité peut-être issue d’éléments d’expertise -une nouvelle problématique, une demande spécifique d’un client, un aléa…-, de délais courts, d’interactions entre différents acteurs d’un processus -intégration d’un nouveau membre dans l’équipe, absence d’une personne, expert promu manager sans formation ou accompagnement…-, ou encore d’événements entrainant une forte dose d’incertitudes.
Cette complexité est bien souvent source de stress, d’incompréhension, de perte d’efficacité, tant individuelle que collective. Elle génère également à plus ou moins long terme turn over, arrêt maladie, burnout, boreout…
Que faire face à cette réalité ?
