Aligning core values to action for real change.
“What you are speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Language is used to produce outcomes and generate realities. People act from what comprises reality for them.
Effective leadership, management, coaching, and team behavior depends heavily on how people use language. What is done, and how well it is done, is shaped by how people do and do not use language.
Listening is an ever-present part of human interaction in the workplace. Ontological Coaching provides a deeper and more effective way of listening that enhances communication and relationships. Listening is the crucial factor in communication, and essential for establishing trust and rapport; is a core business process.
Speaking is also a key business process. Ontological Coaching contains four precise linguistic tools (called basic speech acts) that humans use in everyday conversations to create reality and get things done. People are often not aware of how they use – and misuse – these linguistic tools. Awareness of how to intentionally use them produces more effective ways of conversing, relating and performing in workplace settings.
Stories and narratives are often silent, invisible and in the background of everyday conversations. They reflect the deep culture of organizations and individuals and can be major barriers to change. They provide powerful contexts of meaning, shaping what people see as possible and not possible for individual, team and organizational improvement. A key part of examining language is to uncover destructive narratives and develop powerful and empowering ones.
What the client, as the observer, experiences physiologically, feels emotionally or recites aloud or in her head influence the impact the she will or will not have. As explained through the BEL and OAR models, by focusing first on the body, emotion and language (rather than just on the actions) of the observer, the right actions that the client needs to take to reach the desired result will flow naturally and effectively as such actions will be in alignment with her true self. In other words, by shifting the particular observer (in body, emotion and language) that that individual is, she will become much more effective in achieving her goals.