Case Study #1
CLIENT BACKGROUND
Ignatius Colaco(name changed for confidentiality), is an Information Technology Professional and is now employed at IBM Software Services in Bangalore, India. Ignatius was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma after suffering continuous symptoms of fever, unexplained weight loss, sweating (often at night), lack of energy and itching.
Shortly after his first Chemotherapy in April 2017, Ignatious was referred to me by the Carer Program which is a company that offers comprehensive Alternative healing programs for cancer patients and are based in India. Ignatius found the program on the Internet and had reached out to them as he was keen on exploring the benefits of an Alternate Therapy Program.
Client’s Goal for the Sessions
(To be able to follow his dream of setting up his own Dairy Farm, and getting out of the corporate world.)
As a coach, I brought to my awareness that I too had a similar situation in my own life experience, keep that in mind I was fully aware that my role was only to facilitate the client to explore his own options of how he wanted to make the changes he wanted.
I was clear not to allow my agenda to contaminate the agenda of the client through exploration.
During our first session together, I spent time understanding Ignatious and to get a fair idea of his model of the world and his openness and willingness for Alternate Treatment. I opened the session by asking him why he had reached out to the Carer Program, and what specifically resonated within him that made him feel that this was a good option. My objective for that question was to do a bit of subconscious probing. This enabled me to elicit that he had SOME belief in Alternate therapy and it was this belief that we were going to use to assist him through his journey forward.
I went on further to explore as to what precisely was the Diagnosis? And what treatment had the oncologists recommended? And since the treatment had already commenced what were his thoughts about the treatment being administered? The answers that I received were quite startling because Ignatious had never been ill before and, in fact, had never even been admitted to a hospital. On the day of his diagnosis, he said he barely could remember what the doctor even said, and just obeyed his directions to meet with the radiologist to begin the chemotherapy treatment. Within the next 24 hours, he was given his Chemotherapy programme and he began the treatment. Ignatius, just remembers a cold chill running down his spine when he heard the ‘Cancer’ word coming out of the doctor’s mouth, and the only thought he had was he was going to die. And therefore, without any further inquiring on the Cancer, he just agreed to everything the doctor said straightaway. Now that he was a couple of weeks into his treatment already, I asked him again, what was he now expecting to gain from Alternate Therapy and why did he think that it would supplement his chemotherapy that he is considering. To which he replied, ‘alternate Therapy’ has been the buzz word in his office ever since his diagnosis and so he thought he would give it a try.
Ignatius comes from an Upper Middle-Class Indian Family. And as Indian culture and tradition demands, he lives with his wife and 1-year-old son, along with his Father and Mother in Bangalore City. Given that his family and support system were strong I began to probe into his regular dietary plan. And, although I was not surprised, he follows a good diet, his wife and mothers do all the cooking and all his meals are mostly home-cooked. He also has a lunch box packed for him which he enjoys at work. Ignatius is a Hinduism follower and therefore in addition to his diet is a good, healthy and hygienic diet, it was also absolutely vegetarian!
Ignatius was a project manager at IBM, and leads a team of about 10 people and what he did mention that over the past 8 months the project that they had been working on had now been shelved due to financial constraints. Therefore, there was really no stress with regards to work as his team members had already been reallocated to new projects and he was also in talks of taking on a new assignment within the company. When I asked him about the flexibility of his work timings and geographical work locations, he was happy to say that his company had been absolutely supportive and also to the extent that they were covering all his medical expenses without any limits.
When we touched upon the physical aspects of how much activity does he do on a day to day basis, his response was negative as his job requires him to be seated at his laptop for 10 to 12 hours a day and the only physical exercise that he gets is on the weekends when he spends time with his family. And I asked him if he was willing to make a few adjustments in his schedule which could incorporate some exercise as this could boost the immunity system to help in the healing which, he agreed and, in fact, he then mentioned to me that he had started taking a few short walks around his block every evening when he returned from work.
At this point, we set up a time to meet the following week and I had given him some study material on Lymphoma and on the alternative therapies that we could plan out for him to complement his Chemotherapy which would embellish the positive effects of the Chemotherapy, and which would help his body recover faster from the negative effects of the chemotherapy.
Our second session happened over Skype, it opened with a bit of a recap of all we had discussed through the 1st session and it was here that I asked him what were the changes he has felt so far now with the Chemotherapy, and did he get any resonating take-away from the material that was provided, and also if he could get in more exercise? Ignatius said that on the Diet front it has been impeccable and has made no compromises at all. He had started walking on a treadmill now which was gifted to him by some of his colleagues and he didn’t have any overpowering stresses that were weighing him down.
Ignatius comes from a family where his parents are professors and have now retired. His Grandfather was a large farm owner and owned large holdings of land where they used to also do dairy farming. Ignatius, ever since the age of 6 had wanted to start his own dairy farm and also get into the organic-farming industry. During the late nineties due to some financial tussles and also since there was a repeated drought in his home town area, his grandfather had to sell off all the land. In doing so he decided to get his children educated and never encouraged anyone to get into any form of business but instead to pick up a profession. Since the family had seen this adversity, when Ignatius was ready to go to college his parents insisted that he get into computer engineering as it was the most sustainable option for a job as the Information Technology industry in India was peaking. Ignatius like every good Son grudgingly followed his parent’s dream and pursued his engineering. None the less he did keep alive his dream of opening up a dairy farm. On every international offsite visit to America that he would have to make on behalf of his company, he would try to find out where the nearest Dairy farm was situated so he could plan a visit and learn the new technology that the dairy farms were using. Finally, in 2012, with all this exploration and research and a completely fleshed-out business plan, he approached his parents and told them about his plans of going back to their village and starting the dairy farm. This was not received well by his parents who completely shut down his idea. And asserted he continues in the IT industry. Over the past four years, not only did they shut down his idea, they supposed that marriage would be a good reason for him to stay more grounded so he was married and went on to have a child. So now his ideas and goals more suppressed. After hearing this whole incident, when I asked him how he felt about this he broke into a rage of anger, and said had they allowed me to start the farm back in 2013 I would never have gotten this disease, and honestly, I don’t know what I want to do even if I do get cured.
At this point, I knew there was ANGER and RESENTMENT that was fuelling this illness, and it was definitely going to be a hindrance in his healing process.
Outputs
Changes Observed In The Client
We then jumped into a whole new world of thought, where Ignatius told me about all the plans he had made and drawn up, and the people he had spoken to and who were willing to partner with him on this venture, and what all he had planned to do with this farm which would also be an employment generator for a lot of people in his village and he could continue his grandfather’s legacy. Ignatius has a lot of ancestral pride, and this had been passed on to him from his dad. This is known to me as Trans-generational Transference. And it was the first time, I could clearly see how if ‘Trans-generational Transferences’ are ignored or not dealt with properly, it could impact the body physically.
Over the next few sessions, Ignatius was able to bring to his own awareness how gravely his situation had taken a toll on his health, by continuously suppressing his desires and goals it had manifested into an illness to call for his attention. His awareness also was enhanced I hope this session, will allow us to address the anger and resentment that Ignatious is harbouring.
I will keep you updated on my findings. But I am sure, we have now found the problem. And this awareness was clearly visible in the non-verbals of the client.
Reflections I Had As A Coach
It was at this point that I had to come to terms with this situation myself because even someone with such poise in almost all life-spaces could get sick. And what could be the Cause?!…. I observed, that during the sessions I was able to observe patterns that seemed to be repeating themselves in other areas of the client’s life.
Case Study #2
CLIENT BACKGROUND
This is the case study on a client who is a 35-year-old male, married and was facing a dilemma of leaving his corporate job where he held a high position and was earning a large sum of money. He hailed from a family that had a thriving business for over 2 generations but the business was dwindling down and he lacked any encouragement from his family to take over the business. None the less he had this desire to take it over and to revamp the business as he felt he has garnered a lot of experience from his working life in the corporate world. And by implementing those learnings into the company he was very sure that he would be able to turn the business around. The lack of encouragement from the family had now seeded fear into him that if the business was not going to be able to be resuscitated then will he have the option to go back to the corporate world at the position that he left at. And these fears were now hampering his productivity in the corporate world and also preventing him from making the decisions.
Client’s Goal for the Sessions
(To leave a corporate job versus taking over the family business.)
To be able to confidently make the decision to take over the family business.
As a coach, I brought to my awareness that I faced a similar situation in my experience in life, and I was aware of the disempowering emotions that came with it. I was clear to define that my agenda would not be implied during the client’s exploration process.
During the sessions, the fear was addressed and worked on, and the cascading effect which resulted in lack of confidence was also worked on and these were done using the following approaches.
Outputs
Changes Observed In The Client
The first approach to address the lack of confidence was done through powerful questioning where the client was asked to recall past confident situations where he had complete control in decision making. The client was easily able to bring about many past situations where he had exhibited immense confidence and those situations were completely looked at and revisited. Finer details in each situation such as what was the environment like when he was revisiting a confident situation. And what were the thoughts and feelings like when he was in a confident situation? This approached worked well as the client was able to reiterate to himself how he felt being confident and he was assured that he had handled confident situations in the past, and it had come to him quite easy to make decisions.
Over the next few sessions, we were able to run through some techniques such as the TFAR model which gave him a lot of new awareness and most importantly which he was able to identify the measurements of success that would enable him to know when he was progressing towards his goal. This awareness brought about major shifts in body language, energy levels etc. and clearly, there was a better and a firmer tone of voice.
Reflections I Had As A Coach
The new awareness helped him to balance his state of mind and most importantly to constantly bring to awareness the triggers that would dissuade him when he was being discouraged.
The client also then was able to make strong affirmations that would enable him to motivate himself if he had a slip back in his decision making.
Post the 4th session, he resigned from his company and formally moved into the family business and was extremely excited motivated and happy.
I was able to identify my ability to handle transferences.
Case Study #3
CLIENT BACKGROUND
Senior Executive who worked in an MNC, and had frequent quarrels with his colleague.
The client regularly experienced interpersonal conflicts, misunderstandings and differences of opinion. He then specified that it was predominantly with one member in the team that he had constant issues with. They lacked the trust and skills to resolve issues with one another in a healthy way, and over time, they resorted to communicating as little as possible with each other; every once in a while, they had small “blow-ups” at work followed by long periods of silence.
Client’s Goal for the Sessions
(A team leader struggled to create a cohesive team due, largely, to two team members who had trouble getting along.)
Client To be able to better understand his team member and be able to listen to his opinions without prejudice.
The unresolved conflict between these two colleagues was apparent to everyone on the team, and the result was a collection of wasted energy, as well as different “factions” who quietly sided with each person.
In my experience, this situation is common and needs to be dealt with separately and should precede any traditional “team-building” session that includes everyone on the team.
In anticipation of mediation, I spoke with the leader, along with the two individuals involved in the conflict, to understand perspectives as well as the effect the conflict was having on relationships, process, and work results.
I then facilitated a series of three mediated conversations with the two team members in our office. These mediated conversations were aimed at “clearing the air” about a series of unresolved conflicts and misunderstandings from the past, and we also introduced some key concepts related to conflict resolution and having difficult conversations.
In between mediated sessions, I conducted a few focused coaching sessions with each individual aimed at helping them become more aware of their own roles in having co-created the relationship. I challenged each person to change key attitudes and behaviours to support a healthier relationship moving forward.
Outputs
Changes Observed In The Client
After some initial resistance and defensiveness, both individuals began to realize that they were hurt, angry and had unmet needs in the working relationship.
Mediated conversations resulted in a clearing of the air, such that conflicts in the past were left in the past, and the pair were able to move forward, albeit with some caution, into a new way of relating.
Each individual recognized their part in the conflict, and experimented with new ways of communicating, free of blame, gossip, or punishment, aimed at bettering the relationship.
Reflections I Had As A Coach
The pair reported feeling more engaged and happier at work, and all team members reported having more energy as a result of the resolution of a long-standing bottleneck. The leader reported a greater sense of trust in the collaboration present amongst the group. A lot of transactional analysis concepts were used as a lens to view many situations.
Case Study #4
CLIENT BACKGROUND
Senior-level executive female 45 years, who had joined a company but was facing issues with adapting to the company’s culture. She was a senior-level executive and was hired by a Fortune 500 firm to add her in-depth information about industry developments and needed technology insight to the executive team. Not only did this executive wish to onboard smoothly, but she was also considered a strong prospect to succeed the firm’s CEO, who would part in a couple of years.
Meanwhile, the firm was experiencing delayed growth and insular business divisions. The role of the leader came with a decree to challenge strategy and the organizational status quo.
Client’s Goal for the Sessions
(Client to Adapt and ACCELERATE her ONBOARDING PROCESS into the new company.)
To be able to recognize useful changes that are needed in the organization. And to be able to review her decision-making habits.
The leader resisted successfully build a platform for her role and vision with her executive peers, including the fact that she misjudges the organizational culture and some of her communication habits implanted doubt in her ability to make tough calls.
Numerous stakeholder interviews and an in-depth leadership 360-assessment helped to start an honest snapshot of how her peers and boss were observing her. In the past, too little feedback too late and the coachee’s defensiveness had stood in the way of understanding the full scope and earnestness of the requests others had of her.
Outputs
Changes Observed In The Client
With her coach, the leader reflected upon stakeholder needs and how this new organizational culture differed from past employers. Equipped with a truthful picture of what stakeholders want – accompanied by concrete feedback about unsolicited or unclear behaviours, the leader could recognise useful changes in some communication and decision-making habits. The 360 results also suggested that the leader was more reactive than creative.
Our coaching helped the leader take on more active roles in supporting others’ career growth, clarifying and consistently communicating her leadership vision, and instigating and sponsoring an internal strategy valuation process that associated divisions and supported consistency in the execution of strategic significances. Her leadership, initially seen as principally reactive, was measured more creative and proactive by others.
Reflections I Had As A Coach
She also worked pro-actively, in response to the 360 and coaching work, to change communication patterns that shifted the sensitivities that others had about her decisiveness and her ability to form personal connections. A lot of this was achieved when cultures were explained to her, and the levels of culture that can be penetrated and some that offer more resistance. And changes need to be both ways for the system to accept.
Case Study #5
CLIENT BACKGROUND
A corporate enterprise.
A countrywide management team of a pharmaceutical company was faced with very ambitious growth targets and decided to review its business strategy to recognize opportunities for growth in a completely flat market.
Client’s Goal for the Sessions
(Turn The Company’s Executive Strategy Into Action.)
There was some communal sense of strategic urgencies and what the key elements of the business’ value intention are. However, across functions, there was incongruity about what really created a distinguishing benefit for this company and where investments had to be made to build and support that edge. Execution across functions wasn’t aligned and leaders openly expressed doubt that their current business approach could meet the high expectations placed upon them.
Outputs
Changes Observed In The Client
To be able to align all the strategic plans with all the various functions of the company.
After a needs assessment with all team members, this process was premeditated as a series of three strategic execution workshops.
I introduced a practical framework to examine and describe the organizational strategy. An early sign of this process was to help leaders outline policy using a shared language and vocabulary. This would enable leaders to consistently communicate the strategy across functions to the rest of the organization.
Between sessions, I used task teams to gather more market and customer data and to explore the viability and acceptance of various alternatives that the leadership team saw.
Once a clear, differentiating and authentic strategy statement was decided upon, the team broke strategic priorities and capability building initiatives down to a tactical planning level in the various marketing, sales, R&D, and operational functions. The final session was used to align functional strategic planning by looking at crucial interdependencies.
The team defined its 3-year strategy in 30 words. The clarity of this statement and the willingness to take an unmistakable stand was very positively met by the organization and galvanized support.
Reflections I Had As A Coach
The team built a consensus around what the key strategic priorities are. They gained the confidence to make difficult decisions that had been avoided in the past such as backing up their agreed-upon priorities with necessary investments, training initiatives, and structural changes. My Approach through TA worked well.