An Online Coaching Pedagogy for Developing Improved Leadership Practice Through ‘Presencing Empathetic Responsiveness’
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Revealing what is ‘tacit/rationally-in visible/in the background’: an online coaching pedagogy for developing improved leadership practice through ‘presencing empathetic responsiveness’ Volume 2 of 2 Keith Charles Douglas Kinsella A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Bath School of Management October, 2012 COPYRIGHT Attention is drawn to the fact that copyright of this thesis rests with its author. A copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and they must not copy it or use material from it except as permitted by law or with the consent of the author This thesis may be made available for consultation within the University Library and may be photocopied or lent to other libraries for the purposes of consultation Keith Kinsella 1 LIST OF APPENDICES INTRODUCTION 1 The Paradoxical Possibilities of Online Learning? 4 CHAPTER 1 1 Nanticoke, 1970: Report on the Planning and Control System. 7 2 Reid and Timpson/Grubb Institute, 1979: ‘The Best Advice I Ever Had…’ 13 3 New Hampshire Social Construction Conference, 1993: Notes 15 4 Campbell et al book and reactions from Ray Holland, 1994 17 5 CARPP, 2002: Note: The growing up of a ‘systems’ man 19 6 CARPP, 2002: Note: ‘who is the ‘I’ doing the researching?’ 21 7 CARPP, 2002: Note: what kind of ‘systems’ man am I? 24 8 CARPP, 2002: Note: Foucault: who is the ‘I’ seeking ‘roots in the future’ 29 9 CARPP, 2002: Note: Polanyi: What role for ‘tacit knowledge’? 36 10 CARPP, 2003: Note: review on research purpose/identity/next steps 39 11 CARPP, 2005: MPhil: how to improve my practice of leadership development? 46 12 CARPP, 2006: Reflections on Ontology, Epistemology, and Methodology 53 13 Campbell and Huffington, 2009; Close Learning - Reducing the ‘Transfer Gap’ 57 14 Ladkin et al article, 2009: Developing Leaders in Cyberspace in ‘Leadership’ 63 15 Diagrams, 2006 and 2010: How KK sees the thesis 66 16 Video clips, 2008: Presencing Developmental Possibilities 67 17 E mails between Whitehead and Kinsella, 2003 – 2009: ‘living theory’ 68 18 E mails between Rayner and Kinsella, 2010: ‘inclusionality’ 77 19 CARPP, 2010: Note: A pedagogy of presencing? 90 20 Video clips, Supervision session, 2010: Whitehead & Kinsella discuss progress 94 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 1 What can we learn from studying exemplars of embodied practice? 95 2 How have I made progress in my coaching practice? 99 3 Ideas for introducing ‘research’ as a thread throughout the MA 114 4 Offering Formative Feedback on Essays 119 5 Formative Assessment: Should We Take This Approach Seriously? 123 6 The Repertoire of the ‘Presencing’ Coach 128 7 Potential hypotheses/questions to pose to student’s text/coach responses 135 8 ‘Ontological’ indicators of progression? 137 9 Framing the ‘09 Revision of Phase 1 in the MA 140 2 PREFACE TO CHAPTERS 4, 5 AND 6 1 Positioning Remarks 147 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 1 Excerpts from John’s Phase 1 essay 152 2 Excerpts from Colleen’s logs, essays, and KK notes 154 3 Excerpts from Ian’s Phase 1 essay 169 CHAPTER 6 1 ‘ What is development?’ and ‘ How can one assess development?’ 171 2 Torbert’s Leadership Development Framework 182 3 John’s ‘reflexive biography: extracts/comments on essays/logs 187 4 Colleen’s ‘reflexive biography: Phase 1 and Phase 6 essays 201 Ian’s ‘reflexive biography: extracts from/comments on his dissertation 222 6 Rayner’s You Tube demonstration of inclusionality 240 CHAPTER 7 1A Jim: video clip of review of MA experience 240 1B Jim: ‘layered’ reflections on the coaching process 241 2 Vreni: video clip ‘continuity of the body’ 245 3 Paul: video clip ‘a climate of inquiry’ 247 4 Scott: e mail interchange: ‘have I influenced the educational social formation? ’ 249 5 Peter: feedback on Phase 3 Essay on a ‘leadership exchange’ 253 MISCELLANEOUS APPENDICES 1. List of students coached (04-13) 255 2. Summary CV 256 3 APPENDICES APPENDICES TO INTRODUCTION APPENDIX 1 The ‘Paradoxical Possibilities’ of Distance Learning? (coaching as t’ai chi?) Since the initial study by Ladkin et al carried out in 2005-6 (Ladkin et al, 2008), my own continuing exploration of the influence of coaching within the online provision of the programme, has identified a number of further educational ‘barriers’ which cast doubt on the MA being able to deliver genuine development which can influence back home performance and practice. However, as in the initial study, I have found in my own research that it is possible to approach these barriers in ways which lead instead to ‘paradoxical possibilities’ for learning and practice development. The reference to ‘tai chi’ here points to the practice of ‘pushing hands’ where the strategy is not to apply direct force but through ‘sticking’ practices ( Cheng Man-ch'ing, 1993) , to use the energy of the opponent to help you achieve your goal – something that will be needed here of I’m to help students sidestep or leapfrog the barriers to development I’m about to discuss. I now look briefly at the six I’ve identified so that you are aware at the outset of the thesis, of the practical local barriers that need to be circumvented if there is to be a genuine possibility of serious influence on the learning, development, and performance of a situated practice like leadership. 1. Can ‘distance’ become an advantage?: as implied by the opening paragraph there is a strand of literature which is sceptical about the potential for on-line technology to equal or surpass the educative outcomes offered by face-to-face teaching and learning relationships (Arbaugh & Stelzer, 2003; Brower, 2003; Easton, 2003) However with appropriate support from the coach it seems as Ladkin et al report, that ‘the web-based delivery of course materials can actually enable participants to experiment with new theoretical ideas almost immediately within their workplaces’. So unexpectedly, what might seem like ‘dated’ propositional knowledge located in a ‘distant’ university can be experienced by students as a ‘close’ stimulus for thinking afresh in a ‘here and now’ workplace – a good example of the ‘close learning’ concept in action i.e. providing potential learning close to the place of performance. What needs to be understood is what it is that provides ‘support’ that is experienced as ‘appropriate’. 2. How can ‘packaged’ knowledge provision become a virtue?: the ‘containing’ function of the course structure is constituted primarily by the regular delivery week in week out of prepared ‘packages’ of theoretical materials on a wide variety of different topics and aspects of leadership, together with exercises and questions asking students to think about and then reflect on in learning logs. Given that all students already have a very full ‘day job’, this unyielding delivery of academic knowledge is and can be experienced as intense and possibly oppressive after a while especially if, as is often the case, the student gets behind on his/her academic work. However again as reported in the Ladkin et al article ‘the routine of receiving weekly “packages” of material to read and respond to served in itself to demonstrate the contingent nature of 4 ‘truth’ within the leadership field and similarly encouraged their critical engagement.’ And further that this process ‘seemed able to combine both rigidity and flexibility in such a way that participants learned how to exercise choice and discernment about how they engaged with course materials. Again we need to understand how this unexpected response was enabled by the conditions created by the programme structure and support from academic and coaching staff. 3. How to deal with challenge of ‘asynchronicity’?: in face to face modes of education, the presentation of knowledge is immediate and synchronous, as e.g. the teacher or coach presents a lecture or ideas to a class or small group. So it’s possible for both sender and receiver to observe non-verbal aspects of communication and use these as well as immediate questioning where this is possible, to check meaning. In contrast, on the MA the provision of both the knowledge and the coaching which follows, is provided in an asynchronous and arms-length and virtual manner. As indicated in the extracts provided throughout the thesis, the inanimate unresponsive educational materials are available on a 24/7 basis and the student can access them at any time, whether at work, at home, driving in the car, or sitting in a hotel room during a business trip. Further the mainly written responses from the coach and any subsequent interactions can occur at any time from as little as a few hours to several weeks after the initial learning log has been submitted by the student. But again, these time and location gaps do not seem to cause the communication difficulties one might expect. Instead it seems that when students read the materials and the coach then responds, they/the coach are able to read these textual messages as though they were in some kind of ‘present’ within an ongoing conversation between coach and student. So in this instance asynchronicity does not seem to equal dislocation, and we again need to understand how this might be part of deliberate strategy rather than just good luck. 4. How to level the knowledge hierarchy?: in a similar way, it seems that the usual asymmetric power relations that exist between university and student can also be reduced. While there is still the all powerful presence of expert knowledge issuing from the university in the form of key academic articles and professorial comments, it seems the potentially oppressive effects can be reduced in the way the coach forms an educational relationship with students in regard to this propositional form of knowledge.