What makes boas different from other coaching organisations?

One thing that makes us different is that we pay attention always to three different levels of scale , the individual, the team or work group and the organisation in its context. More importantly, we have developed powerful, innovative processes for linking these three, so in any given project we are building and using feedback loops between organisational development, team development and individual development.

Intrinsically linked to that, is that we look at leadership across those three levels, all the time. So, ‘Leading Change’ is the organisational and community level. Then we are really looking at how we all co-create culture. ‘Leading People’ is the team of work group level, concerned with how we engage with human nature, how we motivate, how we inspire, how we deal with conflict, how we challenge, how we support, how we co-operate, and so on. Then we are looking at ‘Leading Life’ which is down to the level of the individual, and is about having as an individual a sense of purpose, and a sense of balance, integrity, and direction in one’s work, which is the basis for being able to participate and cooperate within that wider team and the wider community. So that is the second point that we are looking at ‘Leading Change, Leading People and Leading your Life’ always working on all three levels.

A third point of difference is that we explicitly engage with the whole person. One way that we refer to that is talking about a ‘body-mind’. So a person is not just an intellect, rationality, but a whole body-mind, with emotions, with feelings, with unconscious motivations, with a shadow side, with a body, with physical needs, physical awareness, and at some level an animal nature, which makes us act in certain ways if we are afraid, or feel threatened, and which means that we need to take care of ourselves at the most basic level if we are to be able to bring clarity, insight, to our leadership. So working with the whole body-mind is the third point that quite distinctive.

A fourth point is the unique set of boas tools for transformation, which were developed by Sara Boas and reflect our holistic approach to leadership and our recognition that differences between people make us strong together. One example of such a model is elemental leadership(TM). The model uses the symbolism of the four elements, earth, air, fire and water, which exist in every culture around the world, and which we see around us in nature. The model itself reflects our philosophy in being democratic, anyone can engage with the model, and understand it - regardless of their education, their background or culture. It is an inclusive model which transcends boundaries. It also draws upon the creative, symbolic capacities that are central a part to being human. So the boas tools for transformation are the fourth area of distinction.

A fifth distinction is attention we pay to the many levels of a complex process such as a coaching dialogue. One of these in an unconscious process called ‘parallel process’ which refers to the fact that whether or not we think about it, we reproduce processes, dynamics and relationships with which we come into contact. The benefit of having an external coach comes not only from their broad experience and their expertise, but also their clearer view as an outsider and the ability to influence the organisation with different dynamics and different ways of relating. Every coach or consultant should be aware of the danger of becoming like the client through parallel processes. However, there is an upside, in that the client organisation becomes like the consultancy. If the consultancy is a collection of people who are just there to make money, then however clever they are they are not going to be able to nurture holistic leadership and a sense of community in their client. At boas we invest resources in nurturing our community, taking care of our coaches and the relationships between us. We do this because we are aware that on top of the broad experience, and the deep expertise that we bring, we also bring ourselves, as individuals and as a community. The way we are has a subtle but powerful influence on our client, and shapes the way client organisation develops. By being a true community, we can nurture communities of leaders.