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Gestalt theory helps reveal how we experience the world and life and how we shape unique personalities even when we experience the same situations in the same circumstances. Gestalt coaching is formed on the principles of gestalt psychology and therapy. It is a holistic approach to personal and professional development.
Like anyone, leaders can benefit much from gestalt coaching. With the help of gestalt, coaching leaders can enhance their leadership skills, refine effective management styles and better understand their teams by developing authentic communication capabilities. As leaders gain more insight about themselves, they can understand each individual in their teams better and can develop a new view of team management.
Understanding gestalt coaching and applying it to leadership life can help leaders in developing their strong and authentic leadership style.
Key Points In Gestalt Coaching
The main focus of gestalt coaching is to understand the individuals and their experiences as a whole. Even though a person’s life is made up of single events and experiences, life as a whole is different from the sum of these singular parts. Every person is made up of more than just their thoughts or emotions. Every behavior occurs for a specific reason. Each person's feelings, thoughts, emotions, behaviors and experiences are part of who they are holistically. And all these aspects interact with each other.
A second focus in gestalt coaching is to understand the concept of “here and now.” Everything happens here and now, and examining experiences from this perspective improves awareness and helps people take responsibility for their actions.
Another focus of gestalt coaching is to understand that people experience their lives in loops. Each of their needs is a reason to start a loop. Loops can be either positive or negative. Understanding loops gives us the chance to change them.
Gestalt coaching also pays attention to learning from experience. In daily life, people face many situations and they feel many different emotions. Each of these is an experience. As people resolve these experiences, they can lead to new, better, desired experiences.
Finally, with the help of effective dialogues, gestalt coaching aims to discover the “self.” Through self-awareness and self-discovery, people can become better able to declare what they think and how they feel. As they understand their current situation, they can make connections between their attitudes, emotions and experiences.
Improving Leadership Skills With Gestalt Coaching
With gestalt coaching, leaders can improve their leadership skills.
Holistic Point Of View
As leaders understand themselves as a whole, they can understand the individuals in their teams better, and they can expand their gestalt point of view to their teams and can see the team as a whole—different from every single individual.
Here And Now Concept
Leaders create the future by starting from here and now. As they can evaluate situations and their teams from this perspective, they can take effective and responsible actions, and they can make required moves in a mindful manner.
Loops
Positive loops do not create problems. However, negative loops may cause self-limitations—hesitation to take action, narrow insight, less awareness of alternative solutions and a lack of understanding in complex situations resulting from limited views. As leaders resolve their loops, they can understand and develop their teams better and take more effective actions.
Let me give you an example of positive and negative loops. All businesspeople have duties and tasks to do. This is their responsibility. As coaches, we expect them to take that responsibility, understand the task, see the need, take action by the deadlines and feel comfortable even if they face difficulties in doing their jobs. This is an example of a positive loop—you take action to meet the need.
However, when people who are in negative loops are faced with their duties and tasks, they may react to the situation with anxiety, they may avoid and postpone doing the task, they might not understand the need and so might not offer a good solution or they might miss deadlines. They also tend to always feel anxious and busy but seldom create a better working environment for themselves and others.
Learning From Experience
Experiences are valuable tools for leaders. By understanding them and resolving both the parts and the whole in each situation, leaders are given an important comparative advantage in their strategies.
Self-Awareness And Self-Discovery
All people, but perhaps especially leaders, carry huge potential. Discovering this potential and understanding the link between attitudes, emotions and experiences can provide great insight. This insight helps leaders understand their team members and discover their potential and thus adds great value to the team.
Deepening Leadership Styles
In conclusion, gestalt coaching can help leaders in deepening their leadership styles. The holistic approach of gestalt coaching gives a deeper understanding of how people experience the world, and leaders can develop better solutions and innovative strategies with the help of deeper insight. Gestalt coaching helps enable leaders to understand their team members better, leading to more effective team management and improved team dynamics.
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