The outcomes you can expect from coaching with the Clearing approach
There are basically two types of problem: ones you can solve and ones you can’t. Either way, we need to act, either to resolve our challenge or to accept reality and start making plans to move on. To illustrate this, I will describe how I worked with two clients, using the Clearing approach, who I will call client A and client B, on similar situations.
Both Client A and Client B were successful senior managers in companies which had been very recently sold to larger companies. Both client A and client B assumed that they would continue working in their roles in their companies as their businesses were significantly different from the other businesses in their new owners’ portfolios.
Client A was the founder and Director of Projects of a medium-sized IT company specialized in cyber-security, and Client B was the Commercial Director of a branch of an Italian insurance company that had been acquired by a large British multinational. A few months after the acquisitions both Client A and Client B were informed that their roles were redundant and offered more peripheral roles at the same salary. Both clients suspected, (correctly), that this move on the part of the new owner was a precursor to making them redundant. This was the point at which I started working with them.
Before being able to explore and evaluate their options, both clients needed to connect with their sense of shock and betrayal at what had happened. The Clearing process recognizes the role of our physiological reactions to sudden changes in our lives, and enables us to process these feelings and access the clarity and energy we need to move forward.
Once both clients had regained some bandwidth to evaluate the impact and implications of the changes they were dealing with, they were able to start exploring their new situation and their options.
In the case of Client A, he was able to recognize that the new owner did not understand the realities of the business environment his company operated in, in particular, the difficulty of recruiting and retaining the people with the level of technical competence required to deliver their service, and assumed these roles could do without the supervision and mediation provided by Client A.
In the case of Client B, he was able to recognize that the new British CEO did not understand the realities of the Italian business environment, in particular, that Italian insurance customers still preferred to deal face-to-face with insurance brokers rather than buying insurance online, as was the norm in the UK.
Both clients identified three options: a) to try and persuade the new owner that his role was essential to the successful delivery of their products, b) to adapt the role he now found himself in to enable him to continue carrying out his role and demonstrate its function to the new owner, and c) accept that he would soon be leaving his company and start making plans.
The Clearing process gives clients the opportunity to, a) articulate everything that needs to be said about a situation, however uncomfortable, and then b) simulate saying these things to their key stakeholders.
For Client A, the outcome of the Clearing process led him to discard the first option, of trying to persuade the new owners of necessity for his role, and adopt the second option, to adapt his role to ensure that he remained in the loop between the technical function and the client, thereby making his role clear to the new owners.
For Client B, the outcome of the process led him to understand that there was little he could do to change what was happening in the company (who have since left the Italian market) and to pursue the third option, and plan for his future elsewhere.
For Client A, the value of the process was in realizing that he had different options to choose from and in gaining enough distance from the emotional impact of the situation to come up with a creative solution.
For Client B, the value of the process was in helping him to come to terms with his situation in real time and to be able to start taking action for his future.
If you are looking for support with a rapidly evolving situation, contact me.
