Coaching owes a lot to other professions, such as psychotherapy and business consultancy. And there is still much more to learn from other professions, including architecture. Whilst architects design buildings, many coaches assist their clients to design their life

So here we go, some lessons from architecture ...

One prominent thinker and architect is Christopher Alexander, Professor of Architecture at the University of California at Berkeley, and Director of the Center for Environmental Structure. In his book "Notes on the synthesis of form", Christopher looks at how things get created, especially at how they get to be the way they are. He compares two different types of processes, the unselfconscious and the selfconscious

A typical example of the unselfconscious process can be seen in the design of an African mudhut. Like the design of an African mudhut, in the unselfconscious process the design comes from trial and error. Changes are made to the design to correct existing problems, until there are no more problems. This happens over many generations. And after that the design remain stable. An external change, such as in the environment or the weather, may create new problems. These will be solved by a new series of changes until all problems have disappeared. The result can be a very complex design which is ideally suited to the environment and the needs of the inhabitants

With the unselfconscious process the design is passed down through absorption, usually from parent to child, from master to apprentice or through stories and myths. There are no conscious design rules nor separate design professions. And partly because of this there is no temptation to change the rules or to experiment with them

When we start getting separate design activities and professions, the designers (architects, graphic designers, industrial designers, etc) start creating design rules that they can work from, discuss with their colleagues and pass on. There is now a need to attract trade, and one way a designer can do this is by distinguishing themselves from their colleagues, for instance by creating their own style. We now get change for change sake

Any type of design, whether it is unselfconscious or selfconscious, has one large problem and that is that solving one problem can often create one, two or more new problems. The reason is that a design (for instance a house or other object) has to fulfil many different requirements. Or to put it differently, there are many things that can go wrong when designing a house (or anything else). There are many connections between the different parts and aspects of any object, which makes it very likely that solving problem thing creates a new problem.

With the unselfconscious design, given enough time, all problems will be solved. For instance, the African mudhut is ideally suited to its environment. However, the unselfconscious design falls apart when the external world changes too quickly

With the conscious design the designer often starts from scratch, or at least introduces a lot of changes to an existing design. Because of the complexity of design, this will introduce a lot of problems. And, as mentioned before, solving these problems may cause new problems. To simplify the design, the designer usually groups the requirements, for instance into heating, storage, roof, plumbing, etc. However, the links go across the groups. A decision about the plumbing may create a problem in the storage. To get all of this right first time is virtually impossible. And once the house is built and the inhabitants start to discover the various problems it is often too late

So neither approach is perfect. The unconscious process falls apart when the external world changes too quickly, whilst the conscious process simply cannot cope with the large number of interlinked requirements involved in most design projects. As Christopher Alexander puts it ".., just as it is a property of the unselfconscious system's organization that it produces well-fitting forms, so it is a property of the emergent selfconscious system that its forms fit badly"

Christopher does describe an alternative in his book. However, it is very complicated and not very suitable for coaches. In later books he has refined his ideas and created new processes, which you may read about in future articles

So, what are some of the implications for us coaches?

• Instead of asking our client to make big changes it may be a lot safer and more effective to start by trying a series of small changes
• Before making a large change don't just ask your client for the conscious, logical point of view. Consciously your client may not be aware of all the possibly side-effects (links) of the proposed change. And the question 'how will this effect your life' may be too complex for the conscious mind. So also ask questions like "What is your gut telling you about this" and "As you imagine taking this change into the future, how does it feel and what does that tell you"
• Learn from what others are doing. Your clients' lives are too short to make all of their own mistakes. That is one of the big functions of parenting and of society - to pass on all the learnings of the previous generations. Before taking a different path from everyone else first check out all the benefits of the 'conventional' path. Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater
• As much as possible, build on what is already there. Concentrate on the problem at hand instead of making changes for change sake
• As a 'design professional' beware of creating processes and ideas for their own sake, even if you feel it is important to distinguish yourself from your colleagues
• Learn from the art of design, such as graphic design, industrial design and architecture
• Some coaches come from the "unselfconscious" school, having learned through many years of personal life experience, whilst others come from the 'selfconscious' school, having gone through formal training. Both approaches are valid

I recently had a coachings session with a client who was considering some large and interconnected changes. He found this rather difficult and scary. Briefly explaining some of the ideas above got him to focus on looking for small changes which would gradually improve his life. Knowing that he could always turn things back removed the fear and released his energy

© Coen de Groot - 2005