The Feldenkrais Method for Executive Coaches, Managers, and Business Leaders

Moving in All Directions

Garet Newell, Simon Paul Ogden

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN:
  9781315316543
• Topic: Psicologia
• Subtopic: Psicologia in industrie e organizzazioni

In this fascinating and practical book, Garet Newell and Simon Paul Ogden show how the Feldenkrais Method can be used by coaches and managers as a resource to improve both the performance of individuals and the health and wellbeing of the people they work with.

The Feldenkrais Method is based on sound mechanical and neurological principles that are easily accessible through simple practical lessons. Through its emphasis on experiential learning, The Feldenkrais Method for Executive Coaches, Managers, and Business Leaders offers a means to improve many aspects of everyday working life: from sitting and walking more comfortably, improving interpersonal relations, developing personal impact and presence, to performing a highly developed skill more efficiently. By exploring patterns of everyday movement, the method encourages the discovery of new possibilities and choices providing a remarkable approach for expanding potential.

Although widely recognised within the performing arts and sports as a method for improving skills, performance and recovery from injury, the Feldenkrais Method is not as widely known outside these arenas, yet the principles and practice behind it are equally applicable to the workplace. Using case studies, the book highlights common issues that coaches and managers are frequently asked to deal with. Each case, and the impact it has in the workplace, is explored from the perspective of the Feldenkrais Method. Included at the end of each chapter there is a practical Awareness Through Movement lesson that addresses some of the themes raised.

The Feldenkrais Method for Executive Coaches, Managers, and Business Leaders provides, an invaluable resource for professionals interested in both learning and development, and health and wellbeing in the workplace. It will also appeal to counsellors and therapists interested in somatic approaches.

p.6

1 Learning to learn (the need for awareness)

Movement is the basis of awareness. Most of what goes on within us remains dulled and hidden from us until it reaches the muscles.¹

Moshe Feldenkrais

Case story

This first case story differs from the ones which appear in the remainder of this book as it does not relate to an individual who received coaching or had experience of any Feldenkrais lessons. Coaching and mediation was explored as an option to resolve what happened, however, the ‘fall out’ from the situation was considered so detrimental to the business that another option was adopted. What unfolded in the office of this large international firm is recounted here as occurrences such as this are not uncommon in the workplace. In particular it highlights the need for personal awareness. And the development of awareness is primarily what the Feldenkrais Method is all about – learning Awareness Through Movement thereby increasing sensitivity and attention to one’s being.

This case concerns two protagonists – John and Bill. They are senior managers within a customer service department responsible for handling complex enquiries concerning high precision technical engineering machinery. Although they are on the same pay grade, John has been appointed the de-facto manager in overall charge of the operation. Bill may have expected to have been given that role. There is a history of low level antagonism between them which the staff and their director was aware of. When questioned about the incident afterwards the director said he had spoken to both of them previously and had advised them to ‘grow up, put their differences to one side, and get on with what they were paid to do’.

p.7

Each of them were responsible for a team of around fifty customer service advisors. One morning as Bill was consulting with a team leader, John came over and started to interrupt him, contradicting what he was saying. Bill suddenly snapped and angrily told John to mind his own business and leave him alone. John reacted, immediately getting angry, and they both started exchanging expletives. The main issue concerning their confrontation was that it occurred in the middle of the office, in front of the staff they managed, many of whom where talking to clients around the world. Quite a few of these clients overheard the altercation taking place.

As mentioned above stories such as this are not rare. Everyday there are confrontations between employees, customers, competitors, board directors of the same corrosive nature as the one that took place between John and Bill. The cost is immense and yet the total amount has never been formally calculated. But ask any senior manager and they will talk about the inordinate amount of time they spend on a daily basis ‘picking up the pieces’ left over from the aftermath of similar interactions and the complaints they generate. There are the interviews with those involved, preparing reports, undertaking disciplinary hearings, dealing with external authorities, mediating between aggrieved parties – and this is with just the minor altercations.

Then there are the working environments where there is underlying conflict between staff – an atmosphere filled with snide remarks and ‘back stabbing’. These environments generate an intolerable amount of stress with a detrimental impact on health and wellbeing. They are also the workspaces that have the highest levels of absenteeism and staff turnover. It is surprising just how many people feel that they are powerless to do anything about such environments and consider them to be a ‘normal’ aspect of everyday working life.

Not many of us are ever likely to meet a person who would say that they want to work in an environment where there is an underlying atmosphere of hostility and aggression. Neither are we likely to meet a person who says ‘I want to go into work today and do a really bad job’, or, ‘I am going to make life really difficult for my colleagues’. Both John and Bill were conscientious and highly respected employees who wanted to do a great job. It just didn’t happen on that particular day. Both protagonists lacked the awareness of what they were doing whilst they were doing it.

p.8

Over the years many courses have been developed to deal with the type of scenario described above. They have titles such as ‘Having Difficult Conversations’ and ‘Using Conflict Creatively’. All these courses will provide employees and managers with simple tools and ideas that enable them to manage their workspace and relationships with others. One of the key skills developed in these courses is ‘Awareness’. It is virtually impossible to have a difficult conversation that ‘goes well’ or to use conflict creatively without one or other of the parties having developed some degree of self-awareness.

Likewise if you consider the issues that most coaching clients seek assistance with, without awareness it is extremely difficult (if not impossible) to improve performance.

Awareness is a nebulous term – it means many things to many people. People’s experience of awareness will vary greatly and this poses its own difficulties when attempting to define what it is. This chapter explores what is meant by awareness from the perspective of the Feldenkrais Method. It also examines how this awareness can help ameliorate situations like the one described above and improve individual and team performance. It also considers how awareness (or a lack of it) impacts on health, safety and wellbeing. Finally it considers the development of awareness which takes place through the observation of patterns of action and the creation of new choices of movement.

The Feldenkrais Method: a definition of awareness and consciousness

Both the words awareness and consciousness are used extensively in both coaching and learning and development interventions. There is often very little distinction given between the two words and they appear so closely interrelated that they are often used interchangeably. In dictionaries the two words are generally used in the definition of the other.

Within the Feldenkrais Method there is a distinct difference between the two words. ‘Conscious’ can be defined as being awake to one’s surroundings. However we all experience different levels of being awake – certainly in relation to our surroundings. We can be ‘awake’ walking down the road whilst day-dreaming about being on holiday in Australia. Consider the following question from a personal view point – ‘at what point between being in deep sleep and being completely wide awake are you truly ‘aware’ of your surroundings?’

Therefore ‘awareness’ can be said to be our experience of being ‘awake’. How deep is this awareness? How sensitive are you to your surroundings? What is the nature of your attention and intention? Are you able to ‘respond’ to events as they occur or do you merely ‘react’ to them as they happen?

p.9

The nature of reaction

It is quite clear that both John and Bill were conscious when their altercation took place – they were awake. They had driven into work, had a coffee, and greeted the staff. However, it is the level of their awareness at the time of the confrontation that needs be bought into question. If they had been aware of themselves and the probable outcome that would be the inevitable result of their encounter, would it have ever happened, or would they have found a different way of dealing with their issues?

Both John and Bill were clearly in a state of reaction unable to respond to what was happening at the time. A reaction can be defined as:

Any action that occurs without awareness of a conscious intention.

If, after any interaction, an individual has forgotten what was said or done, or, wish they had said or done something different, then it could be assumed that they have been in a state of reaction. However, is a state of reaction necessarily a bad thing?

Most reactions, especially those of an instinctive nature, are essential for the maintenance and defence of our lives. They comprise the reflexes associated with ‘fight flight freeze’ response.

If a person accidentally places her/his hand on a burning stove the instinctive reflex will be to pull the hand away. It is only after they have pulled it away that they will become aware of what they have done. The parts of the brain responsible for protection of our being, together with those for handling intense feelings, operate at a much greater speed than the ‘higher’ systems responsible for thought and abstraction. This mechanism has evolved over millions of years and is necessary for the survival and protection of the human species. Sometimes, however, this mechanism is not quite so useful, especially if, for example, an automatic reaction to intense emotional feelings results in a confrontation similar to the one John and Bill had – an element of self-control is needed. Self-control can only exist with awareness.

If we consider both scenarios described above – placing the hand on the burning stove and John and Bill’s confrontation – they raise an interesting question. Why was the person, who was obviously conscious, so unaware of their surroundings that they put their hand on the stove in the first place? Why were John and Bill so unaware of themselves that they reacted in a way that was going to result in behaviour that was eventually considered by their employer to be gross misconduct?

p.10

Research has shown that people spend 46.9 per cent of their time thinking about something other than what they are doing. This rises to 50 per cent in the workplace². The implication is that they are not completely aware of what they are doing in the moment. So maybe it is not surprising that ‘John and Bill’ confrontations are more common than most people would like to think.

Working without awareness

Much of what an individual learns can be brought automatically into action without awareness – especially those activities associated with daily life. These are tasks that have become routine and can be undertaken without thinking about them – for example, making a cup of tea, preparing food, walking to the shop, etc. Skills such as these become ‘hard-wired’ into the parietal part of our brain. This area of the brain responds automatically to external stimuli at a speed twenty times greater than the frontal cortex which is responsible for logic and thinking. In many respects it can be useful to be able to carry out these routine tasks ‘automatically’ without any degree of awareness – it is this ability that enables us to multi-task.

Nevertheless there are other skills we may undertake ‘automatically’ where it might be preferable to perform them with a degree of awareness– for example, driving a car. Many of us will have experienced arriving at a destination with no recollection of driving there. The majority of road traffic accidents occur because of this lack of awareness. Although we may be ‘unconsciously competent’, the lack of awareness translates into a lack of responsibility, i.e. an inability to respond effectively and engage with our surroundings. Likewise many of the activities required within the workplace can be undertaken without awareness – including the management of self and others.

One of the ways we can consider how skills are learnt and then become ‘hard-wired’ is through the ‘Conscious Competence Learning Model’. It is reintroduced here as it is extensively used in executive training and therefore many coaches and learning and development specialists will be aware of. It provides a set of stages through which the ability to undertake an activity becomes automatic. This in turn points towards a further stage of learning that whilst not included within the model is inherent within the Feldenkrais Method and essential for developing awareness.

The model suggests that when a new skill is learnt an individual will pass through four separate learning stages: stage 1 – ‘unconscious incompetence’; stage 2 – ‘conscious incompetence’; stage 3 –’conscious competence’; and, stage 4 – ‘unconscious competence’. One of the more common analogies used to describe the model is learning to drive a car:

Stage 1: I want to learn to drive and having watched people drive I assume that it is easy.

Stage 2: I get into the car and as I stall it I realise it is a lot more complicated than I thought.

Stage 3: I finally manage to drive the car, keep it on the road without stalling. However, it requires a great deal of concentration and attention.

p.11

Stage 4: I can drive the car so well that I can leave the house and arrive at work without having been aware of most of my journey.

Stage 4 is the final stage described in this model. This was considered an ideal point for employers as it meant that their employees were so competent at what they do that they could do it without thinking. In some respects this could well be considered ideal as in stage 3 the level of concentration and time required to undertake a task may result in inefficiencies. Nevertheless, many people have felt uneasy about stage 4 being the final and ideal end state.

The need for a 5th stage

The possible limitation with stage 4 is that it brings a sense of finality over the learning process. It suggests that in relation to the activity there is nothing further to learn, no refinement or ongoing improvement in quality. There is no questioning as to whether what has been learnt still fulfils its original purpose or whether it is still appropriate.

The issue with the model lies within the description of the 4th stage as being ‘unconscious’. The implication of this is that a person may be operating automatically without awareness to what is going on around them. Whilst a person may perform ‘competently’ in this state, arguably they are not operating to their full potential. To go back to the analogy of driving it is the state where most accidents happen.

Up until stage 4 awareness is implicit within the model. We can only move from one stage to another if we have awareness of what we are currently doing and some idea of what we need to do next. The move from a state of unconscious incompetence (stage 1) through conscious incompetence (stage 2) to conscious competence (stage 3) requires the person to have a degree of awareness of themselves, their surroundings, and what they are doing at the time. Then all of a sudden, at stage 4 it appears awareness is no longer required; there is no apparent need for it.

Earlier in this chapter research was introduced that suggested that people spend 50 per cent of their time in the workplace thinking about something other than what they are doing. If this is the case we are operating without complete awareness. It is also possible that many of us have spent the greater part of our life operating in this state. If we are working without awareness we are unlikely to have any foresight of the probable or possible outcome of our actions.

Therefore many of the actions we per...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• The Feldenkrais Method for Executive Coaches, Managers, and Business Leaders
• Praise
• Routledge Focus on Mental Health
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword by Sue Knight
• Introduction
• 1 Learning to Learn (the Need for Awareness)
• 2 The Development of Self Image
• 3 The Question of Performance
• 4 Learning to Breathe
• 5 Learning to See
• 6 Learning to Crawl
• 7 Learning to Walk
• 8 Learning to Talk
• Conclusion: Moving in All Directions
• Resources
• Index