Susan Britton MCC coaches executives on handling closed-minded leaders: never resist the resistance. Instead, stay curious, comment on what you observe without naming it, and ask open-ended questions that invite them to consider other perspectives without triggering defensiveness.
Hello friends, Susan Britton with the Academies for Coach Training, changing minds for good. If you are working with an executive or leader who might be what we call close-minded, aka arrogant, and not really open to new ideas, here's a coaching tip. Sometimes we refer to that as resistance, and when you're working with resistance, the first thing you need to remember is Never resist the resistance. The second thing you need to remember is never resist the resistance. And the third thing you need to remember is never resist the resistance. And the reason for that is that once you resist, now you have two people resisting, kind of at loggerheads. Whereas if you relax and simply be curious about the resistance, observe the resistance, comment on the resistance, explore the resistance without using the word resistance, For example, you just might say, "Well, that's an interesting perspective. I wonder what your colleague thinks about that, what his or her perspective might be on that." That's a way to explore a different viewpoint. You could also say, "What happens when there isn't the invitation to have these differing opinions? How does that affect you? How does that affect your colleagues? How does that affect your team?" You could also say, something like, "So I hear there's a hesitancy to kind of consider that opinion. What would it take to be open to exploring that?" or "What are the concerns about exploring that?" So there's just a couple of ways to work with resistance and not resist the resistance. Coach on!
Susan’s ICF Educator Award | The Heart Behind the Impact Katy Montgomery, PCC
