Читать книгу COACHING-PERSPEKTIVEN - Группа авторов - Страница 52

A person is not always able to meet a need. For example, we are feeling sleepy, but we have to finish an important project. When it comes to the social and emotional level, the process becomes even more complicated because our needs involve other people. When we are not able to meet a need, the Gestalt is incomplete and the work stays unfinished.

Unfinished business is a frequent theme in coaching. At the individual level, for example, the topic might be an unresolved conflict with a colleague regarding taking credit for excellent projects. At the collective level, a frequent theme in today’s organizations is workers’ perception of unjust distribution of the economic crisis’ consequences among workers and the ruling elite (managers, politicians, banks etc.). As this topic is usually not discussed, on the metaorganizational level it represents a major collective unfinished business.

Unfinished business is typical for dysfunctional teams and individuals in organizations. Two facts especially complicate the situation with unfinished business in organizational settings: the unfinished tasks can be related to the client’s previous work experiences, and it is often believed that opening unfinished business is dangerous and should be addressed in psychotherapy rather than coaching. However, experience shows that coaching can be effective in closing an unfinished business. Sometimes the coach is the first person that the client can recount the detailed story to, and experience that someone has listened to him (Bluckert, 2006).