85 - Dave Snowden: How the natural sciences can inform coaching
Summary
Management consultant Dave Snowden challenges conventional coaching, critiquing its reliance on therapy-based, individual-centric approaches and the overemphasis on articulating learning. He advocates for coaching informed by natural sciences, focusing on system interactions, embodied learning, and collective experiences that foster trust and interdependence. Snowden also explores the value of managing for emergence over strict goal-setting and incorporating the numinous for abstract thought.Episode description
Coaching has some fairly established approaches, but they are generally not based on empirical data. Could the practice of coaching benefit from taking a more scientific approach to the development of its methodology? In this conversation with management consultant Dave Snowden we explore using the natural sciences to inform coaching theory and practice, the role of context and relating in behavioral change, and the value of the numinous. Dave Snowden is a management consultant and researcher in the field of knowledge management and the application of complexity science. Known for the development of the Cynefin framework, he is the founder and chief scientific officer of Cognitive Edge, a Singapore-based management consulting firm specializing in complexity and sensemaking. He has authored several articles and book chapters on the Cynefin framework and the role of complexity in sensemaking.