Coaching Through Social Competencies

(Coaching durch soziale Kompetenzen)

A 2-Day Workshop in the Coaching Program

Professors: Thomas D. Zweifel ( / )

Tony C. Bächle ()

Students:Selected based on application process

Duration:2 days (21 and 28 June 2004)

Language:English; papers in German are welcome

Most leaders and managers assume that this century will be another American century. It may well be; however, few people know that by 2007, the #1 language on the Internet may not be English but Chinese; or that by 2010, 30-40% of top managers at multinational corporations will likely not be American or European, but Indian, Chinese, Indonesian or Brazilian, representing the largest emerging markets of the 21st century. Top managers in the public, private, or nonprofit sectors who ignore these trends will do so at their peril. In this age of virtual teams, increasingly border-less economies, highly mobile free agents and transnational terrorism, the rules have changed. Whether we like it or not, all of us are touched by globalization; but few managers are prepared for the increasingly important task of managing across cultures.

Leadership occurs through communication. Without communication, no leadership: leaders who cannot or do not communicate with others cannot lead. Leaders are people who generate and manage conversations of value. “Coaching Through Social Competencies” aims to prepare students to be competent global citizens with the communication skills and intercultural facility necessary to lead and manage in business, government, and nongovernmental organizations anywhere in the world.

Day 1 provides basic communication theories and skills.

Day 2 provides basic cross-cultural theories and a cross-cultural tool-kit.

Both days include practice sessions and mocks.

Course requirements

  • No course grade.
  • Completion of all required readings and attendance of all three days.
  • Active participation in class.
  • Proactive participation with mentor/coach.
  • Final project report (option 1: students solve an interdisciplinary problem; option 2: students complete a report/debrief on the May 2004 symposium).

Required Readings

Zweifel, Thomas D. 2003. Communicate or Die: Getting Results Through Speaking and Listening. New York: SelectBooks.

Zweifel, Thomas D. 2003. Culture Clash: Managing the Global High-Performance Team. New York: SelectBooks.

Schedule (subject to change)

Day 1: Effective Communication

Learn:

  • Introduce ourselves: TDZ = theory, TCB = tools and applications.
  • Overview. Requirements. Introductions. Q&A.
  • Ground rule: before you speak, you first recreate the previous speaker’s comment.
  • Elements of speech acts (Schulz von Thun).
  • The capital sins of communication.
  • On listening; the Matterhorn of Masterful Listening.
  • Conversations for results: relationship, vision, strategy, action.
  • Promises and requests.
  • From breakdowns to breakthroughs (Scherr).

Practice (Mocks):

  • Transforming complaints into commitments.
  • Active listening; levels of listening.
  • The communication pyramid.
  • Giving and receiving effective feedback.

Read (required):

  • Zweifel, Thomas D. 2003. Communicate or Die: Getting Results Through Speaking and Listening. New York: SelectBooks. (Chapters 3 and 4 only)

Read (not required):

  • Goleman, Daniel. 1997. Emotionale Intelligenz.München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag dtv.
  • Scherr, Allan L. 1989. “Managing for Breakthroughs in Productivity,” Human Resource Management 28:3 (Fall), 403-424.
  • Schulz von Thun, Friedemann. 2003. Miteinander Reden. Kommunikationspsychologie für Führungskräfte. Praxis. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt. (Chapters 1, 2)

Assignments for the coming week:

  • Read the DaimlerChrysler case.
  • Cross-cultural projects in teams.

Day 2: Cross-Cultural Competencies

Learn:

  • Culture as a construction; the fallacy of essentialism.
  • Models of culture (the three layers of culture; the onion model).
  • The drivers of culture: what you don’t know that you don’t know.
  • The Onion Model: five dimensions of culture.
  • The Global Results Pyramid.
  • The Global Integrator.

Practice (Mocks):

  • Visualize the world as a global village of 100 people.
  • Explore culture clashes (e.g. Switzerland vs. Germany, Europe vs. USA).
  • Apply the Pyramid and Global Integrator to the DaimlerChrysler merger.

Read (required):

  • Zweifel, Thomas D. 2003. Culture Clash: Managing the Global High-Performance Team. New York: SelectBooks. (Chapters 2 and 3 only)

Read (not required):

  • Hofstede, Geert. 2001. Lokales Denken, Globales Handeln. Interkulturelle Zusammenarbeit und Globales Management. München: DTV-Beck. (Chapters 1-7)