REVIEW: EVOLUTIONARY COACHING: A VALUES-BASED APPROACH TO UNLEASHING HUMAN POTENTIAL

Book review: 4.5 out of 5

A leader recommended this book to me some time ago. I’ve finally found time to read it, and I’m so glad I have.

For Barrett, an “evolutionary coach” is one who’s interested in helping others perform “but with a big P” – helping them “emerge”.

He argues that the job of such a coach is to make sure clients “don’t stop growing by choosing safety over growth or allowing secondary motivations to take precedence over primary motivations”, or that if the client does, the coach support them to get back on track.

By primary motivations, he means the needs at the stage of psychological development we’ve reached and by secondary motivations, those of the stage we’ve passed through which we’ve not yet mastered.

He argues that as coaches we need to be aware of where we are on our psychological development journey and that when clients reach the same stage of development as us, we should either hand over to someone at a higher stage or seek a mentor at a higher stage. To his way of thinking “a coach can’t guide people on a journey through a territory they have not experienced themselves”.

The book comes in two parts, part one laying out the territory. Drawing on the work of Maslow and others, Barrett sets out a clear framework of stages of human development, our needs at these different stages and how to work with these in clients (and ourselves).

The seven stages are: surviving, conforming, differentiating, individuating, self-actualising, integrating and serving.

Part two offers pointers and some excellent exercises to find out where clients (and ourselves) are on the journey (age can be an indicator) and how to work practically with clients at the various stages. It’s not just for individuals – the framework applies to organisations, communities and societies.

He points out that we may still encounter situations that trigger an unmet need from an earlier stage. Helping clients self-realise means instilling in them adaptability, emergent learning, ability to bond, ability to cooperate and the ability to manage complexity.

I agree wholeheartedly with Barrett that “finding meaning can be just as important to our psychological survival as oxygen and water are to our physical survival” and that doing so can be a source of resilience. He cites Viktor Frankl who discovered this while imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II.

Some readers may not like the book’s talk of “souls” – of our soul-mind as well an ego-mind and body-mind. Barrett says at the start that he’s approaching the term ‘psychology’ in its original and literal sense of “the study of the soul” and the book is based on the premise that “what makes us happy is the satisfaction of our ego’s needs” whereas “what gives our life meaning and fulfilment is the satisfaction of the
soul’s needs”.

But even if you’re not into the concept of humans having souls, this book has much to offer, not only by helping us understand ourselves and our needs, and to work more deeply with clients, but also to offer a lens through which to view what we might see as shortfalls in society and certain individuals – but with more compassion.

• Liz Hall is editor of Coaching at Work and author of publications including Mindful Coaching (Kogan Page, 2013)