What informs us to see Wealth and Finances differently?

What informs us to see Wealth and
Finances differently?

Acknowledging as Financial Coach and
Client, we are already somewhere.

Ever driven with your family in a nature reserve and the rest of the family sees a specific bird or animal, and you cannot see it? Yes, at that moment, you are observing differently, then the rest of the family.

You could ask, what has observing differently to do with change and financial coaching and supporting our clients? When our clients come to us with their concerns, they are battling to see alternative possibilities. It is then as our role as coaches, to help them build the capacity to observe differently. As financial coaches, we support the client to change their way of being, to enable them to observe what they are not seeing.

This article will explore how we can use the Adult Development theory framework to support us as Financial Coaches. I believe this can help us facilitate change more eloquently for our clients, as we address their concerns. The process will also enable the change to be more sustainable as we meet the client where they are—helping them grow the competencies and ways of being needed to deal effectively with their concerns.

We will explore the subject in two parts. Firstly, we will look at the theory of Adult Development and the intersections with Ontological Coaching. Secondly, we will explore how the model could be adapted to create a Financial Developmental Framework.

Adult Developmental Framework

To unpack the framework, we draw on Robert Kegan’s work, referring to the work documented in, “In over our heads, the mental demands of Modern Society”.  We will then explore the interpretations and integration that Alan Sieler documented in Coaching for the Human Soul Ontological Coaching and Deep Change Volume II.

As suggested by the title of his book, In Over Our Heads, Robert Kegan argues that change around us, more often than not, is happening faster than the development of Human Consciousness. From an ontological perspective, we could say we have learned to observe and live in a particular world with familiarity when the world changes suddenly. Our way of being, our ability to observe, was serving us well in the old familiar world but cannot support us in the changing environment unless we expand our consciousness.

Thinking of the world of finances and change, for a client, this could range from getting divorced, a parent passing away, and a child taking over a family business. It could also include changes like getting a promotion and dealing with the new complexity of the job demands, to name a few challenges. What about the complexity of Estate Law, Tax Law, Pension Law, Product complexity, Technology, and so on. All this contributes to the ever-changing world of finance our clients, and we need to deal with.

Expanding our consciousness enlarges our capability to deal more skilfully with an ever-changing world and our challenges, concerns and breakdowns. In cases where our clients and we do not expand our consciousness, we become trapped in negative assessments, false assertions and moods of anxiety, resignation and resentment.  Through Ontological Financial Coaching, we can shift our way of being to a more useful state where we can speak a different language, shift to more helpful moods and practise more supportive body postures.

Keagan mapped development into five distinct stages. Some important principals to take note of, before we explore them:

• Shifting from one stage to the next stage is a transformation and broadens our consciousness on cognitive, emotional, social physiological and moral levels,
• We can then say that consciousness is our way of being, and our capacity to make meaning at that specific level,
• No level is superior to the other. At all levels, we are still human beings that from time to time, act from our personalities and not from our centre,
• Transforming to higher levels is like a Russian doll. We can always still access the lower levels,
• As coaches, it is then vital to understand if we do not evolve, and we encounter clients at a higher level, we will struggle to observe them at their level of consciousness.
• Broadly speaking each higher level of consciousness supports us to:
  • Broaden our understanding of the world,
  • Enables us to be more inclusive,
  • Enables us to see the paradoxes that exist in the world (more comfortable to see the grey),
  • Enables us to see more opportunities that we can take part in.

The table below gives a summary of the five levels of consciousness:

Keagan refers to the concepts of subject and object to explain how we shift our ability to observe as we develop, grow and transform between the levels. As subject, we begin to emerge from our way of observing, still unable to distinguish between the woods and the trees. As we transform, we can distinguish between the woods and the trees.  We become the observer of what was previously the subject. Now we become the object.

Adapted using: (Kegan, 1994)

Here is a summary of Robert Kegan’s 5 Orders of consciousness in an animation video:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=mW4LTqRJDW8%3Ffeature%3Doembed

Seven Habits of Highly effective people

Let’s take a short detour and reflect for a moment what Stephen Covey shared in “Seven Habits of Highly effective people.” This could be helpful to enrich our discussion on looking at a Financial Development Framework.

Covey make the point that we start on our journey of life as being dependent. We need to work towards Private Victory, acquiring the competencies of: Being Pro-active, Begin with the end in mind and First things first. We then move from being dependent to Independent. The second phase is then to achieve Public Victory. To master this stage, we need to build the following competencies: Think Win-Win, Seek first to understand… Then to be understood and Synergy, all supported by being a full-time learner. When we integrate Personal and Public Victory, we become Interdependent. (Covey, 1992, p. 63)

 Practice to Freedom

Wendy Palmer, in The Practice of Freedom, shares a model of Four Developmental levels. This offers a vivid distinction, describing the levels. The first level is described as Anarchy, referring to chaos. Level two is described as Etiquette, where we want to live, life according to society’s rules. Level three is described as Morality, where we change from doing what we belief others think is the right thing to do, to what we think is the right thing to do. Lastly, in Stage four, we move to Compassion, where we live to serve.

Financial Development Framework

The framework was developed using the three frameworks I have discussed. It offers  a living document that evolves through conversations with fellow coaches and interactions with clients.

Would love your input and thoughts on the article, specifically the adaption of Adult Development Levels to financial planning.

Bibliography

Covey, S. R., 1992. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. 1992 ed. London: Simon & Schuster UK.

Kegan, R., 1994. In over our heads, The Mental Demands of Modern Life. 1994 ed. London: Harvard University Press.

Kegan, R. & Lahey, L., 2012. Adult Development and Organizational Leadership. In: N. Nohria, ed. Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice: A Harvard Business School Centennial Colloquium. Boston: Harvard Business Press, pp. Chapter 26, Pages 1-19.

Palmer, W., 2002. The Practice of Freedom. 2002 ed. California: Rodmell Press.

Sieler, A., 2007. Coaching to the Human Soul, Ontological Coaching and Deep Change Volume 2. 2007 ed. Victoria: Newfield Australia.

Interesting further reading:

Kinder, George. Seven Stages of Money Maturity