Coaching the Third Win

• The circle of influence of the individual
• The system of interaction surrounding this circle of influence
• The system of systems

Much of our work over time has been in self-interest and then further migrates to a mature understanding of functioning as an interdevelopmental part or fractal of a system of interaction. This is prevalent and consistent among organization in today’s marketspace. Yet what we as coaches have the opportunity to do is to pull up the shades on the window to the world for our clients, helping them to understand how they and what they cause—fits into the organizational landscape.

We can and will do this in many ways and through doing so create the third win. The third win surrounds the generative aspects of our environments. It is not just about sustainability, high performance, peace and well being but about being connected to the implicate order as David Bohm recommended.

First we recognize that it exists. Secondly, we frame our circle of interaction in the greater system of interaction and that within the ability to generate "futures" or outcomes that are not precluded or limited by present decisions. This does require a different vantage point and while it will be in a different place for different people, the ability to transcend our own personal self toward a more transpersonal being is key.

Without evoking the pain or pleasure we feel towards our own spiritual existence, we can merely indicate that we are not separate. In recognizing that we are connected to past, present and future and that the acts, feelings and beliefs we carry with us affect this connectedness in many ways we can not fully envision; we can understand what it means to coach towards the third win. By creating space to examine the consequences of our interactions, the person being coached (pbc) can become aware of the need to examine their life as it is, fully connected to all things, fully present in all things and fully available to actualize a potential that is unique and filled with gifts.

While the container we create in the coaching interaction needs to have a beginning and end, it is a sense of all things therefore a mere fractal in the system of systems. By viewing it in this manner, we offer this container to the world of the pbc as but a glass of water drawn from the ocean, separated for an instant, only to be carefully connected once again as it pours itself back into the ocean—never separate, always connected.

The third win is critical to the continued advancement of our world towards a more peaceful, unified and sustainable existence. It is essential to consider isolated causes and effects when dealing with large business and organizational systems. For executives, line managers and people at the customer interface, creating the third win is critical to organizational adaptability, vitality, meaning and willingness to go the extra mile—four constructs given by David Whyte in a speech to coaches in Boston in April of 1999 regarding the critical things organizations want and need.

The third win requires an awareness of more than just our own circle of concern. Often we are limited in our awareness and ability to encourage the third win by limiting both the potentiality of it occurring with narrow decision-making or by drawing a circle too close to ourselves and not being apart of the system at large. We feel we can distance ourselves from the causes and effects and remain isolated in our meaning making and our decision-making; it just isn’t true.

Today, the causes and effects of this type of narrow thinking and action are visible in our environment as we are charged with cleaning up behind the large messes of the past, both personal and organizational.

Business and systems coaching require thinking beyond self to other and beyond other to all. Creating the third win is possible in this type of scenario and probable if coaches are trained to practice a systems approach to coaching in business in organizational systems.