In Conversation With
Dr. Paul Lawrence
Overview
This month Barbara Walsh is In Conversation with Dr Paul Lawrence. Paul’s latest book, Coaching Systemically: Five Ways of Thinking About Systems, is essential reading for both individual and team coaches who describe themselves as working systemically. It turns out that there are many dimensions to systemic thinking, and it is far from being a particular way of thinking or working.
Paul Lawrence presents five different ways (or levels) of thinking about systems and invites coaches to consider how any of these might be shaping the purpose for coaching and showing up in how they coach. He challenges coaches to stretch their thinking and be more conscious of how this if stuck in only one systemic level, might result in disappointing outcomes for both coach and client.
This essential Conversation highlights the next learning edge for all who identify as Systemic Coaches, to develop the flexibility to recognize where the client (team or organization) is at and to grow their own capacity to think and coach across all five ways.
Coaching Systemically: Five Ways of Thinking About Systems is our May Book of the Month
Read Dr Paul Lawrence’s White Paper, “Team Coaching Revisited” in Research & Case Studies
About Paul
After completing a PhD in Psychology, Paul embarked upon a corporate career with BP plc, leading teams and businesses in the UK, Spain, Portugal, Australia and Japan. Paul has been working as a coach and consultant since 2007, based in Sydney Australia, working with individuals, groups and teams.
Paul conducts research on a regular basis and has published more than dozen academic articles and book chapters. He has authored four books Leading Change: How Successful Leaders Approach Change Management, Coaching in Three Dimensions: Meeting the Challenges of a Complex World, The Tao of Dialogue and most recently Coaching Systemically: Five Ways of Thinking About Systems.
Paul teaches coaching at the Sydney Business School, University of Wollongong, is an Honorary Research Associate at Oxford Brookes University, and represents both the Association for Coaching and the Association of Coaching Supervisors in Australia.