What does Cognitive Coaching mean to me?

I came to be intrigued by cognitive coachingever since I read the

article from ‘The Reflective Leader’, by Ole Steen Andersen, et al. The
article has beautifully covered the human reactions in a three
dimensional way and gives an insight into the possibility of looking at
every aspect from an outside view. I have always believed that every
individual and situation is best handled head-on and best solved with
a neutral view. Many of us in decision making and leadership roles
would have faced numerous challenging situations but a very low
percentage of us would have actually tackled these situations with an
unbiased opinion.

Most of us generally assume that whatever decisions we have made

are in the best interests of everyone, but many times we do not think
of how the opposite individual concerned is affected. We get so
clouded by our confidencethat we fail to recognise and understand
what the other person actually wants or what he is really feeling
about the decision. We realise this only when either the decision has
gone wrong or when someone points out this fact. This condition is
generated by the strong influence of our possessed knowledge and
the experiences that we have had in the past, which can also be
termed as cognitive knowledge.

I believe that although this condition is experienced by many of us,

there is always a chance for improvement in beinga leader and a
better human being. I think every individual has the capacity and the
capability to observe himself and improve rather than depend on
others to point out his mistakes. And this is what has also been
covered in the introduction chapter of the above mentioned book
(Chapter 9). It tells us that every individual can prove to be a better
leader by training on his own. It teaches us to train our minds and
change our behaviour and other physical attributes especially in

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dealing with subordinates and juniors and thereby become more
effective leaders.

I strongly agree with what the article has advocated and that is what
cognitive coaching is all about. I would refrain from getting into
theoretical aspects at this point and not cover the cognitive cycle and
other similar concepts. I prefer to mention in simple terms what I
have understood from the class and the readings. It is about knowing
oneself through self-observation and self-feedback, and furthermore
in helping subordinates in discovering themselves. Cognitive
coaching will provide us with the tools and necessary tips to help us
learn these talents.
According to me, ‘reflection’ is the most important part of cognitive
coaching. It means to havea second look on what we have
accomplished in the past and improving upon that action. Instead of
doing exactly what has been done before, cognitive coaching teaches
us, instead, to analyse the action of the past and decide if that was
the right decision or not. And based on this analysis, we modify our
decisions or actions in future with a view to improve.

It needs to be appreciated that all of us have prejudices about every

single activity or action. We always tend to behave and react to
situations in ways that we have done in the pastand more importantly
if the results have been favourable. This forms part of our cognitive
knowledge. Our perceptions about things become so ingrained over
time that it becomes difficult to get to change this approach.
Cognitive coaching, through the practice of reflective leadership, will
aim at exactly on how to overcome this limitation. Once an individual
has successfully learnt to reflect upon his thoughts and actions he will
face a much easier journey in the future.

Cognitive coaching does not stop here though. Although reflection is

the most important of all aspects of cognitive coaching, no results are
achieved till the time this reflection is transformed into the required

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conception and finally into practice. Unless and until the reflection is
understood in more practical and simple terms it will be difficult to
implement the change that would be needed to make the whole
process work successfully. What one needs to do post-reflection is to
try and devise new ways of carrying out the particular actionsthat are
needed to accomplish the preset goals. If there is poor or improper
understanding of the reflection then the implementation of the
learning would be affected adversely. However, it should be noted
that the final step of implementationdoes not include only what the
title suggests. Besides implementation it also includes supervision
and feedback to ensure that things are going according to plan and
that the required level of motivation and interest are maintained. And
this is where the whole concept of cognitive coaching turns a full
circle.

How can I use (subject) in my life?

Having served in the Indian Army for nearly 9 years, I have had the
chance to put my leadership skills to the test and fortunately I have
been considerably successful as a leader and a coach. However,
looking back at things, I can observe that most of my past decisions
were based on learning through trial and error, and that I had never
actually applied much thought to my actions. I believe that this is the
way most humans perform, but there still exists a scope for
improvement in every aspectof leadership. What I have gained from
the concept of cognitive coaching is the understanding of the whole
process of learning, from knowing to doing and the option of putting
that to practice in live situations.

I am looking at cognitive coaching concept as a tool to breakdown the

process of decision making and categorizing the leadership skill into
different phases in order to be more effective. I fully understand the
constraints at this nascent stage of development of my leadership
skills and also the difficulties of practical implementation of the

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concept of cognitive coaching. However, I also have the confidence to
be able to do it systematically and in an orderly fashion.

I will not be part of any military force in the future and so I may not be
able to apply this learning to something that I have done in my past,
but in my opinion, this will not make much difference as far as
leadership is concerned. I am at a stage in life where I am undergoing
a significant transformation from one kind of life style to something
completely different that is absolutely new to me. The MBA is one of
my biggest tools to help me gain the knowledge and the expertise
that I need in order to adapt to this major change in my life. But
doing an MBA alone is not going to help me unless I have the
opportunity to put things into practice and prove myself under trying
circumstances.

This is exactly where I intend to put cognitive coaching into practical

use. In the last two months I have been able to get into a habit of
reflecting upon myself and my actions, and I have come to learn a lot
more about myself. I consider that I have been successful in forming
a very constructive habit of making rational and conscious decisions,
be it related to my studies or in personal life.

I strongly believe that one does not really need the help of another
‘coach’ to help understand own problems. Cognitive coaching has the
ability to provide one insight into one’s own life and all actions
emanating on a daily basis. I am being optimistic in the sense that I
can be my own coach in every aspect of my life. I wish to use this
beautiful tool to know myself better and understand my strengths and
limitations from a completely different perspective. I wish to keep my
biases aside and think about different solutions from a more neutral
point of view.

At this point of time I may not be able to pinpoint how exactly I will
put this to use but looking at this subject from a wider outlook I can
say that it does not really matter. Unless and until I am able to make

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this a part of myself, there will be no way in which I will be able to
make judicious use of this concept. The whole practice of coaching
and overcoming cognitions has to become ingrained into my
personality and only then will I be able to arrive at more effective
decisions in every aspect of life. I have now started to learn my
capabilities on the basis of my knowledge about my potential and I
will continue to build upon these. At the same time I will also use the
cognitive coaching tool to help me recognize what my hidden
capabilities are; something which I have never even realized that I
might possess.