Nathalie Sabourin: M.Sc, CRHA, organizational development expert, collaborative facilitator, and CoachingOurselves partner. Nathalie is co-author of the book Collaborer et agir | Mieux et autrement : guide pratique pour implanter des groupes de codéveloppement (A practical guide to implementing professional co-development action learning groups) (2017).
Our organizations are trapped in a cycle of ongoing, rapid change due to global competition and environmental, technological, and social transformation. Author and organizational expert Frédéric Laloux writes : « The way we have been running our organizations has been stretched to its limits. There is something currently wrong with our organizations.” (p.13) We now find our highly skilled team leaders are ill-equipped to deal with the pressures of upper management. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place – between the expectations of upper management and actual capacity of their co-workers.
Professional Co-development – From idealism to practicality
Professional Co-development allows organizations to evolve their culture, accelerate the development of competencies, remobilize their leaders, and put in place organizational change through collaboration and the co-creation of novel solutions.
The process involves 6-8 people, coming from the same organization or diverse settings. They provide beneficial feedback to each other regarding real situations they are currently facing. This is a collaborative learning space, where participants apply the Co-development values, principals, and methodologies to improve their individual and collective practice.
During a workshop, one participant takes on the role of the “Client-Coachee” and describes an aspect of their professional practice they wish to strengthen, a project to implement, a challenge to resolve, a goal to achieve, or a complex decision to be made. The “Client-Coachee” benefits from the collective intelligence of the group thanks to the help of their peers who take on the role of “Consultant-Coaches”. The Co-development methodology outlines 7 steps that enables the “Client-Coachee” to enrich his/her
understand of their challenge and accelerate their capacity for action. In addition, the challenge serves as a learning opportunity for the entire group, allowing the “Consultant-Coaches” to identify potential solutions that can be applied to their own professional practices.
To achieve this, Professional Co-development is based on the principle of goodwill, built around the following pillars : mutual help between participants; respect for each person’s ideas and the capacities of each person; individual and collective engagement in the process, and of course confidentiality, discretion, and authenticity in regards to what is shared.
How to integrate Co-development into your CoachingOurselves practice?
Option 1 – We suggest running a Co-development workshop alternating with a CoachingOurselves topic. For example, if your group has just done a topic on Engagement, the following month, a participant could take the role of the “Client-Coachee” to present a challenge in engaging their team. Co-development then becomes an accelerator to competency development in action!
Option 2 – Following up a training workshop to consolidate competencies
If you are leading a training workshop with more theoretical content ( ie. 1 day or a half day) you can invite participants to meet a second time to consolidate their professional practice with a Co-development workshop.
Option 3 – During a Leadership Forum or workshop with a large group
You can use this Co-development topic during a leadership forum or a workshop with a large group. We strongly suggest familiarizing each “table host” with the Co-development process so they are comfortable with the methodology and topic content.
In the words of Albert Einstein “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results!” Enjoy the Co-development process and its benefits on your personal practice and organization.
We invite you to learn more about the CoachingOurselves peer learning topic on Flash CoDev: Accelerate Goal Achievement and Consolidate Competencies
Nathalie Sabourin, M.Sc, CRHA nathalie@sabourinconsult.com
Références
- Sabourin, Lefevre (2017). Guide pratique pour implanter des groupes de codéveloppement professionnel – Collaborer et agir, mieux et autrement, lulu.com/shop.
- Laloux, F. (2017). Reinventing Organizations : la version résumée et illustrée du livre phénomène qui invite à repenser le management. France : Les éditions Diaetino.
- SABOURIN, Nathalie et LAFRANCHISE, Nathalie (2017). « Les groupes de codéveloppement professionnel comme moteur de transformations organisationnelles ». Coin de l’expert, Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés du Québec, Montréal, Québec. Repéré à http://www.portailrh.org.
