Problems and Values

This article highlights coaching from a narrative and poststructuralist perspective. The article argues that problems are the starting point for any concept and every story – that each term starts with a problem. Issues and events must be named and inserted into a story to make meaning before they can be handled. The article argues that in coaching and leadership conversation about hopes, dreams and visions out of the blue sky without a foundation in the living experiences of life and in the problems and their effects one wishes to fight or to handle is meaningless and “hot air”. Problems are something that the protagonist in a narrative meets on his way and bumps with. Problems arise when something unexpected or unforeseen happens. When a problem arises, a breach will occur. This is fundamental in narrative theory. But whenever there is a problem there is also a value, something preferred. In narrative coaching, the protagonist comes closer to his values and skills through stories of preferred experiences. The person’s joy and empowerment are strengthened by sealing the contact with preferred experiences, values and skills. This minimizes the power of the problem over the person. It is the coach’s task in cooperation with the coached to let the preferred experiences and values guide the coaching. It does not make sense to talk about “solutions” in narrative coaching before “thicker” stories about the preferred life are told. The concept and the metaphor of solution itself is problematic as it relates to mathematics and correct answers. Planning and “solutions” require a very high degree of conceptualization and sophisticated narrative. There are no solutions - only experiments when we are dealing with social relations. It makes sense to talk about solutions in the production, in the technical world, not in the never finished social world, where every action initiates a new beginning. The article contains some anonymous examples and vignettes that illustrate some of the theoretical and methodological points.

本文聚焦叙事式教练辅导（narrative coaching）与后结构主义（poststructuralist）视角下的教练辅导实践。本文核心论点为：问题是一切概念与叙事的起点——每一个术语的诞生均源于某一问题。问题与事件需先被命名并融入叙事以赋予其意义，方能得到有效处理。本文同时指出，在教练辅导与领导力对话中，脱离现实生活体验、未锚定于个体欲应对或处理的问题及其影响，空谈希望、梦想与愿景的行为，无异于空洞无物的"空话"。叙事中的问题，实为受辅导者在人生路径中遭遇并直面的事件。当意外或不可预见之事发生时，问题便随之产生。问题出现之际，便会产生叙事断裂，这是叙事理论的核心要义。但但凡存在问题，便必然伴随与之对应的、个体所向往的价值诉求。在叙事式教练辅导中，受辅导者可通过回溯向往的体验经历，逐步明晰自身的价值取向与能力禀赋。通过强化与向往体验、价值取向及能力禀赋的联结，受辅导者的愉悦感与赋能体验均可得到增强，此举可削弱问题对受辅导者的支配力。教练需与受辅导者协作，以向往的体验与价值为导向开展教练辅导工作，此乃教练的核心职责之一。在尚未讲述有关理想生活的厚重叙事（thicker stories）之前，叙事式教练辅导中谈论"解决方案"并无实际意义。"解决方案"这一概念与隐喻本身便存在争议，因其关联着数学语境下的"正确答案"逻辑。规划与"解决方案"的提出，均需要高度的概念化能力与精巧的叙事建构。当我们处理社会关系议题时，并无所谓"解决方案"，唯有持续的尝试与实践。"解决方案"的提法仅适用于生产领域与技术世界，而非永无终结的社会世界——在社会世界中，每一次行动都会开启全新的开端。本文还收录了若干匿名案例与短篇叙事案例（vignettes），用以阐释部分理论与方法论要点。