This view has radical implications for all aspects of life: family, social, political, and organizational (Wollants 2007). One of the most extreme examples is when a client, at the end of the coaching process, makes a decision to leave the organization he is employed in (Čanić 2013).
Figure and Ground
The classic premise in a Gestalt is that a need organizes our field of perception. When we are hungry, we only see potential food. A mother, who takes a walk with the baby in a stroller for the first time and encounters the stairs in front of the house, will be surprised to learn that she hasn’t noticed the same stairs before (Čanić, 2013).
In Gestalt psychology the figure represents the subject of our interest, influenced by our needs, towards which we direct our attention and consciousness at a given time. To form a figure means to become interested in a particular thing and to attach meaning to the experience (Nevis 1987).
Gestalt coaching is based on working with the material the client himself brings to the process, material that is important to him. The theme develops from the process of sharpening this material into a specific figure.
Let’s take an example of a client who enters the coaching with the goal of achieving higher visibility inside her organization. During the coaching she describes many examples of her company peers who are receiving praise and other forms of rewards. The feeling of inadequate organizational visibility sharpens as a figure and becomes the coaching theme. At the end of the coaching process, after the client has successfully improved her visibility, she stops noticing the same thing – the figure becomes ground.
Background includes everything that is not a figure in a certain point of time. Each element has the potential to become a figure. Constant changes between the figure and the ground constitute the basis of our experience and our perception of the environment.
If we look more broadly, the background includes the way we see the world and operate in it. It represents our beliefs and way of thinking. Thus, the background affects our approach to creating new figures (Bluckert 2006). For example, if a person feels insecure in her professional abilities, he or she may fail to notice an interesting project opportunity and ask the boss to engage in it (Čanić 2013).
Therefore the process of learning in the coaching process can happen on two levels: through assisting a client in overcoming current problems (figures) and through his/her overall development as an individual (background) (Bluckert 2006). For example, the client can present a problem with a »disobedient« associate who refuses to perform certain tasks as a theme or a figure. At the same time, in the background, he can realize that his problem is connected to under-developed influencing skills (Čanić 2013).
Awareness and Change
As we have seen in the previous paragraphs, the Gestalt approach focuses on awareness, on working in the present and on using what is available »here and now«. Being aware is not just thinking or feeling, but even more than the sum of these factors: it represents a body of knowledge related to the situation (Wollants 2007).
Gestalt has a unique view of the concepts of awareness and behavioural change. Gestalt practitioners believe that there is a direct relationship between the degree of awareness and the potential for new choices of behaviour (Simon 2009). According to Beisser’s (1970) paradoxical theory of change, change occurs when someone becomes what he truly is and not when he tries to become what he is not.
The paradoxical theory of change is the key to development and learning in the process of coaching. Basic coaching interventions clearly focus on what already exists in the present for the client, in his current situation, which, paradoxically, results in an experiential shift toward something new.
Believing in the paradoxical theory of change, the coach shows respect for the client in a way that she supports the client in finding his own answers to questions about what he wants and how to get it. Therefore, the task of the coach is through timely interventions, such as questioning, observation, experiment or other, to expand the field of the client’s awareness and to allow him to open a new perspective on a topic that he has brought into the process, or a topic that has been developed, crystallized, as the figure during the process.
For many people, especially in the fast business environment, the paradoxical theory of change represents a radical approach, because it seems faster and easier to impose one’s arguments and the way of seeing things. In the organizational environment there is often a tendency to achieve fast solutions and mobilize energy as quickly as possible in order to achieve the goal. However, if this mobilization occurs too fast, it leads to behaviours that are not truly accepted by the client or results in resisting acting in a certain way. For example, during the process of implementing a new system in a company, employees are often unwilling to accept the new system, which usually causes frustration for their leaders. A more efficient approach would be to ensure enough time for the process in order for the employees to become aware of the advantages and disadvantages of the existing system and only then to familiarize themselves with the new system.
Presence
Presence in coaching is not neutral, it implies the coache’s full presence in the »here and now« work, but also the desire of the coach for honest and authentic encounter with the client (Radionov 2008). In opposed to advising a client, the coach puts greater emphasis on the dialogue with the purpose to enlighten the client’s current situation. In accordance with the paradoxical theory of change, this approach will lead to the experiential shift toward a creative solution to the existing problem(s).
The presence of the coach is prerequisite for establishing trust between him and the client and the implementation of meaningful interventions. Many times it includes the ability to stay in silence. Presence and trust create a psychologically safe space in which the client can just be instead of having to do something.
In Gestalt coaching the coach uses himself as instrument to stimulate the client’s awareness and contact through interaction and dialogue. Next to asking questions, which represents an universal tool for all coaching practitioners, Gestalt practitioners add some other elements to the coaching dialogue, such as their observations of the client as well as their own experiences when appropriate. For example, the coach may say to the client, »You seem quite angry when talking about your boss«, or, »I feel excited hearing you talking about your new assignment«.
Each coach is present in the coaching situation in a unique way, in accordance with his personal values and competencies. However, certain skills, competencies and values of the coach are particularly helpful for enhancing the client’s change and development. Most of these values and competencies are related to enhancing awareness, improving articulation and communication of the experience, managing the energy in the system and completing the experience (Nevis, 1987).
An important element of presence is the degree of integration between what the coach says and how the coach acts and behaves. The coach as a person should be consistent and congruent. In this case, the clients recognize the high degree of integration, feel interested, curious and engaged for the work, so the beneficial effects of coaching typically occur (Bluckert 2006).
Contact
Our experience takes place at the contact boundary. Contact boundary is a psychological place of energy, material and information exchange that can be found inside or outside the body (Dreitzel 2010). For example, we can be in contact with our headache or in contact with another person during deep and inspiring conversation regarding an ongoing project.
How does contact happen? To put it very simply,
