Power Tool: Shakti Ghosal Vision Vs. Delusion

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Power Tool Assessment

Name: Shakti GhosalDate: 1st May 2012

Student ID: N. A.Email: [email protected]

Complete your Power Tool in the space below and then email as anattachment to [email protected]

My Power Tool Vision vs. Delusion

By Shakti GhosalCPCP Student

Success is such an empowering word. We think of it and we think of. Happiness.Self

esteem.Superiority.. facets which enthuse and inspire us forward. Success is anaspect by which the world judges us by.

But there is also the other paradigm of success relating to increased self awareness and

development. This aspect is exemplified by Mahatma Gandhi when he said, I must first

be the change that I want to see in the world. Success thus gets linked, not to theexternal world, but to an inner compass, an inside out initiative.

The coaching process is designed to support the client to achieve success as desired by

him. As coaches, we need to empower the client in this regard. Which brings up Vision

and Delusion, two aspects of the human mind which play a critical role in success.
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We may see Vision as an empowering, higher vibration state versus Delusion as

disempowering and something to be shed. So as vision becomes that which drives the

client supported by reasoning, delusion is that which immerses him in randomness andaway from his goals. We tend to associate Success with vision and not with delusion.

In the context of Coaching and the use of Vision-Delusion polarity as a power tool, theabove perception may prove to be simplistic. What we perceive as Vision may not always

empower. History shows that Hitler had a clear vision, supported by his logic and reason,

and the singleness of purpose to establish the Third Reich. Yet today we know that hisvision was deluded with complete disconnect with resources and abilities to achieve.

The Importance of Vision

. What really is a vision and how is it associated with our clients success? Simply put,

vision is a picture that the client holds regarding himself, his life or his work. A clear

vision helps the client to focus and create action steps to make the envisioned future come

true. In the absence of such a vision, our client may lack clarity about what he wants to beor do in life, leading to a loss of inspiration to move forward.

As coaches, helping to create a vision can become one of our powerful tools to open up

the clients mind to increased possibilities for a bigger future. As we support our client to

develop a strong vision, it allows him to connect to his true passion and potential as alsoretain his faith in the path chosen in the face of challenges.

Leadership Vision

A vision becomes an essential element in a leaders toolbox. It is the goal on which the

leader focuses on using his resources and energy; it translates to a force within, driving

him into action. It allows the business leader better ability to face business challenges,interim failures and negative feedbacks. A vision owned by the leader and suitablydisseminated throughout the organisation, can become the glue that holds together and

motivates all employees to move towards a common goal.

Vision- Coaching process and Client questions

To support the client determine his vision, we need to help create the awareness of whohe is right now. This would need to include habits, attitudes, and points of view. In the

organisational context, this would translate to a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity

and Threat) analysis.

Some important self discovery questions are:

1) Could you name three things which give your life purpose and meaning?

2) What kind of role or responsibility do you enjoy and feel good at?

3) What has your life experiences told you about your destiny?

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4) How would a close friend describe what you are like?

5) What are your key strengths? How about weaknesses?

Who (What) does the client want to be?

The clients vision should include who / what he/ the organisation would like to be. Thedestination of the clients vision should encompass aspects relating to his emotional,

intellectual and economic aspirations

Coaching questions:

1) Specifically how would you like to picture your life/ organisation going forward?

2) What areas do you see yourself passionate about in the future?

3) What kind of goals would you set to reach your vision?

4) What experiences do you want to have in your lifetime?

5) Imagine yourself at the end of your life looking back. Is there a dream in you that

you would deeply regret if you never took the risk to go for?

How to support the client to build a Vision?

As coaches, we may have situations when the client finds it difficult to build a vision,even when he wants to. We need to encourage him to review past history to be able to

notice past changes and thereby determine what changes he would like to do now. We

can also support the client to create strong self beliefs towards the big vision.

Coaching questions:

1) If you had unlimited resources and could not fail, what would you set out to do?

2) If you dreamed in terms of your potential instead of your current capabilities,

how would it change your dream?

3) What would you lose if you just stay safe here and do not chase your dreams?

4) What have you done in the past thats been truly satisfying? How could you do

more of that?

5) What do you like / dislike about your current situation? What could you do that

would maximize the likes and minimise the dislikes?

What is Delusion?

The Oxford dictionary defines delusion as a false belief or opinion. Wikipedia clarifies

this further to say that a delusion is a belief held with strong conviction despite evidenceto the contrary. It therefore needs to be differentiated from a belief based on incomplete

information or perception. While delusion may sometimes be linked to a pathological


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issue, it also carries the other significance ofAvidya in Sanskritwhich means unlearned

or unwise.

How does Delusion manifest?

Now let us review some situations to understand how delusion may work.

My daughter has this linkage to success. She needs to wear an old watch with a jadedpink band whenever she is writing examinations. Over the years, she has developed this

superstitious behaviour based on a reinforced belief that wearing this watch has

something to do with her succeeding. The thinking is, I wore this watch. I succeeded.My success is because I wore the watch. The watch creates a delusion in my daughter of

self confidence and purpose; its absence leads to nervousness and lack of focus.

My work colleague has this high belief in his own capability. Every time he jumps into a

fresh project, he deludes himself to over-estimate his own contribution and gives no

credence to the positive role of other people or circumstances. So while he gets accoladedas an achiever, I notice him getting increasingly delusional about his own power andability to control events. I also see him getting disconnected from the requirements of

balanced planning, resource allocation and inter-personnel skills.

When a business associate was proposing a new customer relationship management

process, I noticed an instinctive resistance building up within me. My reaction was to

maintain the status quo. I countered, Our prevailing processes have worked fine in thepast so why change? Later when I thought about my reaction which seemed to be a

refusal to move with change, I realised that I was reacting that way since I had become

trapped in my own success delusion.

Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, one of todays leadership thinkers, first brought in the concept

of Success Delusion and showed how it can be so hard for successful people to change.

I behave this way. I am successful. Therefore, I must be successful because I behave thisway. In a separate study titled Delusions of Success: How Optimism undermines

Executives decisions, two distinguished scholars, Dan Lovallo of the University of New

South Wales and Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman of Princeton University, showed thatall too frequently, corporate executives suffer from delusion due to a combination of

cognitive biases and over optimism regarding success of projects without paying much

heed to environmental aspects. These lead to major business initiatives failing.

Coaching aspect of Delusion.

Thus contrary to popular perception, delusions can and do play an important role in theclients success. Here delusion may be perceived as empowering. What needs to be

determined here is how sustainable the clients forward movement is based on the

empowered delusion. But as seen above, delusion about success can make the clientsuperstitious or over-optimistic or both, a disempowering state. In all cases, delusion




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stems from the clients unrealistic beliefs which are divorced from his true competences,

resources and circumstances. The client tries to hold onto these beliefs even when there is

evidence to the contrary. Clearly the sustainability of delusion supported initial successwould be limited and the client would perforce stall.

As coaches, it is necessary to determine whether the client is being visionary ordelusional. Or is he carrying a mix of vision and delusion? This determination would

become important as we develop a plan to support him and ensure sustainable success.

Differentiating between clients with Vision and Delusion.

A client with vision holds the ability to take an honest look at his vision and be willing to

discuss whether it is realistic in terms of competences and opportunities available. Theclient remains open to have this validated by the coach as he discusses options. He could

be supported to develop goals and action plan for his vision path. In the organisational

context, a visionary leader possesses a sense of proportion, knowledge of resources

available, and willingness to evaluate success.

A client with delusion may be equally knowledgeable, dedicated and positive minded.But his beliefs might get in the way of his ability to dispassionately judge a situation. At

the initial stage, he may seem an individual, full of enthusiasm and positivity. But as we

continue with coaching, we might discover that he possesses an elevated opinion ofhimself and his skills, overestimates his own contribution and seems to be stuck with his

own success agenda. In an organisational context, he might exaggerate his projects

contribution by discounting real and hidden costs.

Dealing with Delusion: Coaching process and client questions.

We need to be conscious that clients may be carrying aspects of delusion relating to theirown success and movement agenda. This could be a result of their life experiences and

underlying beliefs. Since delusion might support heightened optimism and productivity

for initial periods, our coaching challenge remains to explore how the client may takeadvantage of this as we support him to shift to a more sustainable and empowering

vision. This support becomes particularly critical whenever we see the client moving on a

path of over-commitment or that which is not sustainable. As coaches, we need to ask the

client to review the available competences, resources and other support structure andanalyse whether these are sufficient to achieve the goal. We also encourage the client to

review options available. Aspects of delusion would surface if we notice the client

becoming overly defensive about his plan and not willing to discuss details.

Coaching questions:

1) How does this behaviour help you to achieve results? What else could you do if that

does not happen?

2) How do you associate your path with your success in the past? Could there have

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3) What could be various beliefs that have been controlling your life and work in the

past? What makes you come to that conclusion?

4) Just imagine that in a team meeting, some of your colleagues voice opposition toyour method? What could be the possible reasons for them to oppose? How could

you accept such opposing views?

5) What could be the possibility of your over-committing in your plan? On a scale of 1to 10, how would you rate your chance of success? In case your estimate goes

wrong, how would you go forward?

6) If some of the goals were to change, how would you handle that?

In conclusion.

It appears that both delusion and vision might play a role in our clients success. Ifdelusion panders to his emotions, makes him feel optimistic and helps him to aim higher

in the short term, vision allows the client to dream the future and inspires action on a

more concrete and sustainable basis. As coaches, we need to be aware that success

movement might commence as a product of both sides of the Vision- Delusion polarity.However the extent of success our client ultimately achieves depends on the mix of

vision and delusion he is carrying as well as his ability to shift to a more empoweredspace anchored to ground realities. We need to remain conscious of this as we guide the

process and support the client to make the shift.

Reference:

1) Success Delusion: Marshall Goldsmith library. www.marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com

2) Delusions of Success: How Optimism Undermines Executives' Decisions

By Dan Lovallo & Daniel Kahneman,Harvard Business Review, Jul 01, 2003.




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http://www.marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com/http://www.marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com/

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Power Tool: Shakti Ghosal Vision Vs. Delusion