ABSTRACT

This chapter describes a number of normative forces which can be seen to be at work in organisations. They represent working assumptions, biases and orientations which powerfully shape how individuals perceive the world, feel and think. Many organisation theorists have commented on the tendency in organisations to privilege the rational. It describes that individualism gives rise to cultures in which thoughts and perspectives are differentiated and reduced often to positions or 'things' in a process known as reification. The chapter provides ways in which the dominant norms can find their way into the coaching conversation and how coaches might 'hint' at other possibilities. It presents some of the ways in which the dominant norms and patterns of thought can reveal themselves in the coaching relationship. The chapter details the ways in which coaches might begin to experiment with allowing the emergent into their work and client interactions.