ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of the Cross-Cultural Kaleidoscope model, a systems approach to coaching practice and the three stages of the model. The Cross-Cultural Kaleidoscope model was originally designed as part of a Master's degree in Coaching and Mentoring Practice. The "internal" influences of culture were largely expressed as a form of self-identity and represented by the "cultural self". As such, the inner part of the kaleidoscope represented the thoughts, feelings, and emotions held by individuals about their own cultural identity. A complex adaptive system (CAS) has a large number of interactive and interdependent elements forming a complex whole: systems within systems. The human body is a good example of a CAS— one change in the system means that the other parts adapt. Coaching has been likened to the activity of searching for patterns. Viewed in this way, the process of identifying and feeding back behavioural and thinking patterns can be invaluable in the face of complexity.
