Sherene Zolno - Align: A Coach’s Guide

This book is a meaningful and important contribution to the work of coaches. Sherene has provided a definitive roadmap that will guide me going for ward.

Dave Ri ddle

Randolph Stanton Leadership Consul ting

This important book adds Sherene Zolnos unique voice to those of our most respected mentors those who share the knowledge -b ase of master coaches. What shes taught me is integral to who I have become as a coach, leader and g uide.

Everett Mars hall

Forest, TLC

A magical must read for any coach from any field who is dedicated to taking their coaching practice to the next l evel.

Jim H aley

Signature Impact Coac hing

Filled with amazing stories, insights, and practical applications Sherene generously shares thirty years of knowledge and experience with us. Read this book clo sely!

Larry Ra nsom

The Synergy Net work

The theories, models and ideas Sherenes put together are nothing short of brilliant! Theyre taking me to a new level of understan ding.

Sonja P rice

Dynamo Car eers

ALIGN

A COACHS GUIDE

Sherene Zolno

Copyright 2021 Sherene Zolno.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,
graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by
any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher
make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and
in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Archway Publishing

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Bloomington, IN 47403

www.archwaypublishing.com

844-669-3957

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in
this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views
expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views
of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,
and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6657-0051-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6657-0052-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020925141

Archway Publishing rev. date: 01/23/2021

To my colleagues, teachers, students and clients who have stretched and move d me.

To my sister Rose who is always ready to li sten.

And to Rick, my Lief. You are my forever inspira tion.

We are participants in a vast communion of being, and if we open ourselves to its guidance, we can learn anew how to live in this great and gracious community of t ruth.

Parker Pa lmer

Dedicated to you

I didnt think I would write a book. I adamantly said I wouldnt. I changed my mind.

I wrote this book because I believe that you, who have responded to the calling of being a coach, deserve to have access to whatever knowledge I have acquired in my more than 40 years in this field, as a coach, consultant, researcher, author, educator, mentor, trainer and organization development professional. You are the reason why I have dedicated this past year to writing this book.

If you are like my other coaching colleagues, I know that you are highly principled. You are a deep vessel for compassion. I have seen, heard about and felt the results of your dedication, as I have experienced my own. Like me, you are hardworking and committed to making the world a better place to live in. You are contributing your knowledge and wisdom to building a better, more fruitful and productive life at work, and in homes and communities around the world. It seems that together we are on a sacred mission to improve the world aroun d us.

I am grateful that being an educator as well as a coach has allowed me to inspire others. I am grateful to have met students, other coaches and colleagues, and yes, my family and my clients as well, who inspire me. As one coach, my friend, Dave, said to me recently, Coaching for me is more than being a facilitator or working with an executive team. Coaching is an invitation into the very personal world of another human bein g.

He reminded me that our work as coaches includes sitting in the fire with our clients, holding the space for hope and for a better life for them (and for ourselves as well). As a result of our conversations, we want our clients to rise like a phoenix from the fire that is their life, to journey from darkness to light, as they align their world with the positive possibilities we will discover in our work together. And I find that as my clients can be vulnerable, so can I. And, like the great coaches I have met, I also strive to be present for whatever comes, be it tears of pain or tears of joy, theirs, and mine.

I have found it exciting, though, to see that our field has advanced to the forefront of human development. In our coaching we are free to blend findings from neuroscience, positive psychology, action research, organizational theory, and even ancient wisdom traditions. We add this to our own insights and intuition to create new approaches to human gr owth.

This book, ALIGN, a Coachs Guide , is intended to add to your coaching toolbox a meaningful set of ideas and models that work. I also, however, hope to ignite a renewed commitment to doing deep coaching with clients and client systems the kind of coaching that grows a sense of self -w orth , hope and capability in our clients and the people they touch. This is what will make a difference in the quality of their lives. And ours.

That, to me, means supporting others to align their lives with their vision doing whole work, applying a new form of coaching intelligence. I call this approach WS IQ , Whole System Intelligence. I have found that WS IQ , introduced here and in the training programs I have held for over twenty -f ive years to certify coaches around the world, is the path Ive traveled leading to system alignment and transforma tion.

You are most welcome to travel it wit h me.

CONTENTS

A Coachs G uide

Introduction and Over view

Introduction to ALIGN, a Coachs G uide

Bringing the dream of the future into the present. Coaching Whole Sys tems.

In off -s ites and team meetings all over the world where vision and mission conversations are being held nearly every day (somewhere!), we may well wonder why leaders, with their numerous consultants and coaches, havent yet perfected the process for how to align what they are doing in their enterprises with what they need to be doing to get what they want. Instead, misalignments occur at every level and in all sorts of processes, and, most disheartening of all, between what people envision they could be when at their best, in fact yearn for and dream of, and their day - t o -d ay work - l ife .

So whats the hol d -u p ?

Psychologists point out five powerful wants in pe ople:

People want to do the right t hing.

People want to find better ways of doing th ings.

People want to achieve things of which they can be p roud.

People want to belong to a group that achieves the extraordi nary.

And they want to earn respect and recognition for who they are and for what they ach ieve.

These wants are my wants. They are what led me to join the international community of coaches and consultants. As a coach I have sought to collaborate with clients to create environments that allow human needs to be met, that allow them to align their lives with their dreams. I have learned that we can only do that well by doing whole work, work that is broad and deep and considers whats going on in the whole system. Whole System Intelligence, or WS IQ , Whole Field Alignment, or WFA , and the ALIGN Coaching process, or LEAD , were developed to guide coaches in that work.