5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stories of Changing Management Models in China, May 13, 2007
This review is from: The Power of Ren: China's Coaching Phenomenon (Paperback)
This is a worthwhile and important book on coaching, but possibly not for the reasons you might think. Read on...
Coaching is both a set of skills - like active listening, powerful inquiry, feedback, etc. - and a set of mental models - attitudes, beliefs, and values. The Power of Ren is primarily about the later - mental models of the coach. In my own coaching training in Asia I find it simple to pass along coaching skills to those who already have the mental models of a coach. Passing along the mental models is a much greater different challenge!
Master Certified Coaches Eva Wong and her associate Lawrence Leung take a very Chinese a approach to the subject. The first two-thirds of the book are case studies, or rather testimonials, of changes in clients' mental models. They are a collection of inspiring stories of business leaders from many industries in China who have had their mental models challenged and then shifted. For example, from win-lose to win-win. From authoritarian to collaborative. From "I've got the answers" to "they have answers too."
Along the way there's no description of how to achieve this, just stories. That's a Chinese pattern of explanation. You tell a story that highlights the point from one angle. Then tell another story that highlights it from another angle. Then another. And another. Until finally, the reader, by reading all the stories, "feels" the concept the author is trying to impart. Since I work throughout Asia, I know how large a shift their clients were making. I'm impressed. By about the sixth story, however, I wanted to hear "how" they were making that happen. The only explanation along the way was "through the Ren coaching program" or "through coaching." I feared this book might end up just being a book-brochure for their coaching program.
The final section, however, outlined the Nine-Dot-Leadership Model. These are nine mental models critical to leading in an empowering, coaching way. These are the mental models that the first two-thirds of the book exemplified. The nine are:
1. Passion
2. Commitment
3. Responsibility
4. Appreciation
5. Giving
6. Trust
7. Win-win
8. Enrollment
9. Possibilities
There's nothing ground-breaking about the nine, what may be unique is the authors' ability to see clients make shifts to adopt them. The how-to is missing from the book. You'll have to figure that out on your own. It's a shame, since that technique would be truly valuable for coaches working in Asia. The Power of Ren provides the reader with ample evidence that, despite many assessments to the contrary, leaders in China can successful function from empowering, win-win mental models and still be culturally appropriate. This in itself is a large contribution to the field of coaching.
The power of ren is the power of people. This book demonstrates how Chinese leaders are finding new and ancient ways of empowering people.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Eastern angle on organizational development..., April 2, 2007
This review is from: The Power of Ren: China's Coaching Phenomenon (Paperback)
In the United States, organizational development, or "coaching" courses, are fairly common. Whether they stick or make a difference is another story, but the process and concepts are generally understood to be desirable. But in a country and culture such as China, coaching is a foreign concept. The Power of Ren: China's Coaching Phenomenon by Eva Wong and Lawrence Leung offers up an approach that is becoming increasingly successful, as well as changing the ways that businesses function. This book will appeal more towards those with an Eastern philosophical bent, but it's interesting to see how coaching concepts can bridge cultural gaps.
Contents:
Part 1 - People, Not Issues: The Human Touch
Part 2 - Ren at Work: Changing Attitudes; Finding Opportunities in Crisis; From Chaos to Prosperity; Revolutionizing Retailing; From Management to Leadership; Going to the Mountain; Living out a Prophesy; Believing in Coaching; From Rags to Riches
Part 3 - The Tao of Ren - Nine-Dot Leadership: Making Dreams a Reality
Postscript by Lawrence Leung; Index
Ren is characterized by the Chinese word for "human". The character resembles a person standing sideways, and the base character makes up many of the characters related to humanity. It's the focus on the human element of business that makes Ren different than the status quo, which is sacrifice to the group direction with no questioning of leadership. The Ren At Work section of the book is made up of various stories involving Wong's efforts to turn around Chinese companies that were floundering. She faced many obstacles in her journey, including rigid dictatorial management and gender bias. But through perseverance and results, she was able to capture the hearts of the workers. This dramatic change in the work force often caused management to reassess their own styles, and the results were remarkable. Even businesses that had been successful were often not agile enough to change based on the business climate. Applying Ren coaching to the situation invariably allowed the business to reclaim and recapture that initial energy and force.
The Tao of Ren section gets into the actual coaching program and the philosophies that underlie it. The "Two Aspects" (Knowledge/Skills and Belief/Attitude) and "Three Pillars" (Why, What, and How) are based on the two brushstrokes and three terminal points of the ren character. These philosophies are then expanded into something called "9-dot Leadership", based on the old puzzle of connecting a 3x3 grid of dots with non-overlapping straight lines. This can't be done unless you think "outside the box" and extend your lines beyond the borders. These nine dots are given labels - Passion, Commitment, Responsibility, Win-win, Enrollment, Appreciation, Trust, Giving, and Possibilities. She goes on to explain how each of these traits needs to be present in order to find optimal working relationships with each other, and to lead in such a way as to guarantee success.
The layout of this book is likely to be a tough read for a Western mindset. The first half of the book is entirely focused on the "results" of Ren coaching, with little explanation as to what it is. In fact, I started to wonder if I was ever *going* to find that out. The second half of the book answers those questions, but in a far more introspective fashion than what I'm used to in a self-improvement book. It's not a "do this, this, and this" program. It's more a deeper examination of one's self and how it blends into the whole of the group culture. If this is your first exposure to organizational improvement material (and you're a typical Westerner), you'll probably struggle. But for those who have studied the subject and want a different cultural angle, it provides a unique look.
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