To arm or disarm … making the right Choice?
Part 3 of 7 - Create & Choice
Client - Clarify - Create - Change - Confirm - Continue - Close
In a week when our eyes have been on Korea for all the right reasons as we enjoyed the Winter Olympics, we have witnessed yet another tragic school shooting in the USA. And I am dumbfounded, no doubt like most of us, by the latest policy proposal by Donald Trump.
In reaction to the tragic deaths of 17 students at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, rather than join the debate regarding gun controls, Mr Trump’s creative solution is to give out more guns. And put them inside the very schools seeking protection from firearms?
As if teachers don’t have enough to deal with, they will be expected to act as security guards and if necessary ‘take down’ any student attackers. Surely this takes ‘safe-guarding’ to a whole new and unacceptable level?
We, of course understand some of the political reasoning behind this, the National Rifle Association (NRA) are one of the major sponsors of Mr Trump’s Republican Party and if one thing is more sacred than the ‘stars and stripes’, ‘national anthem’ and ‘apple pie’ in the USA it is the right to bear arms. As set-out in the second amendment established in 1791. A time when slavery remained at the core of southern states economies and women were not recognised as legal entities, so had no financial rights. Clearly all three remain equally relevant today in our enlightened society?
The irony is not lost on me that Mr Trump is intent on nuclear disarmament for North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, whilst at the same time he is advocating the arming of more of his own citizens. It is a startling statistic that between 2012 and 2017 the USA recorded 74,729 gun related homicides. This is almost exactly double the 36,574 recorded deaths of US citizens during the Korean war, spanning the same six-year period. Albeit with no peace treaty ever being agreed, a war that has not technically ended so continues to this day.
If we were coaching Mr Trump, and given the rate he is losing advisors who knows we could have the opportunity soon, how does his creative decision-making measure up from a 7Cs perspective?
The ‘Create’ phase of the 7Cs is about exploring all the potential courses of action and helping the client identify the most appropriate to them and their circumstances. So, if we assume we have taken Mr Trump through the ‘Create’ model to Challenge, Randomise, Explore, Test and Evaluate all the potential solutions:
C R E A T E
? Mike Cope
We can only speculate on the ‘Create’ process that resulted in Mr Trump selecting the option of arming teachers. But hopefully as experienced coaches we could have opened up some additional avenues to explore? We can however, evaluate and challenge the suitability of his selected solution using the six-gates of the ‘Choice’ model which we use to ensure the proposed action is both practical and achievable:
C H O I C E
? Mike Cope
Gate 1 Control – does the client have the power to deliver the desired outcome?
Yes, as President and support of the Senate, no doubt legislation can be pushed through.
Gate 2 Hunger – does the client have the desire to make this happen?
Yes, given Mr Trump’s position and ego, no doubt he will have the desire to see his orders implemented.
Gate 3 Options – has the client considered multiple options?
Questionable, without intimate knowledge of the internal processes of The White House.
Gate 4 Internalisation – is the client taking this action because they believe it is the right thing to do and not due to external pressure?.
Arguably no, pressure from the NRA must be considered as an influencing factor.
Gate 5 Consequences – is the client aware of all the consequences of their chosen action?
Again, arguably no, as an untried process, we have no way of understanding the unintended consequences of arming teachers.
Gate 6 End Game – will the pathway take the client closer to their end-game or desired outcome?
No, surely the end game is to have no guns in schools?
So, in our virtual reality world acting as coach to the world’s most powerful man, our advice would have to be to revisit the ‘Create’ stage of the 7Cs? A cycle perhaps that may require some repetition? And certainly tenacity.
Thankfully our coaching assignments are never a case of ‘life or death’ and our clients perhaps more open to the 7Cs coaching approach?
For more details of the 7Cs Coaching framework visit www.7Cs .co.uk.
Part 3 of 7
Client - Clarify - Create - Change - Confirm - Continue - Close
Duncan Johnston
Lead Consultant
7Cs ACTion
Tel: 07774 746959
E-mail: [email protected]