Jenny Plaister-Ten road tests the Islamic Ershad coaching framework
The coach: Jenny Plaister-Ten
The client: Samira Ben Omar, head of systems change, NW London Collaboration of CCGs, NHS
Originally from Morocco, Ben Omar moved to the UK when she was 15 years old. Our coaching sessions often included a conversation about her not liking to let other people down, which sometimes necessitated an enquiry into her self-care.
In her role within the NHS, she often finds herself entrenched in complexity that could be overwhelming to some. She is also an active volunteer.
Ben Omar appears to take it all in her stride – a demanding job, volunteering, a busy family life with a husband, also from Morocco and their three children. That said, taking time for herself, including a much-needed holiday, often became a focus in our sessions.
We explored her relationship to life in the Ershad Alignment wheel (discovery, intentions, pathways and effort). It became apparent that her propensity to give to others, which at times seemed to err towards being too giving, came from the Islamic concept of Taskheer – of doing good and helping others for free. She told me that putting things into perspective is a key facet, not only of her belief system, but as a tool for resilience. Furthermore, her faith helps her to believe that situations can only improve and get better. This might be seen as a fatalistic belief in a higher purpose that overrides self-efficacy. However, she explained that according to her faith it is important to take ownership of one’s own issues, so there is no scope for being overly fatalistic.
In focusing on the Alignment wheel and the relationship to self, she stated that her faith demanded that she work through any personal struggles, to search for meaning and to push forward. She explained this as the origin of the word Jihad (struggle or effort).
As we explored her issue, she spoke a lot about struggle, in a way that allowed me to understand the importance of challenge to her. Furthermore, she explained that Iqra (read) was the first word in the Holy Qur’an (sacred scriptures of Islam) and that it not only provided permission to challenge, to push forward – but demanded it. She explained that struggles were followed by release. This provides the balance for the Assured Self.
In exploring just two facets of the Alignment wheel, I realised that Ben Omar is the embodiment of her faith. She is kind, wise, generous – and balanced. She explained that those values (of kindness, wisdom and generosity) are just a starting point for her and she channels them through her faith. I realised that had we not dug deep down into her cultural belief system, I would not have had the understanding I now had. I felt very humble.
Ben Omar concluded our exploration by saying that the principles inherent in the Ershad framework could be applied to all humanity. “It is very important for coaches coaching people from different parts of the world to understand the cultural context there, by reading studying and experiencing. Be aware that people from Morocco are very different from people in Indonesia or people from Malaysia, despite the fact that they share a common Islamic culture,” she said.