We are What we Do. Or Not?Teaching and Coaching Practices and Tools in

Addressing New Forms of

Poverty and Injustice.Dr. Kenneth Mias

Dr. Giovanna CzanderDominican College of Blauvelt, NY

A New Form of Poverty and Injustice

- 44% of graduates had jobs that didn’t require a college degree (2012)

- Our culture leads us to identify with our careers

Who are we Becoming?(The Subjective Dimension of Work)

Watch your thoughtsthey become words.Watch your words

they become actions.Watch your actionsthey become habits.Watch your habits

they become character.Watch your character

It becomes your destiny.

“Wojtvla was enormously interested in another person … he tried to accompany someone in their problems … he was open to revealing the humanity of another.”

George Weigel, The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II – The Victory of Freedom, The Last Years, the Legacy,

Focus on The Whole Person

“ … Wojtyla never pressed … the stress was always on personal responsibility – you can decide because you are capable of knowing the truth.”

”…. It was all a matter of “meeting someone wisely” ……”

Teaching and Advising Tools

• The Journey

• Culture Model

• Reflection

Tool 1 - The Journey

Labyrinth or Maze?

What am I WORKING

for ?(WORK)

What am I RESTING for? (LEISURE)

What am I LIVING for?

(INTEGRATION)

Job(Getting

)

Amusement(Escape)

Gratification(Having)

Career(Taking)

Function(Using)

Achievement(Doing)

Vocation(Giving)

Contemplation(Receiving)

Integrity(Being)

Tool 2 - Beyond Career to Calling*

* Dr. Michael Naughton - Director, John A. Ryan Institute at Univ. of St. Thomas

Work as

CareerPsychological Rewards (intrinsic motivations): self esteem,

creativity, autonomous; personally satisfying (inherent values of work)

Productivity, Control and Competence Oriented

Career as a “vehicle” - to get from here to there – the next step

Leisure as FunctionRest is justified “to sharpen the saw” in order to be more

productive

Sunday Afternoon Neurosis versus The Sabbath (the value of real rest)

Integration as AchievementIdentity focused on achievements and competition

Careerism: Doing over Being

Work as Vocation“Vocare” – to “call”; a calling to give (transcendent

motives):

To Be Human (Being)

To a State in Life (Belonging)

To a Particular Way of Work (Doing)

Work as Giving of OurselvesOur gifts as reflected in a different set of motives:

From “Utility Maximizers” to Distributors of Justice

From “Human Resources or Capital” to Human Dignity

From Private Wealth to Common Goods

Catholic Social Principles at Work

Leisure as

ContemplationWe cannot give what we do not have, or have not

received.

An act of “Receivement” based on habits of:

Solitude; Celebration; Service.

Not escape from the world, but to see it as it is.

Integration as IntegrityIntegritas — to be whole, complete, unimpaired, not just

balanced, but centered

Different roles in life but the same person!

Level 5 Leadership – Great Resolve & Humility

Identity, Meaning, Purpose

Work as Vocation and Leisure as Contemplation provides the capacity for

Integration!

The Journey: Means versus Ends

Tool 3 - Model of Culture*

Assumptions & Beliefs

Values

Behaviors

Norms

Artifacts

Invisible

Visible

* Adapted from the work of Dr. Edgar Schein – Prof. Emeritus at M.I.T. Sloan.

Model of Culture

Assumptions & Beliefs

Values

Behaviors

Norms

Artifacts

Why?Because

Educating the Whole Person

Teaching Coaching

Journey

Tool 3 - Reflection

Questions

What’s in it for me?

PRESENT MOMENT

PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

INTERACTIONS

Coaching PracticesThe Framework Components:• The Whole Person• The Journey • Job-Career-Vocation Framework • Culture Model

The Practical Components:• Transcripts; Resumes; Accomplishments• Psychological Surveys: Big Five; MBTI• Work-related Skills: Time Management; Setting

Priorities; Communication; Stress Management• Decision Making and Discernment Skills• Story Telling and Reflection Skills

In Summary:

Meeting the whole person where they are

Accompanying them along their journey

Rising above the objective injustices

Discovery, Searching, Path-finding

Meaning, Purpose, Mission, Identity

“God created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission—I never may know it fully in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow, I am necessary to His purposes…I am a link in a chain, a bond of

connection between persons. He has not created me for naught” - John Henry Newman

“The Glory of God is a Human Being Fully Alive”

– St. Iraeneus of Lyon

“If you are what you should be, you will set the whole

world ablaze!” - St. Catherine of Siena, Doctor

of the Church