I begyndelsen var problemet

Denne artikel belyser coaching fra et narrativt og poststruktualistisk perspektiv. Artiklen argumenterer for, at problemer er udgangspunkt for ethvert begreb - at hver begreb starter med et problem. Problemer og begivenheder skal navngives og sættes ind i en fortælling, før de kan håndteres. Artiklen argumenterer mod, at der i coaching og ledelse tales om håb, drømme og visioner i den blå luft uden et fundament i det levede livs foretrukne erfaringer og de problemer og deres effekter, man ønsker at bekæmpe eller at håndtere. Problemer er noget, som hovedpersonen, protagonisten, i en fortælling møder på sin vej og bøvler med. Når et problem dukker op, sker der et brud på det forventede. Dette er fundamental narrativitetsteori. I narrativ coaching kommer hovedpersonen tættere på sine værdier og færdigheder gennem fortællinger om foretrukne erfaringer. Personens glæde og handlekraft bliver styrket gennem at tætne kontakten til foretrukne erfaringer, værdier og færdigheder. Dermed opløses problemets magt over personen. Det er coachens opgave i samarbejde med den coachede at lade de foretrukne erfaringer og værdier guide coachingen. Det giver ikke mening at tale om "løsninger" i narrativ coaching førend der er fortalt "tykkere" historier om det foretrukne liv. Selve løsningsmetaforen er problematisk, da den relaterer sig til matematikken. Planlægning og "løsninger" kræver en meget høj grad af begrebsdannelse og sofistikeret fortælling. Der eksisterer ingen løsninger - kun eksperimenter. Artiklen indeholder en række anonymiserede eksempler og vignetter, som skal illustrere nogle af de teoretiske og metodiske pointer.

Problems and Values

This article highlights coaching from a narrative and poststructuralist perspective. The article argues that problems are the starting point for any concept and every story – that each term starts with a problem. Issuesand events must be named and inserted into a story to make meaning before they can be handled. The article argues that in coaching and leadership conversation about hopes, dreams and visions out of the blue sky withouta foundation in the living experiences of life and in the problems and their effects one wishes to fight or to handle is meaningless and “hot air”.Problems are something that the protagonist in a narrative meets on his way and bumps with. Problems arise when something unexpected or unforeseen happens. When a problem arises, a breach will occur. Thisis fundamental in narrative theory. But whenever there is a problem there is also a value, something preferred. In narrative coaching, the protagonist comes closer to his values and skills through stories of preferredexperiences.The person’s joy and empowerment are strengthened by sealing the contact with preferred experiences, values and skills. This minimizes the power of the problem over the person.It is the coach’s task in cooperation with the coached to let the preferred experiences and values guide the coaching. It does not make sense to talk about “solutions” in narrative coaching before “thicker” stories aboutthe preferred life are told. The concept and the metaphor of solution itself is problematic as it relates to mathematics and correct answers. Planning and “solutions” require a very high degree of conceptualization andsophisticated narrative. There are no solutions - only experiments when we are dealing with social relations. It makes sense to talk about solutions in the production, in the technical world, not in the never finished socialworld, where every action initiates a new beginning. The article contains some anonymous examples and vignettes that illustrate some of the theoretical and methodological points

Adsorption of butanol and water vapors in silicalite-1 films with a low defect density

Pure silica zeolites are potentially hydrophobic and have therefore been considered to be interesting candidates for separating alcohols, e.g., 1-butanol, from water. Zeolites are traditionally synthesized at high pH, leading to the formation of intracrystalline defects in the form of silanol defects in the framework. These silanol groups introduce polar adsorption sites into the framework, potentially reducing the adsorption selectivity toward alcohols in alcohol/water mixtures. In contrast, zeolites prepared at neutral pH using the fluoride route contain significantly fewer defects. Such crystals should show a much higher butanol/water selectivity than crystals prepared in traditional hydroxide (OH–) media. Moreover, silanol groups are present at the external surface of the zeolite crystals; therefore, minimizing the external surface of the studied adsorbent is important. In this work, we determine adsorption isotherms of 1-butanol and water in silicalite-1 films prepared in a fluoride (F–) medium using in situ attenuated total reflectance–Fourier transform infrared (ATR–FTIR) spectroscopy. This film was composed of well intergrown, plate-shaped b-oriented crystals, resulting in a low external area. Single-component adsorption isotherms of 1-butanol and water were determined in the temperature range of 35–80 °C. The 1-butanol isotherms were typical for an adsorbate showing a high affinity for a microporous material and a large increase in the amount adsorbed at low partial pressures of 1-butanol. The Langmuir–Freundlich model was successfully fitted to the 1-butanol isotherms, and the heat of adsorption was determined. Water showed a very low affinity for the adsorbent, and the amounts adsorbed were very similar to previous reports for large silicalite-1 crystals prepared in a fluoride medium. The sample also adsorbed much less water than did a reference silicalite-1(OH–) film containing a high density of internal defects.The results show that silicalite-1 films prepared in a F– medium with a low density of defects and external area are very promising for the selective recovery of 1-butanol from aqueous solutions

Herbivory and plant growth rate determine the success of El Niño Southern Oscillation-driven tree establishment in semiarid South America

While climatic extremes are predicted to increase with global warming, we know little about the effect of climatic variability on biome distribution. Here, we show that rainy El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events can enhance tree recruitment in the arid and semiarid ecosystems of north-central Chile and northwest Peru. Tree-ring studies in natural populations revealed that rainy El Niño episodes have triggered forest regeneration in Peru. Field experiments indicate that tree seedling recruitment in Chile is much less successful than in Peru due mostly to larger mortality caused by herbivores. The dramatic impact of herbivores in Chile was derived from the combined result of slower plant growth and the presence of exotic herbivores (European rabbits and hares). The interplay of herbivory and climatic effects we demonstrated implies that rainy ENSO events may represent 'windows of opportunity' for forest recovery if herbivore pressure is minimized at the right momen

Climatic signals in growth and its relation to ENSO events of two Prosopis species following a latitudinal gradient in South America

Semiarid environments throughout the world have lost a major part of their woody vegetation and biodiversity due to the effects of wood cutting, cattle grazing and subsistence agriculture. The resulting state is typically used for cattle production, but the productivity of these systems is often very low, and erosion of the unprotected soil is a common problem. Such dry-land degradation is of great international concern, not only because the resulting state is hardly productive but also because it paves the way to desertification. The natural distribution of the genus Prosopis includes arid and semiarid zones of the Americas, Africa and Asia, but the majority of the Prosopis species are, however, native to the Americas. In order to assess a likely gradient in the response of tree species to precipitation, temperature and their connection to El Niño southern oscillation (ENSO) events, two Prosopis species were chosen along a latitudinal gradient in Latin America, from northern Peru to central Chile: Prosopis pallida from a semi-arid land in northern and southern Peru and P. chilensis from a semiarid land in central Chile. Growth rings of each species were crossdated at each sampling site using classical dendrochronological techniques. Chronologies were related with instrumental climatic records in each site, as well as with SOI and N34 series. Cross-correlation, spectral and wavelet analysis techniques were used to assess the relation of growth with precipitation and temperature. Despite the long distance among sites, the two Prosopis species presented similar responses. Thus, the two species' growth is positively correlated to precipitation, while with temperature it is not. In northern Peru, precipitation and growth of P. pallida present a similar cyclic pattern, with a period of around 3 years. On the other hand, P. pallida in southern Peru, and P. chilensis also present this cyclic pattern, but also another one with lower frequency, coinciding with the pattern of precipitation. Both cycles are within the range of the ENSO band

Coaching Psykologi

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