Author: Valerie Legge

Brains

Business coaching/Training

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A recent post in the Executive’s magazine Business Leadership Management (BLM) states: “Brains? It doesn’t necessarily mean a high IQ. It means curiosity, common sense, wisdom, imagination, and literacy.”

Sounds like a perfect description of coaching, as practiced by our team at The Coach Approach! Bolstered by our innate curiosity, we support our clients in exploring their best outcomes and ways to realize them. The results? A process which fosters deepening awareness of where they are now (common sense); where they want to get to (imagination); and a variety of possible ways to get there (wisdom).

Awareness – acceptance – actions … brain power incorporating emotional intelligence = the best support for your professional development!

 

 

 

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Fulfilment at Work

Business coaching/Training

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In his address to the graduating class at Stanford, the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs wrote:

“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”

The Coach Approach specializes in training and coaching with a focus on values. Once your tribe is connected to goals with personal meaning, transformation and success are on their way!

Effective Communication

Business coaching/Training

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A recent article in Business Leadership Management magazine states that: “Effective communications should link a compelling message with the value that management expects to create…”. It goes on to note that this involves three key elements: aspirations, strategy, and evidence.

At The Coach Approach, we couldn’t agree more! Our workshops show exactly HOW to do this … to articulate a positive,compelling goal; to implement an effective action plan; to elaborate contingency plans for even greater evidence-based results; and to enjoy both the learning process and the final results!

Focus on the Path

Business coaching/Training

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“I know some people say “Keep your eyes on the prize,” but I disagree. When your eyes are stuck on the prize, you’re going to keep stumbling and crashing into things. If you really want to get ahead, you’ve got to keep your eyes focused on the path.” ~ Russell Simmons from Do You!

Here at The Coach Approach we support you in clearly defining your personal and organizational goals and values – “the prize”. Then, starting with the end in mind, we help you to focus on the steps required  to completely immerse yourself in doing your best moment to moment.  Focusing on the effort, instead of the results of that effort, keeps your eyes on the path and leads to the prize!

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Celebration time again!

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icflogoclCelebrating completion of another wonderful Coach Approach workshop. This time in St-Tropez, next year – Dubrovnik … stay tuned. Bookings for 2014 now possible!

Miracle Questions

Business coaching/Training, Life coaching

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Have you ever noticed how some of the simplest questions can actually provide some of the most transformative answers? Here’s one of our favourite questions which we use with great results: “Suppose tonight, while you slept, a miracle occurred. When you awake tomorrow, what would be some of the things you would notice that would tell you life had suddenly gotten better?”

Helping clients to imagine that the miracle has already happened has powerful implications about the clients’ need to do something different. As their reflections begin flowing, they frequently describe improvements in detailed, behavioural terms – and they recognize their own involvement in implementing solutions!

We like to follow up with other questions such as: ” What would be the first thing you would do?”; “What would you have to do so that it would happen more often?”; “What else would you be doing differently?”.

What are some of the questions you could use to jump-start positive changes in your life and work?

The Acorn Theory

Business coaching/Training, Life coaching

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The American psychologist James Hillman first proposed the “acorn theory” in his book entitled “The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling”. He suggested that every individual already holds their potential inside themselves from birth, just as the acorn already holds the pattern for an oak tree. Each individual’s unique energy becomes actualized through their choices and actions in life once they answer their life calling, much like an acorn turns into an oak tree and matures when it finally blossoms. Without denying the existence of both nature and nurture in human development, let’s look at our own individual achievements, character, and aspirations and ask ourselves: “How am I responding to my inner acorn?”

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Positive Psy…

Business coaching/Training

PPAt the Coach Approach, we like to speak of both the Art and the Science of coaching. So what is the science? In a nutshell, it is what is known today as Positive Psychology – the scientific study of what works well. Different from mere positive thinking, it is based upon proven research into how we increase our well being. And this is the point from which engagement and accomplishments flow … another benefit from a Coach Approach training workshop!

For more information on Positive Psychology, check out:

The Curiosity Principle

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In his stimulating book How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Everyday, Michael Gelb writes:

“Great minds ask great questions. The questions that ‘engage our thought’ on a daily basis reflect our life purpose and influence the quality of our lives. By cultivating a Da Vinci-like open, questing frame of mind, we broaden our universe and improve our ability to travel through it.”

He suggests taking one hour to jot down 100 questions that interest you, and then to refine that list to your personal Top Ten.  Try it for a powerful way to tap into your “unconscious database” and get a really good sense of what’s important to you in your life – dare to engage in curiosity!!

Be Proactive

Business coaching/Training, Life coaching

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In his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the late Stephen Covey begins with Habit #1: Be Proactive.

“Look at the word responsibility—’response-ability’—the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people recognize that responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feeling.”

He goes on to say: “The commitments we make to ourselves and to others, and our integrity to those commitments, is the essence and clearest manifestation of our proactivity.”

Think of the goal you would most like to focus upon in the weeks and months to come. What commitment will you make today to manifest your proactivity? How can coaching be a part of ensuring your success?