Helen’s line manager rated her, yet in her own words she was at “an all-time low”.
Observing that she wasn’t feeling worthy of the recent promotion bestowed upon her, Helen’s line manager invested in a coach.
red10 ‘s Hazel Howard explains the unique blend of our 9-Dimensions® with advanced coaching techniques that increase the chances of a key promotion being a success.
Promoting both the person and what’s lurking beneath
Helen (not their real name) was frustrated. She found herself behaving in ways she didn’t want to but felt she couldn’t change. As well as promoting Helen, her line manager had promoted an imposter syndrome -that had been lurking beneath.
As is often the case, there were other things at play too – there was so much going on in her personal life that she felt overwhelmed. This then offered a huge range of people and situations she could blame. She was starting to play the ‘victim’, passing on control of her life to others.
She wasn’t sure about ‘this coaching stuff’ and was a little suspicious. Why were others so sure they had more to offer? She could see their limitations, why couldn’t everyone else?
How much do you want to change?
I started to work with Helen on what we call the 9-Dimensions® – the conditions that help leaders and teams to thrive.
Helen started to determine her own Vision
- How much she wanted to change
- How much responsibility she was prepared to take (and not continue to blame others)
- Where she wanted to be and what needed to be different to start to move forward.
We quickly built up strong rapport. It’s important as a coach to build trust with the individual you are coaching. We also explored priorities and what she could control – and what she couldn’t.
With the correct leverage we started to play with different scenarios and how Helen wanted things to ‘be’.
Advanced coaching techniques
The logic of the different options available to Helen was reinforced using advanced coaching tools. Helen responded particularly well to a technique called the NLP Swish Pattern that has been brought into the mainstream through its success with Olympic athletes.
Helen created a compelling image in her mind for how she wanted to be, using the technique to ‘turn up the dials’ on this future state by making the image sharper and panoramic, and the positive feelings more intense. With my help, Helen then used this new image to erase the previous unhelpful patterns from her swirling thoughts.
After a while, Helen couldn’t go back to how she ‘was’. She had started to define herself differently, exploring different scenarios and outcomes that would serve to help rather than hinder her.
No internal politics
With an external coach there are no internal politics or limitations; any conversation can happen in the confidence of someone who is ‘neutral’ and who can offer both undivided attention and a safe environment to have open conversations with space to try out different coaching techniques and ultimately change behaviours manifested from limiting beliefs.
There is some pressure to change – tension between how things are and how we want them to be is a good thing (otherwise inertia sets in). The person being coached will be the one to determine the pace of the change.
Convincing change in attitude and body language
It was a pleasure to note how Helen’s body language and attitude started to change as she shared how this was helping her ‘be’ in different situations she would previously have found terrifying/annoying or frustrating.
By continually reinforcing the belief through coaching techniques, Helen started creating new choices for herself.
The recognition of Helen’s potential now not only came from her line manager – it also came from Helen herself. Result.
red10 is very motivated to help leaders remove anything that could be holding them back. Do you have a direct report who has more potential than they realize, and could benefit from red10 ‘s unique blend of logic, the 9-Dimensions® and advanced coaching techniques?