What do a Coach and bird have in common?

When you have a look at how coaches describe their business – the added value they offer for their clients – it often is described as “changing the perspective” or enabling a “new view”. 

Enabling a new view does not mean “persuading” the client to make a change in her/his way of thinking, or convincing her/him that there’s a “right view” of the situation. 

Let’s start with an example: Imagine a picture of a boat sailing on a sea. 

• What do you see?
• A small boat or a large one?
• Are the sails hoisted or down?
• How is the sea: rough or quiet?

By asking open questions coaches can help broaden your view or narrow it down.

My preferred picture is this one:

Each individual possesses a preferred way of looking at the surrounding world: this “view” is shaped by habits, our experiences, family values, the media and many other factors. The more often we follow our thoughts and perceptions, the more convincing they are to us. Therefore we are very convinced that our view on a certain topic is right: and we are right.

Stubborn, narrow viewed, over-structured: unattractive attributes

People usually avoid providing negative attributes in-person. If you feel alright with them – congratulations. You seem to have pondered long enough on your personality traits to even feel comfortable with the “edgy” ones. Or maybe you lack trust and courage to explore why you cling to such structures?

If you feel that you want to gain an honest and enlarged view on the outer perception of your personality, go and catch an encouraging coach who accompanies you on this path.

One of my favourite’s coaching exercises

For the recipe of one of my favourite coaching tools you need:

• One question – three people – a bit of courage.

The question: without restricting the scope of their answers, ask your chosen few people to provide between 5 and 10 respectful and positive attributes about you.

Three people: be it in your family, at your working space, with your sports partners – they should know you a bit better than on the basis of “small talk”.

A bit of courage: Yes it’s uncommon to take such action and your chosen friends or family members might look a bit surprised at the beginning. Yet the results may surprise you.

I wish you many uplifting feedbacks and an enlarged view of yourself – go and get it!

If you have read to the end of my column – thank you!  Let’s connect on LinkedIn and Instagram.

About the Author:

Cécile Schniter has a coaching praxis on the lake of Zurich. Coaching sessions are exclusively offered in German.

Head: Unconventional, analytical thinker | Heart: strong, empathic | Roots: 2 decades of business and leadership experience

Cecile Schniter Beratungen www.cecile-schniter.ch
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LinkedIn account Cécile Schniter 

 

• coaching
• coaching exercises