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XPaul Kensett E-mail: paul.kensett@thesmartschool.co.uk Web Site: http://claimyourownfantastic.blogspot.com/ Info: Posts by the author (2)

Cognitive Behavioural Coaching Wednesday May 16, 2012

From the original blog post at: transformationallifecoaching.co.uk

When I think of coaching and all that people believe coaching to be there is a strong emphasis on task-based approaches leading to a goal being achieved and quite often action plans that focus on doingrather than being.

Within CBC (Cognitive Behavioural Coaching) there are some key pillars that underpin client interactions.

1. Coaching provides a safe place for personal exploration
2. The dynamic of “effective coaching” allows for self actualization for the client
3. It is fully person centred and integrative
4. CBC allows deeper meaning for the client and their experience and goes beneath the goal as the focus of the session

Cognitive behavioural coaching focuses on the internal world of the client, which could include values, beliefs, cognitions, physiology, emotions and results.

That’s not to say that there isn’t an element of actions and goals built into the coaching interactions but the shift will happen for the client on a deeper level and this in turn can create new openings and a future focus on how they will show up in the world based on these shifts.

In today’s society people are wanting more than a quick fix and an action plan.

Many times people can achieve their goal quite swiftly but may return to the original place of frustration wondering how they got back to there and questioning themselves and they change they want.

The reason why, is that without working on the deeper structures of experience the client could  just be going around in circles and not moving ahead with any sort of permanency.

This can create further frustration and can fuel the negative mind sets that could be underpinning the clients original challenges.

Within a typical CBC based session the coaching practitioner would be looking to work with the client on emotive, important issues for them and really get to the core of the clients difficulties by using simple and powerful questioning, a sense of holding space for the client and allowing the conversation to naturally flow without the coach needing to fix, provide solutions or work to an agenda of a hard and fast goal being in place.

As in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy the skilled coaching practitioner would be looking at faulty thought biases and how this could be impacting the client in negative ways.  An example would be catastrophizing  – “everything is always bad! – how many times have you heard this or possibly thought it yourself?

Through a CBC approach we can start to unpick what these thought structures are which will also affect clients physical responses and results both practically and emotionally . We can help clients formulate a different way of doing things with more positive results.

CBC can help with:

• Limiting beliefs
• Negative cycles of behaviour
• Low confidence and self-esteem
• Compulsive behaviours
• Interpersonal issues
• Any pattern that runs enough times for it to be a problem and so much more

Coaching isn’t a one stop for change but done skilfully, with congruence and trust the effects can be truly transformational.

XNick Bolton E-mail: nick.bolton@thesmartschool.co.uk Web Site: http://www.thesmartschool.co.uk Info: Founder of the Smart School of CoachingPosts by the author (26)

What Is Group Coaching And Facilitation? Friday May 11, 2012

Group coaching and facilitation, at its heart, is about creating self-discovery, decision and action within a group.

But what does that mean in practice?

In traditional one-to-one coaching, there is a direct and powerful relationship between the coach and the client in which the coach creates a space for a direct conversation to take place and learning to take place.

In group coaching this is no longer the primary role of the coach.  The power of the coaching does not reside in the questions the coach asks which create learning, discovery and curiosity.  The power resides in the learning and exploratory space that the coach creates between the members of the group.

We can think of it this way:

Imagine that each person in the group carries with them a private well of knowledge and wisdom, of questions and concerns, and of capability and strength.

When first the group comes together, each person brings their well in to the room but it is initially walled off and watertight.

Group coaching aims to break down the walls of the wells so that they become a pool from which the group can access the combined wisdom, ideas, passion and knowledge in the room.

Yet it also respects that the wells are private and so only requires the individual to give as much or as little as they want to.

The wonderful thing is that group coaching can only ever replenish and fill the well and not drain it!

The coach’s role then is not about asking powerful questions or challenging an individual, but rather creating, maintaining and nurturing the space that allows the group to function as a self-coaching entity.

As we will explore in the next chapter, the coach is less concerned with the specific content of the session and more with the process by which he or she manages the group’s interaction.

It is a different skill set from coaching that requires a fine ear for incongruence, limiting beliefs, faulty thinking.  Instead, it’s about holding the space, facilitating participation, managing dynamics, knowing where the line is between a group learning experience and someone feeling picked upon.

Probably one of the biggest challenges for coaches in undertaking group coaching and facilitation is their relative invisibility and seeming passivity in the process and outcomes.

Great trainers, teachers and workshop leaders create learning through their knowledge and skills.  Great speakers inspire, entertain and engross their audience.  Great group coaches are like the best sports referees – unseen but in control!

If you’re interested in training as a group coach, head along to our course page at: Group Coaching & Facilitation

XRobert Stephenson E-mail: robert_stephenson@me.com Web Site: http://web.me.com/robert_stephenson Info: Robert is Head of Dynamic Youth Coaching at the Smart School and Director of Unclassified Arts. Robert loves working with young people and the educational sector using coaching, NLP and creativity to engage, motivate and inspire young people.Posts by the author (2)

Confidence Coaching with Young People Friday May 11, 2012

This blog post is from Robert Stephenson on our new youth coaching blog at http://dynamicyouthcoaching.com

Recently I have been working for Mousetrap Theatre Project, with a group of young people based in Southall. The young people are all taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, and at the end they have to do a presentation. This group is made up of young people who haven’t had lots of positive experience in making presentations, in putting themselves out there, in talking to large groups of people about their achievements.

With this in mind I was asked to help the group develop their confidence, which is something I come across quite often when working with young people. They often put up this front of ‘I’m ok’ and ‘I don’t care about anything’. However in my experience this is not always the case, in fact there are a lot of young people who do care and are will to work with you to develop their skills and confidence, so that they are able to make the best of their lives. With this particular group, we spent lots of time exploring what confidence meant to them, who they saw as having it, what it looked liked, getting all our ideas down. Read more

XPeggy Guglielmino E-mail: peggy0027@googlemail.com Web Site: http://www.lifetherapycentre.com Info: Posts by the author (7)

Introducing Person-Centred NLP Thursday May 10, 2012

This blog post is the first from our new blog at http://personcentrednlp.com

Hi, welcome to my new blog! My name is Peggy and I’m the director of the new Person-Centred NLP course at the Smart School. You may be wondering “so, what’s person-centred NLP”?! That’s a very good question.

Person-centred NLP was born out of observation of the current NLP world. NLP has got a  reputation for being a quick-fix tool that can help people solve their issues almost at the click of a finger. When I first learnt NLP, I must confess that’s exactly what I did. Got the client in, quickly run through their history, and jump in with one of the brilliant NLP process I had in my magic tool box. Most of the time, it did the trick. However, when checking on some of those clients a few months later, I had quite a percentage of people reporting the changes weren’t quite as powerful as expected on the long run.

So when I saw those clients again, we started an in-depth conversation in order to find out underlying issues that were getting in the way. And the more we talked, the more we naturally created a special relationship, that seemed to be allowing my clients to make lasting changes in a more natural way.

With time growing, I spent more and more time developing this kind of relationship until I realized that some of my clients were getting incredible results, sometimes even without the help of NLP or hypnotherapy standard “exercises”. And it simply confirmed what studies had already shown, the fact that how the client and the therapist relate is one of the most important aspects of a successful therapeutic encounter, regardless of the therapy.

NLP person-centred therapy was then born and is deeply inspired by Carl Rogers six conditions needed to produce personality changes:

1. Psychological contact or a relationship between the therapist and the client (on the professional basis of course!), where there’s rapport and respect of both persons as important individuals.
2. Client’s congruence, where the client actually is aware of the issue and genuinely wants to change it.
3. Therapist’s congruence: now I personally think this is a very important one: the therapist is genuinely involved in the session and will display honesty and care for their client.
4. Therapist gives unconditional positive regard towards the client, with a genuine belief that the client has all the inner resources and the capacity to change
5. Therapist’s empathy, where the therapist feels compassion and empathy for the client in order to fully understand their map of the world
6. Client’s perception of the therapist’s empathy: not only is it necessary for the therapist to have empathy, but it is essential that the client receives it appropriately.

I have been applying those principles in my personal NLP/hypnotherapy practice for a while now and I have noticed indeed how much more effective those sessions were. I do believe that in order to change, people need unconditional support and approval, and I think that’s what describes best in essence our new person-centred NLP approach.

XNick Bolton E-mail: nick.bolton@thesmartschool.co.uk Web Site: http://www.thesmartschool.co.uk Info: Founder of the Smart School of CoachingPosts by the author (26)

What’s a small business coach for? Wednesday April 25, 2012

Blog post taken from Rapid Results Business Coaching by Nick Bolton

I just came back from three days cycling C2C from Whitehaven to Tynemouth and, as is often the case when I undertake these arduous cycle rides, I got to thinking about business.

And it struck me that riding C2C across windswept moorlands, up tortuous lakeland hills and through boggy paths is somewhat like running a business! It’s a challenging, long hard slog that makes you question why you started in the first place!

There are the stiff legs, the aching backside, the tense shoulders. There’s the soggy gear, muddy bike and dog-eared maps.

But then there are the sweeping downhills, the lingering lunches at pubs, the sun breaking through the clouds and, of course, that terrific sense of achievement when you hit another milestone.

It’s living and being and doing.

And I think the role of a small business coach is to be there on that ride. To help your clients through the tough stages whilst keeping an eye on the good stuff to come.

To pursue the cycling analogy, it’s helping the client find themselves on the map so they can measure their progress, it’s making sure they’re on the right bike and that it’s oiled and ready to go, it’s cycling alongside and encouraging them to make those last strenuous efforts to reach the top.

And it’s celebrating when the downhill comes and the client can fly with the wind in their hair and a feeling of elation. It’s being there when the client hits the end and say, “What next?” with a tired but joyful smile on their face!

That’s the joy of business coaching.

Coming soon! Rapid Results Business Coaching from the Smart School