The Lifeways Coaching Cards have sold out for the time being and while I was thinking about how to promote the idea I realised that the road signs and symbols that I used for the cards would be great to add to your status updates. They’ll quickly communicate where you are, how you feel or what life is like right now. Click the box above and become a fan.
Here is an article from the BBC website on what makes for a good road sign. It includes some psychology on the shape and colours used.
Here is the summing up from a Lifeways Coaching session that was recorded recently. This is after Chris Cummins has coached Rachael through a situation using the Lifeways Coaching Cards.
“It’s using symbols that I recognise and everyone would recognise. For me it’s a way of being coached very objectively and I don’t even have to share it. Because sometimes with coaches we don’t want to share the situation we just want someone to talk us through it.
The road signs help to think objectively about a situation. In my situation some subjectivity had started to come into things, emotions had come into it, and actually that’s not helped the situation at all, and this has helped take all that away and allowed me to focus on what’s actually really important.
…it’s very empowering as well.”
Here is a video of Terry Ingham of positive-response.com using a set of Lifeways Coaching Cards with a client who wants to write a book.
Earlier this week I took a trip to Stanstead Airport to meet with a colleague before he flew to Europe. I drove from Norwich to Stanstead and left myself plenty of time, which was just as well. I had checked on The Internet and got a route planner from a site that I can’t remember. Norwich to Stanstead is basically “Drive along the M11 then turn left at Stanstead” but we were meeting at The Hilton so I thought it would be a good idea to get directions.
If you’re NLP trained you will have heard more than enough times the notion that ‘The Map Is Not the Territory’ and I might now add to that ‘The Route Planner is Not the Route.’ I wrote down the directions and you would think it couldn’t be simpler. ‘Drive down M11 turn left at Stanstead’ – except the route planner said ‘Turn left at Junction 8a.’ So when I saw Junction 8 I assumed 8a would be next. As I realised Stanstead was dissappearing behind me with no more junctions in sight I made a point of telling myself what I should have done.
10 miles later Junction 7 appears and I get to drive back up to Stanstead and guess what? When you drive North on the M11 there are tow junctions close together near Stanstead. One is a Junction 8 and the other is 8a.
Junction 8a, of course, is the one to Stanstead.
Aha.
The ‘moral’ of this tale is – If you haven’t got the right map, route or directions…you know the rest.
When you are able to coach someone with the coaching cards without going into the content of their issue it can have some significant benefits.
Firstly, you can allow them to work on a significant issue eve if you are coaching them for the first time. There are no confidentiality issues and they don’t need to feel that they can trust you because they are just telling you a story.
Also this can allow the coachees to work on issues they may have been uncomfortable with even thinking about. However, once it becomes a metaphor they can start thinking about it and asking themselves questions.
It is easy to maintain your role as a coach through this process and you can even start to ask direct questions about their metaphor without them getting defensive.
Once clients/coachees have had some insights into the issue they often volunteer the content. They seem to be happy to do this because they are speaking from a new perspective.
They also tend to follow through with actions because they figured out what those actions needed to be. They don’t feel like they have been “coached” they feel like they have found the answers for themselves. Which is what good coaching is really about.
Before I speak at the NLP Conference I am running a Teleseminar on 19th March where I will be presenting my take on the creative application of the tools of NLP. If you check out www.nlpcreativity.com you’ll find a page that you can post any questions you might have and I’m answer them on the call. Here is one of the qusetions I have had so far and I’m posting it here because it sums up one of the main points that I am going to cover.
What would be your advice for me as to how I can ‘work out what my product’ or process is or might be. I see lots of people creating things to sell and would like to find the thing which I could create that would be original and mine?
Check out www.nlpcreativity.com
lifecoachingcards.wordpress.com 