Hello again , how is it September already? Anyway I hope you are keeping well. Today's main topic can relate to more or less any sort of
coaching - business, personal (life), executive - since it concerns our basic make up and self perceptions as people. Last time we looked at the SWOT exercise, which includes looking at strengths. There are several ways of going deeper into our strengths, analysing the results and doing something useful with this knowledge. Today I'll look at two or three of
these. The first was developed by Martin Seligman, the founder of Positive Psychology, and the basic assessment is free. You
can take the free test here at the VIA institute (this stands for Values In Action) and find out what your top strengths are. Twenty four strengths are identified, grouped under six headings, - Wisdom
- Courage
- Humanity
- Justice
- Temperance
- Transcendence
Drilling down into just one of these (you can find them all here), we can see that Humanity is made up of Kindness, Love and Social Intelligence. Then one way to use this knowledge is to choose one of your highest strengths and deliberately seek ways to use it every day for at least a week. Another well known tool is the CliftonStrengths assessment run by Gallup. This identifies five top strengths in the free version and 34 in the paid version (about £17). To give you a taste of it, when I took it about three years
ago, my top strengths came out as Input (gathering and connecting knowledge), Intellection (searching for truth) and Connectedness (prioritising people). I think I might take it again and see what's changed! Then finally, Harrison Assessments, which I described in March, is also
concerned with understanding strengths. All of this gives great information that coaching can be based on. We're all educators, in a way, even if we are not officially teachers. We might be parents of young children, or just keen to get our message across. In this respect, I am thinking how I
feel about climate change. I don't want to put people off, I want them to feel they can do something. So I was encouraged to see this research report that suggests that for most people, simply presenting facts does not really stimulate curiosity and the desire to know more. The crucial ingredient is, it seems, is the information beneficial to society as a whole? If it is, then it seems that people are more likely to be curious and
take things on board. You can see the report here. Today's book recommendation is about how closely the mind and body are interconnected and affect each other. In Cure: A Journey Into the Science of Mind over Body, the author talks
to doctors, patients and researchers all over the world to bring to a general audience up to date findings about mind-body medicine. For example, there is the placebo effect, where simply believing you have had a powerful medication can make a dramatic
difference. Enjoy! Every time I look though my shelves to recommend you a book, I want to read it again myself - this one's top of the list.
Latest goings-on at This Coaching Business
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- I've had a pretty leisurely summer in terms of coaching, as it's good to take a break from time to time. September seems a good time to start some study again - remember those new sharp pencils?
shoes a bit too big? nice new leather satchel? - and my two pennorth is to retake the updated Neuroscience for Coaches programme.
- You may recall that I am licensed to use Harrison Assessments, which I described in one of my March issues. The assessment consists of a short 'smart' questionnaire which indicates your traits, such as Optimistic, Authoritative, Influencing, and about 170 others. On
this is based dozens of possible reports across the whole HR area, from recruitment to succession planning and more. Coaching is then based on this information. It's a very powerful system which I love using, and the good news is that I shall now be able to offer this at a considerably reduced price. It's especially good for career planning - just contact me for more details.
- We can all see that climate change continues to get more and more urgent, and I cannot stress this enough. So I'm still doing my best to spread the word about this. If you haven't already, do please consider joining my free updated list, as well as checking out my climate
coaching packages in my Shop.
- I'm creating downloadable exercises and worksheets on my website here, to give you a taste of what you might get when you work with me. The first one is there now and it's about working out your values and what needs to be in place for you to honour
them. The next one will be about where to start, when you know something's got to change! Meanwhile if you think of something else you'd like, for issues that face you right now, let me know and I'll prioritise it.
- If you're thinking of working personally with me, I always recommend that we first have a free intro call (updated link) to make sure coaching is right for you before we start. If I don't think it is, I'll say so and try to signpost you to what else would be helpful. I'm limiting my one to one work at the moment due to a family illness but I do still have
space for two or three clients over the next month.
- You can see all my coaching packages and e-books on this link here to my shop, and you can check my availability on the (updated) button below. And if you can't see a suitable time, contact me anyway and I'll do my best to find one for you.
I've updated my Linktree, about everything that I'm involved in, on the first button below. Also the three free
quizzes, that help you to pinpoint where you can best make changes in your situation. You can repeat them for free whenever you like to see your progress over time. That's about it for today, - have a good weekend, keep safe, and I'll be in touch again in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, can I ask you something? I will be planning my newsletters for 2023 soon and I want to make it relevant for you. What topics would you like to see? Let me know and I'll see what I can do. All best wishes, Barbara P.S. if you like this update and you got it elsewhere, you can get your own personal regular copy by subscribing safely here. Please feel free to share, just keep the attribution to me. You get a short free email course on sign up about well being, effectiveness and resilience. NB The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this email are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this email. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any
action as a result of the contents of this email. Barbara Bates disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this email. |
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