Coaching Mastery through NS & NLP

There are a great deal of applications for what we today know of as ‘Coaching’;- sports coaching, business coaching, life coaching, executive coaching, performance coaching, health coaching... the list could go on. But where did all this ‘coaching’ stuff come from and what exactly is it? And more importantly what are the benefits of coaching for you and what are the essential ingredients of all good coaches, no matter what their area of application? If you’re already a coach in any field, why learn NS or NLP? Let’s have a brief look at each of these questions in turn

 Where did ‘coaching’ come from?

The Coaching metaphor comes from the age old sports coaching. A sports coach helps the athlete to become the best they can be by stretching and pushing the athlete to do more in a better way whilst keeping the overall health and well-being of the athlete in mind. A sports coach is an expert in the structure of the game. There are good sports coaches and there are bad sports coaches!

What exactly is coaching?

Coaching is a facilitation process that supports a psychologically healthy person to become more and achieve more than they could before. The coaching process is one that allows the coachee to discover and unleash their hidden potentials. Coaching does not provide the answers for you but activates your mind so that you become a great problem solver and creator and manifestor of your dreams. The goal of a coach is (or should be) to coach themselves out of a job; to enable the coachee to stand firmly and powerfully on their own two feet and to be able to achieve great things. In 1953 when the (later to be Knighted Sir) Edmund Hilary conquered Everest, he himself was motivated to achieved his goal. He put in the effort, he did the work... but he couldn’t have done it without the guidance, support, expertise and safety provided by Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. Sherpa Tenzing didn’t make Sir Ed reach the summit, he didn’t carry him; he was an expert guide and coach who showed Hilary the way and helped him make his own journey, achieve his own glory. There are good coaches and there are bad coaches.

What are the benefits of coaching for you?

Wow, what a question! Imagine your wildest dreams... suppose you could make them come true? If you have that feeling that there must be more to life, that you want to do something significant with your life, to achieve something great, to shine, to stand out, make an impact, but you just don’t know how or in what way... then you need coaching! People don’t just go to the gym just because they’re feeling bad or the doctor says “well you’re unfit and will die soon unless that changes... you need to go to the gym!” If that were the case we could get a gym membership on prescription! No, people exercise because they want to best can be, to excel, to achieve optimal health and well-being or to challenge and stretch their abilities in the sporting arena. And it’s not just health. What other areas of life do you want to excel and be motivated in; relationships? personal development? business? Where do you want more passion in your life? Coaching enables you to identify your unconscious mission, to follow it and give real meaning to your life. You have to be strong enough mentally to be coached. Of course, if you’re ok with where you are, are content with just an ordinary life and don’t have any real ambition to better yourself... perhaps coaching isn’t for you.

What are the essential ingredients of all good coaches?

Coaching is about relationship. A great coach will be able to create a relationship in which the coachee can grow and achieve a life of passion and meaning. Coaching is also about good communication – both conscious and unconscious. A great coach is able to push, prod and provoke whilst at the same time support, encourage and help the coachee expand their mind, their focus and passion in order to become a confident, powerful and outcome focussed individual. And it’s not an easy skill. A great coach has exceptional people skills, knows and understands people’s minds and can track unconscious processing in order to identify Meta level thinking that may be holding their client back. A great coach knows how to build a relationship in which the truly unique and intense coaching conversation can take place. A great coach asks questions that stimulate higher levels of unconscious processing. A great coach knows how to listen, pay attention, support and co-create amazing outcomes for the coachee. A great coach does not tell or advise. A great coach is entirely client focussed; ego trippers be gone! A great coach creates generative on-going change, not just remedial change. A great coach is constantly training, learning and studying to become even better themselves. There are bad coaches, good coaches... and then there are great coaches.

If you’re already a coach, in any field, why learn NS or NLP?

As a coach you will already have certain skills around goal setting, rapport and communication. But just learning a coaching system does not necessarily prepare you psychologically to be a great coach. Is your ego so strong that it just disappears no matter what your client says? Can you put your own agenda aside completely and enter the matrix if your client’s mind? Can you ask nothing but precise, deliberate, Meta level questions of your client’s unconscious mind? Do you focus on remedial or generative change? Learning NS & NLP increases efficacy in any field, but none more so than coaching. It’s impossible to do a good NLP or NS Practitioner course and not make significant personal changes that will release your own potential so you become better at coaching as a result. NS & NLP provide you with exceptional psychological skills, knowledge and techniques. Learning the precise language structures of NS & NLP enable you to communicate so effectively that you can create significant changes in your clients (those “wow!” moments) with just a few well chosen words. And by recognising the deeper meanings of certain behaviours or gestures that your client makes and using them in a precise and deliberate way you can send your client’s mind off into new ground breaking territory, imagine that!

These and so many other benefits of learning the countless models of NS & NLP can turn an average coach into an exceptional coach. Neuro Semantics (NS) is the latest cutting edge psychology to emerge from the field of NLP and positive psychology. Rather than the often therapeutic approach of NLP, NS is geared specifically towards coaching.

Optimum Mind and my partner organisation Mind Mastery is the only training provider in NZ (and as far as I know, the world) that combines both IANLP and ISNS Practitioner and Master Practritioner training standards and qualifications in one package. This is a unique opportunity for coaches to extent their skill sets, experience and CV’s and become world class coaches.

Contact me now on 03 942 2103 or at alan@opptimum-mind.co.nz to find out how to take Your Coaching Skills to the next level of Excellence