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Bryant Alexander:
All right, we are live. So, another week of e-quips. How are you doing today, Laurel? Laurel Elders: Really good. Really good. I'm excited to be with you again. And welcome, everyone, to our coaching quips. These are our, weekly coaching mastery tips designed to equip future coaches and also coachlike leaders with empowering approaches to consider. I'm Laurel Elders, the founder of the Institute for Integrative Intelligence. I'm an ICF master-certified coach. I got my start in the coaching field in 2005, and now consider myself a thorough coaching geek. And I have with me Brian Alexander. Bryant is a coach and works with us in admissions. Bryant is helping people align with the coach training options that are best suited for them and their organization. Bryant, feel free to give everyone a shout-out. Bryant Alexander: Yeah. Thank you for that intro, Laurel. So, yes, I am working with the institute in the capacity of an admissions coordinator. So, if you're interested in coaching, if you want to learn more about coaching, feel free to reach out to me, because I'm also a student, and Laurel is one of my instructors. So any questions, feel free to reach out to me. But I also work as a full-time coach outside with tech organizations specifically and tech professionals. So if you're interested in that, please reach out to me. But that's a little bit about me. I don't want to take up too much time. I want to pass it back over to you. Laurel, please. What are we talking about today? Laurel Elders: Okay, so, today's topic are going to be the three layers to coaching mastery. So, last week, we covered coaching versus advice giving. So if you missed that, we will place the link below (CLICK HERE) so that you can come back later and check it out. And during that e-quip, we mentioned coaching mastery. And we wanted to take that topic a little bit deeper into the different layers to coaching mastery. Bryant Alexander: Okay. Laurel Elders: And notice I said "layers" and not "levels". Bryant Alexander: Okay. Tell me more, please. Laurel Elders: I found that the more you study coaching, the more layers you add to your depth as a coach. Bryant Alexander: Uh-huh. Laurel Elders: But what's really cool is that the layers you add to your depth actually lend to the new levels that your clients will be reaching in their work, in their lives. Okay, so three. There's three layers. The first layer, skills. So, let's go into this a little bit more. So, I know, Bryant, you're familiar with the ICF core competencies. Bryant Alexander: Yes. I have no choice but to be. Actually had a class yesterday about it. We had to look through a script and identify the competencies throughout the script, it was probably. I didn't realize it was going to take that much work, but it was a lot of fun just kind of going through the different competencies. But yes, I have to be familiar with those. Laurel Elders: The ICF core competencies are that layer one of the skills. So those include: a coach has a solid foundation in coaching. In other words, the coach is demonstrating ethical practice. So that's competency A-1. The coach is embodying a coaching mindset, competency A-2. The coach is also trained to co-create the engagement. So that's different from other approaches like consulting or mentoring, teaching. And that includes establishing, maintaining agreements, cultivating trust and safety, maintains presence to the client and the process. So that's competency B3-5. And then the coach is also trained in communication efficacy. So this is active listening, being able to hear what's not said as well. Bryant Alexander: You said a lot there. Okay. So level one, it's a lot already in there, but something that you said was "co-create". All right. I think that has become a lot of a, it's become a popular term. So could you expound on what you mean by co-create, please? Laurel Elders: Absolutely. So when a client or employee enters the coaching engagement and this taps into what we were talking about last week, that level one and level or, sorry, journey one and journey two into your potential. The first journey, we can be showing the way. The second Journey, where our true development comes from, is self-discovered. So if you prescribe something, it's not going to be as engaging for the client as if they're a part of the entire process. Bryant Alexander: Okay. And that's the differentiation between where coaching versus consulting is happening, correct? Is that what you're saying? Okay. And then you talked about "evokes awareness". I think that's also something we talk about today. Right. So self-awareness, what does it mean to be self-aware? So in the context of coaching in this first level, what does evoking awareness actually mean? Laurel Elders: So from the coach's perspective, it's asking questions that help the client gain self-awareness, self-attunement and self-generation. Bryant Alexander: Okay. Laurel Elders: So if I show up - I love to give this example - if I show up to work, I have a chip on my shoulder and I'm short with people and I'm closed down, I'm not very open and fun to be with. What are the odds - what's the probability I'm going to get a promotion? Bryant Alexander: Probably not too good. Laurel Elders: But if I get coached and I gain self awareness. I'm able to get rid of - we call it "catch ourselves in the act" - catch the chip on my shoulder, and eventually get rid of the chip on my shoulder. Now I'm showing up to work, open, creative, even fun to be with. What is the probability I might get that promotion? Bryant Alexander: Probably higher, right. Laurel Elders: Right. I may or may not get it, but I've gained access to that possibility, gained new awareness. New self-awareness. Bryant Alexander: I'm glad you use that work example too, because I think that oftentimes you hear people say that, I feel stuck, or they're not giving me this promotion, or I work hard and I'm not getting what I want. Right. And I think what you're alluding to is that awareness allows you to say, what am I doing? Or how can I show up differently? Or what are the things that I might be contributing to me not getting that promotion or me feeling stuck, in this job or in this role. So it's just interesting to kind of hear the importance of self awareness as it applies to work. But also in the grand scheme of life, self-awareness becomes such an important factor because I think what you speak to is just that relationship with yourself and how important that is and how that shows up. Um, and how the self-awareness kind of shapes the way you engage with not only yourself, but also just phenomenon or people, the world, whatever it may be. Laurel Elders: Yeah, absolutely. And it's so connected to the self-generation. Am I generating the outcomes that I want to be and that self-alignment? Am I showing up aligned? So if I've got a chip on my shoulder, I'm actually not showing up aligned with who I am. Because we're not our defense mechanisms, we're not our limiting beliefs, we're not our fears. So how can I get into self alignment to experience that empowerment in the workplace, but also at home? I mean, that's beauty of coaching, right? It goes with us everywhere we go. Bryant Alexander: Wow. And that's just layer one! Laurel Elders: That's just layer one. Within those skills there's eight core competencies, but within those, there's actually 63 subcompetencies. And I just find that really empowering for coach to get that diversity. So, shall we dive into layer two? Bryant Alexander: I don't know. I can walk away with layer one and just be good, but no, let's talk about layer two, please. Laurel Elders: So as we add another layer of depth into our coaching skill set, we start to focus on coaching the person and coaching the whole person. And this, to me, is where the magic happens because whether you're coaching a teenager or a c suite executive, you have a whole person in front of you. And there's a distinction that we make in coaching mastery, and that is to coach the person, not the problem. And when I first heard that, I was like, "yeah, but what exactly does that mean"? It was hard for me to grasp Bryant Alexander: Mhm. Yeah, I think it's still hard to grasp if you're first hearing it, especially if you've never. Because I think that we spend a lot of time on the problem and I think that it might be, I guess, to give an example to that. I think when I was doing a lot more career coaching, I would stay focused on the problem of the resume or the LinkedIn or the interviewing skills, or just I'm not comfortable networking. But when you take it a level, not a layer deeper, which actually causes you to zoom out more, it's like, oh, is it imposter syndrome or is it, just the stories you're telling yourself, is it self-sabotaging behaviors? Is it just confidence? Right. So I think that is how I can best kind of contextualize what it means to not, because I can look at your resume and LinkedIn all day and we can tweak this and we can tweak that. But if you get in front of people and you're having that imposter syndrome, or you're not really comfortably articulating, all right, this is the value that I bring, or you're telling yourself these very negative stories about your experience and what you actually bring to the table. That's actually getting to what that problem is versus staying at the, oh, we're going to go through a mock interview and we're going to talk about these things. So, such an interesting concept. Laurel Elders: It is. And that is a perfect example how much deeper we can go. Also a really great example of how, learning the coaching side of it is so impactful for consultants because they can take what they're teaching or helping with the details, externals, help the client internalize it, and that's where the transformation happens. Bryant Alexander: Great point, because coaching is also for consultants, and it might even help you become a better consultant because you're not just fixated on the problem, which is what consultants are hired for. Figure out all my problems. I'm saying yes, the coaching actually is something that you can add to your tool belt to where it's just like, what are we actually trying to figure? What is the problem we're actually solving here? Laurel Elders: So the other thing I wanted to share about coaching the person, not just the problem, is because you might want to ask, "why would we do this"? don't clients and employees come to us to solve a problem? They do, but if I solve it, I actually take away their agency and their personal power to self-generate. So there's a little bit of coaching - it is developmental. The client is learning and self-developing from within. Bryant Alexander: Agreed. Laurel Elders: So, one way to look at this is as someone comes to me for coaching, and I look at it like "I'm coaching this person, they're solving the problem". So I'm not focused on the problem. I'm focused on what is going on with my client. So: What is being said? What is not being said, what is happening somatically, visually, what's happening in the client's context, what's being reflected through beliefs, motivations, values. And a lot of those sometimes are under the surface. So coaches are trained to pick up on nuances that indicate more of that root level cause so that we can form more powerful questions to get the clients to go deeper. Bryant Alexander: Yeah, I think those things. So, self-generation is important because if you just put it in layman's terms, it's just like, are you more likely to do something that somebody else suggested to you versus actually coming up with your own solution and doing it yourself? And when I was going through that whole coach consulting kind of coaching phase, I found that my clients wouldn't follow through on certain things, and I would ask them why. It's just like I didn't feel comfortable doing that. But when I actually just. What would you feel comfortable doing then? Right. That is a question to where it can be considered a powerful question, because I'm just asking you, I'm putting the ownership back on you as far as what you would do and allowing you to speculate, well, I would do this or I would do that. What's stopping you from doing that then? It just opens a door to a whole different set of solutions. That can actually help the client get to where they want to go. So I think it's really important that self generation, it's just as simple as, like, I want to take ownership for my own development. I want to actually establish these next steps for myself, something that I feel comfortable with versus. I have a manager already. You're supposed to be my coach. I have kids already that are always, like, telling me what they want and what they need. Right. You're supposed to be my coach. How can I take the steps that I want to take in order to move forward. Laurel Elders: Yeah. And that, to me, really connects back to that. Also, the self-alignment piece. When we own an answer, and we're coming to something with full alignment, I mean, wow, the difference is pretty huge. Bryant Alexander: Agreed. Laurel Elders: I think - my theory is that a lot of morale issues are because it just lacks coaching culture, coaching opportunities in an organization for people to start self generating, step into their gifts and power and alignment in more powerful ways. Bryant Alexander: Agreed. Laurel Elders: All right, shall we move on to layer three? Bryant Alexander: Layer three. Coaching for the whole person. Right. Laurel Elders: Coaching "from" the whole person. So we are coaching a whole person. And are we coaching from our whole person? Bryant Alexander: Okay, now the onus is back on the coach, right. Coaching from the whole person. Laurel Elders: So, am I stuck in my head? Am I only coaching from my head? My cognitive space? I like to say coaching from the whole person is where your magic happens. The whole person is where the magic happens. Bryant Alexander: Okay. Laurel Elders: When we coach from our whole person, we're including intuitions, our somatic presence, vision, mindfulness, cognition, creativity. There's all these different things that we're including. And we found eight domains to human potential. So imagine I'm not just engaging my cognition, I'm engaging all of these. And we'll put a link to what those are below. But engaging your coaching at that level gets to be a lot more profound for the coaching, the impact that your coaching can have. Bryant Alexander: Okay, it sounds like mindfulness is there. What's the best way to be mindful within your own body while you're also engaging with somebody else? Laurel Elders: Well, does take practice, right when we're first learning coaching? Of course, like chatter. "Oh, my gosh. Am I doing it right? " "Am I asking the right question? " "What's the next best question? " "Is the client going to get results? " We're stuck in our head. We can sink down into mindfulness, as you said, into a grounded space and really hold that space for the client so that we're using all of our faculties and we're hearing at those deeper levels, the coaching, naturally, there's no push to it. Just naturally becomes more fluid, more powerful, deeper, just naturally. Bryant Alexander: It's amazing to me a level of mindfulness, but also just a level of presence, with everything that you're feeling. Like, if the client says something to you, it sounds like, how does that feel in your body? Right. Like, if a client has a strong emotion, where do you feel that at? Within your own body, but also as you're. And that I guess that kind of just generates within you like a question like, hey, notice there was a strong emotion there. Tell me more about that. Right. That is not easy at all. And the reason I can say that is because I've been on a couple of - because I learned this concept from being on silent meditation retreats. And they teach you so much about how your body responds to things first, not your brain, meaning that you have to be like, let's say if it's a negative emotion, if it's a sensation, it will start in the body and it will work its way up to the brain. Right. And I don't want to get too scientific, but it's just interesting to just understand. We think that our perception, or when we see something, that it starts within the brain and then it's like fight, flight or freeze, but it actually starts in the body. And when you're able to feel where it's at in the body and then it works its way up to your brain, you're able to kind of make a decision on what to do with it. But in coaching, it sounds like when you fill it in the body, it's going to be so organic that it'll just get you to that next powerful question versus thinking too hard. As far as like, this is how I'm going to put this question. Laurel Elders: Yeah, there's a wholeness in our presence. Bryant Alexander: I got you. Laurel Elders: And to me, I love what you just shared. Ah. And it's so aligned with that self-awareness piece. Where am I right now? "Oh, I'm back in my head". Bryant Alexander: M yeah. Laurel Elders: So those are the three layers. As you can see there are ways that you can also identify what level of coach training or what type of training is right for you. Right. So not every person that wants to add coaching skills, the layer one needs to go to all layers, right. Especially - they may serve leaders. All three layers may serve leaders. But just adding coaching skills is often just really profound experience in and of itself. Bryant Alexander: Mhm. And I guess with these different layers let's say I was at home today, right? How would I know what layer that I'm like, I'm here, all right? Or this is what I'm needing. How would a leader know which is right for them? Laurel Elders: I would say depending on what - that's a great question because it's so different for everyone. So I would say if you really care about being a coach like leader so helping your employees self develop into their gift so you're not providing the scaffolding they're doing their own work and learning to be independent thinkers. Bryant Alexander: Mhm. Laurel Elders: That is uh, an excellent time to go for these two layers, if not the three, is just like the icing on the cake. Bryant Alexander: Got you. Yeah, got you. Okay, got you. Go ahead. Laurel Elders: Sorry, I was just going to say, but a lot of consultants or managers, they might just, those coaching skills, that first layer is really impactful too. Bryant Alexander: Yes, a lot in that first layer. I would say you could spend a couple of months on that first layer in itself. Years really on that first layer. So for sure. Laurel Elders: It's so fun to me when people come into the - even just the module one and say, "I didn't realize there was so much more to coaching! " "I thought I'd been coaching for years. " We hear that a lot. Bryant Alexander: Including myself. Laurel Elders: I do want to add is sometimes, just to throw this out there, some mistakes that we see companies make when they do, like an internal coach training - they might put someone in charge that may know a little bit about coaching, but doesn't know the full spectrum of all the skills. And so then sometimes what happens is they end up coming to us later and going, oh my gosh, we could have saved years of time and headaches and had we known that all these layers were there and available to us. So I always invite people, if you have questions about coaching, reach out. This is all we do. You can go straight to us. We're very accessible. We're coaching geeks here at the institute. So we love talking about coaching. Bryant Alexander: Yes. If you have any questions, I am here. As you've already heard, there are so many layers to coaching, even deeper than this. Once you dive into kind of just the subtopics within each one of these layers, I can say one, it doesn't just help you as a leader, as a consultant. I think when you go through coach training at any level or any layer, I think what happens is it just helps you overall as a person, personally, professionally, whatever, it just is a self discovery process. And here at the institute, I really love the emphasis on not just the art of it. Right. I love the science behind it. This program has really helped me with understanding somatics, but in a very in depth way. And for anybody that doesn't know what somatics is, it just has to do with the body. So when sensations come up in your body, just understanding what that is, where it's at, how to actually manage it, those things are so important, especially because we live in an error to where we just have a lot of distraction. We have a lot of screens in our face, and that leaves us in our head all the time, and we usually take the side of thinking versus actually feeling to understand what's really going on. So I think that's one of the, if not my biggest value proposition is that I'm learning about the art and science of coaching. And I think that, is always going to be helpful when it comes to just presenting the value to leadership teams or just if you have your own coaching practice, just your clients and how they actually engage in the coaching. Laurel Elders: Well said. All right, so that wraps us up for today. We hope today's mastery tip is a lantern to your path with coaching. It's our mission to elevate human potential through the art and the science of masterful coaching. Science, as Bryant pointed out, is included. If you're an individual or organizational leader seeking to bring coaching into what you do, please reach out. Bryant is here on LinkedIn. If you're joining us from another platform, you can also, reach to him at: admissions@integrativeintelligence.global. If you are curious, we do teach our Module One: Coaching Fundamentals six times a year, and we launch our full LEVEL ONE- Coaching Foundations and -LEVEL TWO- CPIC coach training program every March and October. These programs are designed to support you and your organization on your journey into coaching excellence. That's one of our passions. And we also are here to help companies increase business performance and leadership impact by developing coaching talent and creating coaching cultures. >> Corporate Training So if you're interested in that, we have three different approaches and ways to support you. So as you can see, lots of options to learn more, please visit us at integrativeintelligence. Global and we will see you next week. Next week we're going to dive into the different styles and types of coaching. Bryant Alexander: There we go. I'm excited about that one. I was excited about this one. I'm really excited about that one. Laurel Elders: Thanks everyone for joining us and we can't wait to be with you next week. Bryant Alexander: Thanks, everyone. Bye. Laurel Elders:
Hey, everybody. Our first LinkedIn live. I'm so excited. Welcome to Coaching Quips. These are weekly tips designed to equip coaches and future coaches with coaching mastery ideas to explore. I'm Laurel Elders, the founder of the Institute for Integrative Intelligence. I'm a master-certified coach with the ICF, and I'm excited to have with me today Bryant Alexander. Bryant is also a coach, and he works with us in admissions. We also have with us today Jill Aronoff. Jill is a leadership coach. She's with us to respond to questions in the chat. She's also going to be posting links as we go. All right, so, without further ado, we're just going to dive right in. Bryant, I just wanted to give you a chance to say hello and share a little bit about what you do. Bryant Alexander: Yeah, thanks. Thanks, Laurel. So, just a little bit about myself. I've been coaching for a while, specifically within the tech space. I help experienced tech professionals really define what freedom looks like for them, using their nine-to-five. But I also work with tech executives and tech founders and helping them become more effective leaders and build strong teams. So I'm glad to be here with you, Laurel. And I also want to add that I'm also a student at The Institute for Integrative Intelligence. So, Laurel is actually my instructor. So it's been a journey, and I'm just happy to share the platform. Laurel Elders: Thank you so much. I'm excited. So, today we're going to be talking about coaching versus advice giving and exploring just some key considerations. First of all, I just wanted to talk about coaching and really put some definition out there, just because there's so much misunderstanding. And coaching can be used as an umbrella term to just really put a label on just about anything nowadays. So, there are some clarifying distinctions that I found to be really helpful, and one of those is the metaphor of the two journeys. So, we found that in life, there are two journeys someone can take to reach their potential. That first journey, we can be shown the way. Someone can give us the book to read. We can take the classes, we can get mentoring. We've got counselors and therapists to guide us and show us the way. And what I found is that that gets us maybe this far. And it's that second journey that gets us the rest of the way to our potential and that nobody can show us. That's the self-discovered journey. And that's where coaching goes. True Coaching - what we're calling coaching - is taking someone through a self-discovery process that is self-directed and no other platform or approach that I know of takes somebody into that second journey and completely honors them as the expert and helps them develop their gifts from the inside out. Bryant Alexander: I agree 100% with that. I had that realization because I actually went through the therapy, like, just a lot of deep work as far as understanding what are my triggers? What is this thing that's bothering me? Or why do I feel like I can't move forward? And I think that guidance from the therapist got me to a point where it's like, all right, I understand the past, I understand those triggers, I understand what's setting me off. But now that I know how to manage that, how do I go about the future version of myself? And, even though I was working as a coach as well during the time, I had never actually worked with a coach before. And coaching was transformational for me because I think that if you claim to be a coach, you have to actually participate in it. But, uh, it was so transformational for me just because it helped me really create or put together the vision that I wanted to have for myself so I wasn't so stuck in those self sabotaging behaviors or like, this is just the way that I am and I understand this is how I'm wired. So it is what it is. It's like it gave me the space to say, all right, this is what's next for me, or this is the possibility of what growth can look like for me. Laurel Elders: Yeah, I love that. I was curious, when I was first learning coaching, I really struggled because I loved being able to provide answers and solutions. And so coaching in coach training, I learned when you provide an answer, you take away somebody's opportunity to self-generate. And that shift, that was so hard for me in the beginning. And we're talking about coaching mastery because, I mean, anybody can coach, but to masterfully coach is to really take someone into that second journey and not provide the advice and the answers. I'm just curious if you've experienced shifting that mindset. Bryant Alexander: I would say because I started in a traditional education space and I was doing a lot of advising, a little bit of coaching, but because it's a younger demographic, they need a little bit more context. So I carried that along for a while and thinking that, oh, this is masterful coaching, but in real life, it's just like one of the tenets that you all teach us is that your client is. You have to believe your client is well resourced, whole. Right. They have the ability to find the answers, uh, to their own solution. So even in my coaching today and understanding that tenant, it's like, I don't look to have the answers, because my answer isn't going to be what you're looking for, and you're less likely to really take ownership of what you want to do next if I'm just providing solutions. So I would say, yeah, I was stuck in more of a consulting advising role for the first couple of years in my early coaching, but I think the program has also just helped me put together, like, oh, uh, it's a way, it's masterful. If you really want to be a coach, to be masterful, it is truly to believe that the individual you work with has all the answers. It's just you're there to kind of put the guardrails up, to be like, all right, let's bring this back to you. What do you want to do, or what do you want helping them answer that question? So, took me a while, but I would say the program has definitely shed light on that for sure. Laurel Elders: Yeah, that was, um, big shift for me, too. Yeah, it took me a couple of years. I almost want to go back and apologize to my first clients. I'm so sorry. I didn't realize I was taking away your opportunities to find your own power and self generate, and I thought I was helping, but, um, now I know a better way. But I was thinking, too, about why do we just love giving advice? I've studied the brain and neuroscience, and we've reached this understanding that the brain is wired to provide answers or search for answers. We're not really organically, naturally wired to sit in curiosity unbiased, curiosity without judgment in honor of the direction the client is needing to go in. So I thought that was really fascinating. But also, this blew my mind. When I give, like, let's say, I slip up and I give my client advice because I get excited about a possibility. Well, who gets dopamine hit in the brain? Bryant Alexander: You do. Laurel Elders: Not my client! Yes, exactly. I'm excited. And they're like, "maybe". Bryant Alexander: I think I'm following you, but it's not for them. And you've been coaching for longer than I have, so I guess. Can you talk about an instance where you just knew, like, oh, "this is the shift I need to make"? can you talk about maybe a situation where it was just like, let me hold myself back from making this suggestion. Do you have an example in mind? Laurel Elders: Actually, one of my favorite examples is when I was hired as a consultant for business consulting, and I'd gotten to a point where I was just so in love with coaching. I just showed up that day. I was like, you know what? Why don't I just try to coach and see what happens first, and then I'll fill in the blanks, right? Because consulting - just to differentiate for those new to the distinctions - consulting is giving specialized advice. So it's perfect when there's missing information. But when it comes to somebody's self development or even creating something new, coaching is so profound. So I show up that day and, I made that agreement with myself, and I couldn't believe it. Zero consulting was needed that day. The client came up with way more brilliant answers than I ever could have just thought up on my own. Right. I'm not saying that is always the case, but it just showed to me that when we sit in honor of the client's truth first, it's powerful. It's really powerful. A powerful shift. Bryant Alexander: How was that day compared to any other day? You came in as the business consultant. How did you feel? How did the client react? What happened? What did you notice? Laurel Elders: Well, so, going back to what you said about the ownership piece, when someone is asked a question and comes up with an answer that's aligned and truly comes from within, there's ownership over you. And then - I also have a link to an article that Jill - we're going to be putting in the chat after this show. But research showed that when we're taking in advice, the brain offloads in a different way. The information doesn't really embed in the same way. So the brain goes into more of, like a neutral, and it doesn't embed into the neocortex while the advice is being given. And the consequence of that is ownership might happen later or maybe not at all. It was kind of left up in the air. But to engage the ownership and full integration, coaches are trained to ask powerful and meaningful questions that really engages the emotional and sensory side of the brain, not just the logical. And that's where ownership, inspiration, new skills start to develop. All of that exists through that process. Bryant Alexander: Well, I like to geek out about the science of coaching, too. I'm glad that you pointed that out. It's just not about, hey, these are about the feelings. This is, like, based in science. So I'm glad that you broke that down. It may have went over a few people's head, but I was like, yes. This is what gets me excited about coaching. Just how you can rewire the way somebody's brain is set up will help rewire or facilitate the process of rewiring the way somebody's brain is set up. For sure. Laurel Elders: Yeah, brain and heart, I would say, too, because we get, coaching, and people become so much more aligned with their core values, who they are, how they want to show up, what does integrity look like, what does it not look like? And all of that. Yeah, it's really whole person, which next week, we're going to be diving into a little bit more. Everyone, stay tuned for that one. So, I was just curious, before we wrap up, what inspired you to start learning more masterful coaching and the level two deeper dive coaching? Bryant Alexander: If anybody knows me or follows me. I've been coaching for a while, but I was actually running from coaching. And the reason that I was running away from coaching is because, I didn't like the emotional toll. Even though it gave me a lot of fulfillment, it gave me a lot of inspiration, it gave me a lot of, like, I love this. I didn't always like the emotional toll that kind of came with it, and that pushed me away from it. But I also saw, can I really make money with this thing? Because just, like, as a way to provide for myself, it's just like, is it possible to do this thing full time? Because I had never started a business before. I made money through working with organizations to be a coach. So what happened was it was probably like, it was actually like the year before last to where I have met Kevon Tucker, who is a masterful coach. I know he says PCC in his title, but he is a MCC for sure. And he exposed me to just what he's been able to do with coaching and tech. Like, he's worked for the Google, the Netflix, and all these other places. And even though I didn't immediately enroll in coaching, I just saw, just in our passive conversations, just like, how he talked about it, how he kind of bought back that enthusiasm to me. Because I had transitioned out of coaching, I was doing it part time, but I realized, oh, this is the thing that actually gives me energy. And I also had to learn how to hold space for myself and understanding. Like, I don't need to have all the answers and understanding. I needed to add more context to my experience or what it means to actually be a coach. So after working with the leadership coach, I realized, like, oh, this is something that I really care about. I had to kind of move out the way, like, all right, money, all right status, all right, title, like all these other things, I had to move all these things out the way because I realized coaching, it's kind of getting into the body, and we'll talk about it next week. But it gave me this feeling when I was working with people. It was like I was energized. I was like, when they had their aha moments, I would just be like, yes, that's it, that's it. Let's follow that, follow that. Tell me more about that. I would have these really just energetic moments, but then when I would do anything else, when it came to work, I was very low. I was very like, I don't really want to do this. So I say all that to say. I actually started to listen to my body more when I was actually facilitating a coaching session those little times in my job to where I actually got a chance to coach somebody I work closely with or coach a leader. And I had to say, like, all right, how long am I just going to hold this thing on the shelf? Because it's something that I'm good at, but I know there's a lot more context there. There's a lot more I need to learn in order to kind of sharpen my skills as a coach. And this is something, and I want to be a masterful coach. So that's why I decided to take the leap and say, like, all right, let's do this. We're going to go through an actual formal coach training program, because if anything, it's given just more context to the coaching that I was already doing and added to my skill set. So it's not really theoretical to me because now I'm able to go back and say, like, oh, here's what I did wrong. Here's what I did. Okay, here's what I did well. So it actually added to me just being a more masterful coach or moving in the direction of being a more masterful coach. But more importantly, it's just like, I just like to see the way inspire people to grow or inspire what their perception of growth could be for themselves, right? So just kind of like the science of it, the art of it, metaphors, like somatics, whatever that entails when it comes to coaching. That's what inspired me to come back to it and to actually go into a program because it's just like, it's not often you find something that makes you feel like that, and I think that you owe it to yourself to just see where it goes. It's not like final. Nothing is really final except death, as we know. But it's just like, well we don't even know that. We don't even know that. We don't even know that. I take that back. We don't even know that. But overall, it's just, you realize that you owe it to yourself. If you find that thing that gives you energy and that you just could do for free, dive into it, see what happens, and then take it from there. So that's what made me want to enroll at the institute. Laurel Elders: Yeah. I love that. I really resonate with what you're sharing, too. I originally thought when I went to coach training that I was going to learn some counseling skills, and I was blown away. I was like, oh, wait, we're not doing counseling. What else is there? Oh, there's this whole other approach. Totally mind blowing. Yeah. So fascinating. Well, thank you so much. This has been so fun. And, we are going to be doing these coaching quips in coaching mastery. We're going to really focus on coaching mastery every week, and we hope that they are a lantern to your path if you're a coach or a future coach. I always found that people feel called to coach when something inside of them is ready to awaken. Sometimes they know what that is, and sometimes it's just an inkling. So I also invite you to consider this week if you're feeling called to step further into coaching, what inside of you is ready to awaken. And if you are an individual or an organizational leader seeking to bring coaching into what you do, reach out to Bryant here on LinkedIn. You can connect with him directly here, and we've got a plethora of options to support your journey into coaching excellence. Our mission is to elevate human potential through both the art and the science. Bring that science piece in. That's important. The art and the science of masterful coaching. Thank you so much for joining us, and we hope to see you next week. Bye for now. Bryant Alexander: Thank you all. See you. Bye. I'm going to start by doing something I don't usually do. I'm going to brag about my team and how specialized we have become in what we do. We are a team of mission-driven coaches and trainers. We provide expertise in coaching, leadership, learning, and development, and we pride ourselves on specializing in ICF Standards. We are the only Institute on the planet teaching our trademark approach to Integrative Intelligence. We are very proud of these accomplishments and live inspired by the positive impact of our approach. Despite all this, I was missing an essential point about what we do without ever realizing it. I was speaking with two of my SCORE mentors a few weeks back. One of them asked me, "How do you define Integrative Intelligence?" I shared, "We see Integrative Intelligence as cultivating the wisdom of understanding interconnectivity." He laughed and said, "You're an academic! What you just said academics would love. I'm not an academic. That made no sense to me." I chuckled to myself because I got it. Extrapolating the full spectrum of meaning behind Integrative Intelligence has been a daunting task for me. While I was pondering how better to communicate the definition to everyone, not just academics, he went on and said, "Here is a challenge for you. Come up with a definition of Integrative Intelligence that your mom can understand." Challenge accepted! After a week of pondering and interviewing the team and my husband, we landed on a definition that my mother could understand. In basic terms, Integrative Intelligence cultivates the awareness that everything is connected in one way or another. Humanity's problems arise when we act as if they are not. Linear approaches yield linear results. In other words:
As you can see, Integrative Intelligence can be so far-reaching and has the capacity to shed light on anything we approach. Linear thinking, while it served a purpose, has also caused quite a bit of harm over the centuries. THE HISTORY: Whether for good or bad, right or wrong, the world is experiencing globalization. Western thought and approaches have permeated civilization, for better or worse. Western thinking was propagated in the mid-1600s by philosophers like René Descartes. Descartes was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician. Like many of the scientists of that time, Descartes studied everything by separating "objects" into various categories or parts. This Cartesian approach, often called "reductionistic," allowed science to rationally and mechanistically examine the parts of what they were studying. However, when applied to the lives of human beings, this fragmentation devalued the truth of how everything is connected. In the words of Dan Newby, author of The Unopened Gift, "Whatever we wanted 'to know' had to meet the rules of logic or reason or the associated disciplines of mathematics, physics, and other 'hard sciences'." In academia, we are given options to study everything as if it were separate. We have departments in math, science, psychology, etc. The issue is that separation is an illusion and not a truth. Studying disciplines separately comes with consequences and limitations. Examining things through a Westernized linear lens has equally limited the development of deeper wisdom. Wisdom that is prevalent in a variety of cultures across the globe. Linear thinking, seeing things separately, acts like blinders, eclipsing our understanding of interconnected reality from both our hearts and minds—the result: divided economies, racism, sexism, hierarchy, war, and so forth. All are based on different forms of division. A NEW APPROACH: I say it is time to bring back the more integrated perspectives that were prevalent centuries ago, prior to globalization. It is time to view all of our intelligence beyond the intellect. Westernized thought gives preference to the intellect, yet the intellect is also where the most limitations abound. The mind (intellect) is the center of intelligence most susceptible to self-deception and illusion. When we view the human being as a whole, we see that we have eight domains of intelligence centers, the intellect only being one of those. Human beings have the capacity to develop emotional, somatic, cognitive, relational, motivational, energetic, spiritual, and integrational capacities. A visual example of understanding the importance of developing our Integrative Intelligence is understanding this: In order to prevent this: What can happen if we continue to live within the limits of linear approaches? What could be possible if we start living through our wholeness and full capabilities?
Integrative Intelligence is providing a new innovative approach. Truth is not new, but how we approach the truth deserves some well-deserved innovation. IN CONCLUSION: We are here to teach methodologies and frameworks empowered by Integrative Intelligence. For example, consider how it is one thing to coach and another to understand what your coaching is connected to. One of my favorite testimonies to receive is not just from my clients. My favorite testimonials come from a spouse or co-worker who expressed gratitude for the positive transformations they are experiencing within the person being coached. Coaching is integration work. Integration work has massively positive impacts. Positive impact radiates out to positively impact others. We are all connected. Everything, in fact, is connected. When done well, leadership is also integration work. Masterful leaders see how things are connected and respond with a bigger-picture problem-solving paradigm. Will we develop the wisdom to see this? That is up to us to decide. I say yes! Happy Birthday to the Institute! We were officially given the blessing to be founded as a private entity in February 2016.
I'm SO profoundly proud to be a part of the positive impact movement here at the Institute! Had we not gone private, I'm not sure we could have had the freedom to do what we are doing today. To watch a short video outlining our full history story, CLICK HERE. This month, I decided to focus on integration and give everyone some key things to consider regarding their integration journey. This week, let's consider the definition of Integrative Intelligence and reflect on how it shows up in our lives and work. - Laurel Hi. My name is Rupa Rihan, and I wanted to share a testimonial about my experience in the Level Two Coach Certification program with The Institute for Integrative Intelligence.
I really loved this program, and I am in the process of completing my certification after completing my coursework in 2023. Last year, I got to know the institute through a partnership the institute has with Coaching For Everyone and- I was part of a cohort of coaches of color that went through this certification together. What I really loved was the way in which, Laurel and the other faculty at The Institute for Integrative Intelligence, were so open to feedback around diversity, equity, inclusion, and really wanting to make this cohort and program as thoughtful and diverse and heart centered as possible. I was blown away by the faculty. I have experienced transformational coaching from my mentor coach, and feel like every step of the way, the faculty, the alumni, the champions of this institute were in our corner and continue to be in our corner, walking this walk and this journey to becoming certified coaches together. I am so transformed by this experience with The Institute for Integrative Intelligence, and I'm so glad that I went this direction because there are many options in the coach certification space, and I learned that this integrated program was the right path for me. I hope you consider doing, either the -LEVEL ONE- Foundations, -LEVEL TWO- CPIC, or any of the programs! I truly believe you won't regret it. Coach training and education are essential and valuable elements of becoming a professional coach. However, like any field, myths and misconceptions can surface over time. Here are some common myths about coaching, coach training, and coaching education: 1. Myth: Anyone can be a coach without training. Reality: While some people have natural counseling abilities, professional coach training provides differentiated skills, approaches, techniques, and frameworks that take people through a self-discovery process. Ironically, the brain is wired to locate answers and give solutions. Therefore, actual coaching skills rarely come naturally and require learning an entirely new perspective. Training also helps professionals gain ethical parameters and understand key distinctions between coaching, consulting, teaching, mentoring, and counseling. They are all unique, and all serve very different purposes. Training also lends to credibility and competence to clients. 2. Myth: Coach training is quick and easy. Reality: Would you go to a doctor after six months of medical education? Just like you don't obtain a degree overnight, coach training typically involves a significant commitment to study and apply the new skills you are developing. Many certificate mills offer a quick rubber stamp. While anyone can obtain a rubber stamp, not everyone can learn masterful coaching without entering into training, education, and mentoring. Coaching Education: Getting an education in coaching teaches you what coaching is, what coaching is not, what frameworks are effective for various circumstances, and what skills you can develop to become a masterful coach. Our Module One, Coaching Fundamentals, and our Module Two, Integrating Human Intelligence, focus on the coaching education aspect. Coach Training: Training is the application of those skills and involves practice. In our approach, we imbed training throughout all Modules. Training is a very critical aspect of coaching mastery. Applying what you learn in real-time integrates the education into action. Mentor Coaching: In mentoring, you receive direct feedback on your coaching gifts, strengths, patterned ways of being, and areas of growth. Mentoring follows education and training to instill integration of the skills even further. Programs vary in length, depending on your goals and needs. Typically, a Level One program will be approximately 6-12 months. In comparison, Level Two training will be closer to 12-18 months. 3. Myth: Coach training is expensive. Reality: The tuition for coach training is a third of the cost of obtaining a degree. The training is also a third of the time, and an accredited program will be hands-on so that you experience what is being taught in real time versus attending lectures. For example, Level One programs typically cost between $6k and $10k and are equivalent to obtaining a bachelor's degree in coaching. A bachelor's degree can be closer to $ 20k- $40k. Level Two programs typically cost between $12k and $20k. They are equivalent to obtaining a master's degree in coaching, which ran between $40k and $75k the last time I checked. For this reason, investing in a coaching program is a very high-impact route to take when it comes to career progression. 4. Myth: Certification guarantees success. Reality: Earning a coaching certification is a significant achievement, but it doesn't guarantee success as a coach. Success depends on a combination of business experience, marketing, and networking. Certification can enhance your credibility, but it's just one part of the equation. A quality coaching program will include education on business development, marketing, networking and contracting. Becoming a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) also includes business support. 5. Myth: Expertise in one area equates to coaching expertise. Reality: Coaching is not about providing expert advice or solutions- that is the role of an advisor or consultant. When done properly, coaching is a client-directed process involving powerful questions, active listening, and helping clients discover their inner superpowers. In sports coaching, the coach pushes, teaches, and motivates so that the athlete can excel and gain momentum. In personal coaching, this approach takes away a person's power. In personal coaching, if we step in with external guidance, we remove the person's opportunity to self-generate, and we do not help them grow and develop their inner resources. In personal coaching, we set aside advising, pushing, and guiding to support the client's growth. You can't give someone their power. Personal power comes from within. In personal coaching, we carry expertise in the coaching process, while the client carries expertise about themselves. Furthermore, coach training will amplify any expertise you have. During training, you will learn how to tap into your expertise while still honoring the client's self-directed process. So, don't worry; you won't have to leave any expertise at the door. You will learn to use expertise differently than if you were to teach, advise, or mentor. Your hard-earned wisdom is elevated through the coach training process in ways you may never have imagined before. 6. Myth: Coach training is only for those wanting to coach. Reality: Coach training can be valuable for various professionals, including managers, consultants, realty team leads, leaders, therapists, and educators. Coaching skills enhance emotional intelligence, mental agility, personal skills, and communication. They also empower creative problem-solving, expand versatility, and positively impact confidence and resilience to rise above stress. Learning coaching skills has the added benefit of learning how to self-coach in any situation, leading to more clarity and peace of mind. In conclusion, coach training is a valuable and necessary step for those looking to become successful coaches. Dispelling common myths and having realistic expectations about the process and outcomes is essential. Training positively impacts any professional role and is not only designed for those becoming a professional coach. A well-rounded coach training program will provide the knowledge, skills, and support needed to excel and empower you personally and professionally. Laurel's message on what it means to be powered by wholeness: Years ago, I sat with an internal crisis on my heart. I looked at all of the greed, the shootings, the beaches filling with plastic, and much, much worse. I'm sure you've noticed the world is hurting in so many ways right now. At that moment, as I felt the weight of the world on my heart, it all felt like way too much to handle. That day, out of sheer desperation, I cried out in prayer. "God, this is just too big. I can't fight these greedy corporations. I can't stop the traffickers. I can't stop the next shooting. I can't fight hard enough to make any difference in this world." My desperation to heal the world felt like an unanswerable mission. I just wanted to help so badly. Yet, I felt so small and insignificant. But something astonishing happened in that moment. A message came to my heart that deeply surprised and comforted me, and it was this: "Laurel, you don't have to fight. Teach people what's in their hearts." At that moment, I agreed I could do that. I decided to accept that call. I've created this program Powered by Wholeness because of that commitment I made through prayers years ago. But, even if you don't believe in prayer, a God, or a Higher Power, it doesn't matter because a bigger picture of positive impact is unfolding globally. I'm inviting you to join this unfolding with me! As an extension of my commitment, we held a class called Your Power Comes From Your Wholeness last year. So what exactly does this mean? Well, get this! In the documentary The Power of the Heart, Rollin McCraty is interviewed about his research on the heart and how information flows from heart to brain. Participants were hooked up to brain, skin, and heart monitors in this study. Each person was shown thirty random high or low-arousal images. An image popped up for three seconds, then was blank for ten seconds. The results were completely unexpected. The heart reacted to the images before the brain or skin even. But, what shocked the scientists most was not logically explainable by physical science: the heart clearly reacted before the person visually saw the image. What was even more unexplainable is that the heart responded five seconds prior to the high-arousal pictures being randomly chosen by the computer program. If you study science at the surface level, you could logically conclude that this is 100% impossible, and you'd be right. Yet, when we study quantum physics, we learn that energy, space, and time are not subject to the same laws as the material physical dimension. Energy has its own laws, and scientists are still working to understand them fully. This study was a powerful finding because it was evidence there is a part of you connected to something greater! Are you ready to engage this part of yourself in 2024? What would happen globally if we all started participating in life at this level? The world needs our positive contribution NOW. Not tens years from now. NOW. If you are also on a mission to be a part of the solution and are ready to tap into something greater within you, whether that is a mission, a calling, or a new business vision, this is the direction we are heading in Powered By Wholeness. This program will activate something greater within you to elevate your greatness in 2024 and beyond. This program is so powerful because YOU are so powerful! If this message calls you, I invite you to step into the success circle with me to get to YOUR core in 2024! In this six-month program, we meet monthly for a lesson on personal power, and we do group coaching exercises. We also give you life experiments to try on so that you can see what happens when you operate more deeply through the goodness and greatness within you. Why six months? First, because the deeper the roots the taller the tree. Success doesn't happen overnight. It takes consistency and grounding to expand. Secondly, I'm only interested in helping people attain sustainable results in their lives. Quick doesn't stick. And we have options! You can join the circle for the lessons and community support or add personal coaching support to your journey! I absolutely love that coaching is a temporary self-investment but produces results that go with you for a lifetime. You can't undo new self-expansion! Once it is there, it is there. I'm also excited to announce that I am personally taking on three clients during this program to work with one-on-one. Two spots are left, so scoop up your spot soon if you'd love to work with me privately. We also have a plethora of amazing heart-centered coaches to help you integrate your greatness. So, there are lots of options! Hop on over to check out the details. I hope to see you in the circle this Wednesday!!! Oh- and invite a friend or two to grow with!! As Simon Sinek says, "Together is better"! >>> CLICK HERE and sign up
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