Category: Coaching

Tips on Best Practices for Virtual Meetings

spiritbearcoach
Virtual Meeting Tips
Use all virtual meeting features in video platform to interact with

Like with any group meetings, I often see and hear from people at the end, muttering to themselves ‘I didn’t have to go to that meeting’ or words to the effect, they feel their time was wasted. Designing virtual meetings is no different.

  • POW – Purpose of meeting? Objective of meeting? And Why me? If the host of the meeting hasn’t made Purpose/Objective/Why me clear, then email them for clarity. If still not clear, you reserve the right to not attend the meeting. Someone can always send you the meeting summary.

Thought: Otherwise, one can go from meeting to meeting and not get any work done.

  • Depending on the context of the meeting, you want to send the agenda and docs at least 48hrs before the scheduled meeting.

Thought: It’s hard to have a sensible debate, if you don’t know what your going to debate about.

  • Allow time to debate, and have roles as to who are the Time Keeper, Host/Facilitator, Note Taker and Techie for uploading shared docs and IT fixer.

Thought: Have someone ready to step in to continue the discussion should a participant suddenly have broadband issues and can’t be heard.

  • Keep building relationships as even though video conferencing is great, but you can lose rapport with participants. Keep them engaged by seeking each of their input and perspectives on the topics.

Thought: With virtual meetings you can’t rely on visual cues, so listen to their tonality, emotion, content and commitment. It requires deep listening skills. Be comfortable with silence, as participants gather their thoughts before answering questions.

  • Be sure that all participants understand their accountabilities and ownership of projects discussed.

Thought: The 3 W’s – Who? What? When?

  • Follow up meeting with an email clarifying anything that was perhaps not made clear on the call and summarise agreed action points.

Thought: Follow up with a one on one call with those that find that form of communication easier, the quiet ones.

until we meet again…

BIO: Johnathan Brooks MA, PG Dip, MAC is an experienced Life/Career Executive Coach with 1,500+ hrs in the field, who has trained in a wide range of personal development methods including CBT Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (postgrad), EFT Emotional Freedom Technique, Master NLP Neuro Linguistic Programming,  has a Postgraduate Diploma Degree in ‘Coaching and NLP’, which he passed with a ‘Commendation’, a Master of Arts in ‘Applied Coaching’ and certified Firework Career Coach. He is based in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Bio Trivia: Johnathan is an enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe and whose godfather was Yul Brynner who won an Oscar for the King and I (1957).

He is a full member of the Association for Coaching (MAC), full member of the European and Mentoring Council (UK) and a professional member of the Association of NLP.

Click here for Johnathan’s LinkedIn profile

Career Change Is Possible

spiritbearcoach

thank you signage

“When I first heard about career coaching I was feeling very bad about my job. I had gotten to a point where I felt very stuck, increasingly stressed and was not happy. I was very sceptical about careers coaching, I felt like it would just make me feel worse and that I already knew the solutions to my problems but was just powerless to do anything about them. 

With every session from the very first one I have gone in feeling very low and come out with a new energy and with some positive actions to go away and make things happen. The sessions have had a positive effect on how I view my work life but have also helped me significantly with my home life and stresses outside of work. I have found the sessions a really good forum to voice my frustrations in a safe environments and to get support in identifying what is wrong, why it affects me so much and what I can do to address it. I have learnt a lot about myself, what I want from a career and have ultimately ended up finding a different role that matches better with my core values.

Before going into the careers coaching I didn’t know what I wanted, I just knew I didn’t want what I had. Now I have a much clearer picture and am genuinely excited to make the next steps (transition) and work towards a clearer goal. I am incredibly grateful for the help I have received and would recommend it to anyone who is struggling with their work life.” ~ SL

Wishing you all a MERRY Christmas and an abundant New Year!

Walk in Peace;

Walk in Beauty

until we meet again…

 

signature

BIO: Johnathan Brooks MA, PG Dip, MAC is an expert Life/Career Executive Coach with 1,500+ hrs experience, who has trained in a wide range of personal development methods including CBT Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (postgrad), EFT Emotional Freedom Technique, Master NLP Neuro Linguistic Programming,  has a Postgraduate Diploma Degree in ‘Coaching and NLP’ which he passed with a ‘Commendation’, a Master of Arts in ‘Applied Coaching’ and certified Firework Career Coach. He is based in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Bio Trivia: Johnathan is an enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe.

He is a full member of the Association for Coaching (MAC), full member of the European and Mentoring Council (UK) and a professional member of the Association of NLP.

AC Acredited Coach.jpg                    EMCC Logo                           

The Use of Cards in Coaching

spiritbearcoach

AngelI’ve always been interested in how cards can be used in coaching sessions, some directly and in-directly.

In my personal practice I normally work on a new client about 30 mins before they arrive not necessarily knowing what the problem is yet. One of the first things I do is draw an angel card and I see how this relates to the client’s issue that day, but without telling them about the cards. I’ve been working like this for the last 17 years. I think of it as observational research and the cards always without fail relates to the clients situation in some way. Cards have been a great aid for asking insightful coaching questions that then lead to very creative sessions.

Recently for a new client, I drew the angel card of Fun, next I pulled the Trickster from the Native American Path cards, which is also as it happens to be about laughing at the realisation of the crooked path one is on and not to be so serious. The next card I pulled from the Medicine Cards deck was Beaver, which is about working hard and working together. I then let it be and see what opened up during the session.

During the session he mentioned social anxiety (not working together), he was retired and wanted to use his time more effectively but didn’t know what to do with his time, but wanted fun. He also mentioned that he got frustrated with others and gave the example of road rage he gets. So anger became our first piece of change work that session, as the anger also affected his personal relationship with his partner.

When he left, guess what his personalised car number plate was? Ans: FUN

Heal Your Wounds and Find Your True Self Archives – Spirit Bear Coaching

Heal Your Wounds and Find Your True Self Archives – Spirit Bear Coaching

spiritbearcoach

Life Coaching: Do Clients That Suffer Really ‘Ask’ For it?

xan-griffin-420173-unsplash

In my life coaching practice in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, when listening to clients’ stories, I listen not to the content of their story, but to the context and structure. How did they get into this situation/mess? Or, How do they do that (the issue)? Basic life coaching will simply work on those levels, which is fine. But, if one really listens, the client will also talk about how the issue ‘wounds’ them, but gets missed by the life coach or even by therapists.

On this deeper level, you can then ask how has the wound continued to pop up through out their lives way before the issue that they came to seek help for? Their life script! But when did this wound really start, could they somehow have brought the wound into this lifetime? Now, we’re really going even deeper to their core ‘wounding’. And deeper still, could we therefore all not only have chosen our wounding but also our parents before birth?

In a previous article I wrote about ‘Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?’ And is also worth reading to shed more light on the subject.

However, this is not readily accepted by the average person’s belief system of having to experience something to believe it, after all ‘seeing is believing’. Or is it? Can we really trust our perception of events if we project outwards, after generalising, distorting and deleting the information in our brains?

The subject raised is of course a vast one of the evolutionary expansion of the brain, and if you have not already read it I would suggest you read Deepak Chopra’s and Rudolph Tanzi’s ‘Super Brain’, 20012, for the relationship of mind, brain and consciousness. Another useful book is Llyn Roberts ‘Shaping Shifting Into Higher Consciousness’, 2010.

The first issue of choosing one’s parents before birth, I cannot do better than refer you to the incarnation process and soul counselling before conception as have been described by Mme Blazatsky, Alice Bailey, Phoebe Benedict and Eva Pierrakos and apparently depends upon:

1. The maturity of the incoming soul, and

2. The expectant parent with providing the needed life experiences for the fulfilment of the future life task of their child.

So here we come to people’s/client’s need to experience and their (non) belief system. I would first ask:

What is an experience for? The answer has been given, as ‘Every experience is a way to understand and move towards a greater awareness of our journey of inner growth towards Oneness.’ But no experience happens by chance and everything has higher purpose and meaning so the goal is out of separatism into wholeness. A Course In Miracles says, “The choice of the goal is mine, I chose the feelings I experience and I am responsible for what I see”(my reality).

So the problems and painful experiences I encounter through life are:

1. Inherited as part of my soul task, and

2. From my early conditioning and these wounds are named by at least three writers as: Rejection, Abandonment, Humiliation, Betrayal, and Injustice.

And my attitude towards life or belief system about the world is filtered through a mind-set of feelings, thoughts, ideas, and memories that effect my perceptions.

A Course In Miracles says, ‘The atonement (Oneness) might be equated with total escape from the Past and total lack of interest in the Future.’ Heaven is here, now. It is our one responsible to except this atonement. If our intention directs our development process towards healing, wholeness/home this is our life purpose and our unconscious mind will bring into consciousness outer life opportunities for growth.

To say you cannot believe in anything you have not experience is perhaps saying some experiences are too painful to face and victimhood is preferable to the responsibilities of empowerment.

I therefore suggest we all consider which type of wounding resonates with you the most and reflect on the mask you have chosen to wear to hide from the problems you have yet to solve.

These masks maybe of:

  1. Withdrawal,
  2. Dependence,
  3. Masochism (emotional/mental abuse),
  4. Control, or
  5. Rigidity/Denial

Ref: Lise Bourbeau ‘Heal Your Wounds and Find Your True Self’ 2001. 

I hope this addresses a small part of our questions. I like to go much deeper than your average life coach in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. I’ve had too within my own life otherwise our stuff (wounds) will keep on resurfacing!

“In every work of genius, we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

’til we meet again,

Walk in Beauty;
Walk in Peace.

signature

 

‘Causing the Miraculous by Spreading Beauty, Truth & Harmony‘

Johnathan Brooks, MAC, PG Dip is a Life Coach who has trained in a wide range of personal development treatment methods including the “Power Therapies” (CBT Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (postgrad), EFT Emotional Freedom Technique, Master NLP Neuro Linguistic Programming) and has a Post Graduate Diploma in ‘Coaching and NLP’ which he passed with a ‘Commendation’. And is based in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

He is a full member of the Association for Coaching (MAC) and is a Gold member of The Professional Guild of NLP.