Challenging habitual norms thus createing new perspective
Thinking drives emotions, behaviour and actions and managers and HR departments need to understand the impact that thinking has on performance. Skewed perspectives, generalizations and negativity limit creativity and productivity.
Cognitive behavioural coaching is a model used by counsellors and life coaches which is particularly effective in helping people who are experiencing stress, anxiety or negative thoughts. Cognitive behavioural coaching is helpful in helping you to identify if there are particular patterns of thinking that you allow to imbalance your perceptions and create negative feelings.
Now what gets included in CBT is very exciting – let us have a look
Mind Reading – e.g. imagining that other people are thinking negative thoughts about you when there is little objective evidence to support the same.
Fortune Telling – i.e. imagining gloomy things happening which are not necessarily going to happen. In some cases your anxieties about them may increase the likelihood of them happening as when.
All or Nothing Thinking – seeing everything in extreme terms when in fact there may be some positive and some negative aspects or consequences to the situation.[/i]
Negative self critical thoughts quite often contain words such as “never” or “should” which are either extreme or else moralistic in their self condemnation. [/i]
Cognitive behavioural coaching is a practical and very useful model for helping you change your mindset and view situations in a constructive way. It is a model I have frequently used with very positive results with clients and research.
Cognitive behavioural coaching operates upon the idea that people's responses are determined by how they perceive a situation, not by the actual situation itself. Therefore, by actively re-assessing existing unproductive views towards situations, and then trying out various alternative outlooks that are more productive, a person may be better able to cope with challenges. Instead of letting emotions rule and drive our reactions, a systematic and more productive mode of thinking is developed and employed. The number and length of sessions depends on the person's requirements: for example, one hour weekly sessions to tackle an ongoing problem or a marathon three hour session to deal with performance anxiety regarding an imminent public speaking engagement.
This method of coaching empowers individuals to help themselves in future situations without the aid of their coach, thus reducing their dependence on the coach. By teaching them practical skills in overcoming challenges through rational thinking and careful deliberation of consequences, clients who have undergone cognitive behavioral coaching are able to come up with better ways of approaching their challenges and more consistently achieve the results they desire. Coaching for leadership development occurs with selected executives, senior managers and teams or as part of a company-wide coaching initiative. Coaches, both internal and external, are also contracted to work within a specific business unit or with individual referrals. There are various coaching approaches, which aim to facilitate changes in an individual's habits, attitudes, behavior, and eventually pave the way for positive development and personal growth. One well recognized approach is cognitive behavioral coaching. It is one of the most effective, well researched and extensively practiced forms of coaching in business and industry today.
Some areas of leadership coaching include: leaders in transition, new hires, high potential individuals being ‘groomed” for promotion, individuals in new positions, management competencies to complement technical expertise, developing and communicating a strategic vision, strategic planning, culture change, ambassadorship, leading executive teams, overcoming isolation and interpersonal skills such as communication and dealing effectively with colleagues and with power.
Cognitive Behavioural Coaching recognizes that how people think affects how they feel, which in turn influences the decisions and actions they take. Through a systematic process of questioning, Cognitive Behavioural Coaching challenges an individual’s self defeating thoughts, beliefs and behaviours. The result of this is increased emotional intelligence and overall well being in both their personal and professional lives. The ultimate goal of CBC is for individuals to become their own coaches, though intermittent booster sessions can be arranged once the coaching programme has ended.
In the workplace, positive thinkers tend to perform better and achieve more than negative thinkers. The rationale is simple: if a person is unsure that he or she can succeed in a particular challenge, then it is most probable that the effort he or she would expand into reaching their objective would be less and the probability of achieving the result reduced.