and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.

And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.

If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking and don’t settle.

As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you’ve found it.”

Steve Jobs

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They were interested in methods of career coaching currently practiced in the UK.

Here’s the article in full below.

Contemporary Career Coaching

Contemporary Career Coaching is a way of describing the approach I use having been influenced by my coaching and counselling training with NLP and Contemporary Psychotherapy organisations in the U.K.

The word “con-tempo-rary” means literally “with time” or “moving in time”. And “Career” can be described as a person’s progress or general course of action through life. A contemporary approach therefore looks to respect the evolving processes of a client’s unique life journey. It will explore the full ‘timeline’ of the client – past influences and decisions; current conditions and desires; and future plans and goals.

In applying this approach I will often use a model developed by Robert Dilts called Logical Levels. Although being the subject of some debate within the NLP community, it is nevertheless a useful tool for providing a structured map of the client’s history, current considerations, and motivations for the future.

The Logical Levels model gives the coach a framework for working with the client to gather and organise information that influences their decisions and behaviours (often unconsciously). It helps to raise the client’s awareness of these influences so that they can be reviewed as part of the coaching process.

The model suggests that who we are is influenced by our understanding of what we value the most, and the beliefs we have about ourselves and others. These factors, coupled with our skills and experience, affect our interactions, behaviours and level of satisfaction.

When each level is aligned we are acting and behaving congruently, and ‘being true to ourselves’. If any of the levels are misaligned, we may feel unfulfilled or uncomfortable in some way.

Therefore, when making decisions about our career, it helps to consider all of our ‘levels’. It encourages a personalised, authentic assessment rather than one being based on learned responses and perceived expectations of others and society in general. Making changes at the lower levels without first considering the upper levels may also soon lead to a lack of satisfaction with the results.

I will generally introduce the model to the client at the beginning of the career coaching process. With the use of a flipchart we’ll start to explore and record the client’s personal views of themselves against each of the levels.

We’ll start with their values. (The reasons WHY we do things). What qualities are important to them now? Perhaps being creative? Having freedom? Working ethically? How might these affect their future? Values change over time, and what a client is doing now might no longer be honouring their current values. Ideally we’ll look at identifying and ranking the client’s current top 5 values. These then become a reference for later decisions.

Next will be beliefs. What does the client believe about themselves? Which beliefs might be holding them back or affecting their confidence? When were the beliefs first decided upon and why? This is an opportunity for the coach to explore and even challenge old beliefs that are no longer helpful, with positive beliefs being reinforced.

Logical Levels image

(Source: Google images).

We’ll then acknowledge and record all of the client’s skills, resources and experience that they have acquired so far. (HOW we do things). This empowers the client to recognise the many ways that these can be applied to future options and decisions.

The final stage will be for the client to consider career options and conditions that honour their values, beliefs, skills and preferred way of working. (WHAT we do and WHERE we do it). Here I’ll support the client in identifying solutions that match these criteria and our understanding of the marketplace. We’ll then put together a route map and action plan for the client to take away.

This approach aims to align all of these factors so that they are mutually supportive, enabling the client to make informed decisions about career choice, progression of goals and positioning for the future.

They can do this with clarity and confidence, and with beliefs and perceptions which have been reviewed and validated through personal exploration and analysis. They are then more likely to feel motivated and satisfied by the next steps in their journey.

Alan Hills

www.contemporarycoaching.co.uk

References and links:

www.beeleaf.com

www.nlpu.com

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NLP coaches and psychotherapists may listen to a client’s language patterns as an opportunity for bringing about positive change. They often use meta modelling with a client to highlight if he or she is overgeneralising, deleting or connecting situations, feelings and events without specific evidence to back it up.

It’s useful to tune in to our own use of words from time to time to see if they are helping or hindering our experience of life. The common limiting language patterns are summarised here, along with the meta model questions used to encourage more specific and informed statements.

Oh, and as a bit of fun, I put the blog url into Wordle today, and it produced a wonderful graphic of the common words used on this site. Interesting in itself to see the different effects that words can have depending on how they are presented. Have a go yourself!

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This is encouraging in the sense that change is always possible, rather than being fixed in childhood. And activities such as exercise, nurturing positive relationships and developing ourselves through mental stimulation will all have positive effects on our brain. It also gives additional confidence to adults exploring issues and pursuing personal development with professionals.

See http://bit.ly/rorLxG and http://www.uab.edu/uabmagazine/2009/may/plasticbrain2

and http://contemporarycoaching.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/02/exercise-and-memory/

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http://bit.ly/qEU4CZ

Also see my older posts – http://contemporarycoaching.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/02/exercise-and-memory/

and   http://contemporarycoaching.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/01/moving-stretching-and-exercise/

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http://tiny.cc/vjt35

Nutrition is a massive topic with respect to health, mood and general wellbeing. Good resources also include the Mercola website, and the College of Natural Nutrition.

Also see my earlier blog on food and eating.

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Habits are often associated with a particular set of circumstances, and can be triggered automatically out of our awareness. If we consciously alter one aspect of the environment or routine, we are changing the conditions necessary for the habit to be triggered.

In the research example they talk about using the non-dominant hand when eating (in this example, popcorn). This changes the unique set of conditions associated with the eating habit so that there is more conscious awareness of what’s going on; and the habit isn’t triggered, thereby avoiding overeating.

NLP uses approaches and techniques along these lines, and can be useful when working with unwanted habits and other automatic responses, such as phobias. For more see the NLP Encyclopedia.

Another good resource specifically about eating habits is the work of Brian Wansink – see Mindless Eating

http://mindlesseating.org/

For more on the research article see : http://bit.ly/pY9Clp

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grow your own

The NHS have recognised that gardening and growing your own food has a positive effect on mental health.

It’s not an effort free activity, but you do get to feel a connection with the environment and the natural rhythms all around us.

You can’t rush it and at times it can be frustrating (when the snails/slugs/pigeons and all want their share for example). This can be a lesson in life in itself.

But many, me included, value the sense of welbeing that it generates. It doesn’t have to be on a large scale – patio pots, window boxes, even window sills can be used to grow something.

see http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/04/nhs-depression-gardening

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It is now being transformed into a fantastic natural community garden by a number of hardworking locals.

It is all the more significant in light of this week’s social chaos across the country.

They’re having another open day tomorrow to dig a large pond amongst other things. I’ll be there – benefiting from a sense of contribution, belonging and physical work! And I hope that my sons will be benefiting in some way too.

Spread the word and come on down!!

For details see http://www.facebook.com/notes/cortis-avenue-wildlife-garden-sanctuary/august-2011-newsletter/254136041281618

(Also see my earlier post – http://contemporarycoaching.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/08/benefits-of-volunteering/ )

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Vitamin D is now being recognised as key factor for health and wellbeing, and light has been proven to have a significant effect on our daily rhythms and emotions. (See my earlier post – http://contemporarycoaching.co.uk/blog/index.php/2010/07/sleep-better/ )

This latest piece of research shows how light can influence our fear responses and alleviate depressive states of mind.

See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110810153707.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29

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