Timing

In my own life and in working with clients, I often find that people have the vision of what they want to create for themselves - it's just making sure from the beginning that they have thought through the goals and are able to remove obstacles to ensure success.  I hope you find this list helpful as you begin to identify and set goals for yourself and as you work with clients in setting their 2008 goals!  Here's wishing you your best year ever!

Happy Holidays!

(meeting times and location on sidebar)

"Applying a Devlopmental Lens to Coaching"

DISC offers us a glimpse into understanding one's behaviors, particularly how others might perceive us and also reveals preferred communication styles. The report tells us our preferences for Dominance, Influencing, Steadiness, and Compliance behaviors. Dominance and Compliance behaviors are task focused while Influencing and Steadiness behaviors are people focused.  It has been incredibly helpful for the manager/coaches to think in terms how just knowing these two distinctions can lead to a deeper understanding of direct reports and clients.  When we learn to appreciate the behaviors of our colleagues and clients, we strengthen relationships and minimize potential areas of conflict.  

PIAV (Personal Interests, Attitudes and Values) provides us with a way to understand the "why" of behaviors-what motivates people.  We discover whether people are motivated by learning, helping others, beauty and harmony, leading, getting results, or maintaining traditions. Our values are a way of judging the world around us and also provide us with a filter through which we view our world.  Knowing these filters can be extremely useful when trying to negotiate conflict or deepen relationships with others.  

What have been the gains for us in using the DISC/PIAV assessments?

First, we are establishing a common language for understanding one another.  When a problem between two people does arise, we begin by talking about how behaviors and values can collide to create friction.  This process embeds tolerance and understanding as the framework for the discussion-it takes the personal out of the discussion and we can have a more objective discussion about the situation.  

Second, our coaching managers can tailor their messages to reach their direct reports and each other more clearly.  And finally, we are building camaraderie through the process.  As we finish one team, the next team is asking for us to provide the assessments and consultation to their teams.  It has expanded our credibility as coaches and has quickly built rapport among all participants in the process.

The DISC and PIAV assessments require a minimum amount of time to take on-line.  The results come back to us and then we debrief the assessment to further explain it and discuss personal application for the results.  Knowing who we are and how best to interact with others is key to being successful personally and professionally.  The DISC and PIAV assessments take us one step closer to achieving this success.                                     

"Personal Coaching and the Enneagram"

by Connie Frecker

Although the Enneagram is used in business as well as the psychological world, I would like to acquaint you with the benefits of its use in personal coaching.  For those who are unfamiliar with the Enneagram, it is a dynamic personality map that is very comprehensive, possessing unique characteristics in that it pinpoints motivation for behavior and provides a framework for transformational growth.  The Enneagram explains not only the "what" and the "how" of personality, but also the "why".  Equally unique is its predictive capability.  There is consistency for personality types to exhibit certain behaviors when they experience either stress or security. 

The Enneagram consists of nine basic personality types.  Each of us possesses varying amounts of all nine types; however, we anchor at one particular type.  It is our entry point into the system.  As a dynamic system there is continual interaction between the types, increasing the compassion, understanding and connectedness between people.  And although one never changes their type throughout their life, there will be fluctuations in behavior based on whether one is in a healthy, average or unhealthy state.

I have found that the Enneagram saves an incredible amount of time in working with clients.  And, as with coaching, it takes the client where they are and opens them up to their blind spots.

I recently coached someone who had been fired twice from her job.  We began with an Enneagram assessment where she learned that she operated with a preference for Type 1 (The Reformer) and substantial amounts of Type 8 (The Challenger).  She quickly realized that she had unusually high expectations and a strong affect which was often misinterpreted by others.  Through this awareness and increasing her own self-awareness, she was able to make improvements in her interactions with others.

Another common area in coaching is career exploration.  I have a client in Texas who is selling his business and wondering what to do with the rest of his life.  Through exploration of his type, he has learned not only what his strengths and values are, but also where his resistance to change comes from and why his sense of control is so prevailing.

As Co-Director of the Enneagram Institute of Central Ohio, I am committed to the power of self-awareness for impacting change.  The ability to "catch oneself in the act" of letting our personalities run the show is extremely valuable in allowing us to respond rather than react.  Not much personal development is possible when we are living on automatic pilot.  And although it can be a shock when we learn that we have been deceiving ourselves, it is also a relief to know that we are not alone and that there is a way out.

The most definitive assessments are the lengthier versions that are available online at either www.enneagraminstitute.com or www.enneagramspi.com.  Qualitative consideration should be given to the top three scores.  A cautionary note about typing other people:  while behaviors often look alike, there are distinct motivations behind those behaviors unique to only one type.

For more information, please visit www.enneagraminstitute.com.

The newsletter will be published again in March.  Please submit your ideas for Business and Personal coaching articles to newsletter@centralohiocoaches.com.  Please keep the length of your article to 500 words or less.  We also welcome any questions you have regarding the coaching profession.  We will address your questions in upcoming news articles.

Best wishes for a happy holiday seaon and prosperous 2008!

Sincerely,

Director of Public Relations

Central Ohio Coaches

newsletter@centralohiocoaches.com