Leverage the ecosystem

We tend to believe that self-development can only happen with an external coach, trainer, or mentor. It is too risky to involve our peers, as they don’t know the context of our challenges.

On the contrary, feedback and support can best be obtained from people who are close to you and who can observe you. These people’s perspectives are critical.

Shifting our mindset means we recognise that we depend on a network of support around us. Our humility and discipline can inspire our ecosystem towards self-improvement, and who in turn, will bear witness to our evolution and support us in our development.

We tend to place a strong belief in our deepest failures. Sometimes, scars or challenges lead to us carrying a heavy burden during our whole lives.

However, consciously or not, carrying heavy burdens over many years prevents us from fully connecting emotionally with others around us and achieving our full potential.

Shifting our mindset means becoming a secure base for someone is much easier once we learn to let go of our scars and/or failures. We need to rediscover the meaning in our lives to move forward and live fully.

We have a tendency to think that leadership capacity development is only about the work environment.

Limitation of this belief: we cannot focus on our good intentions without a strong support network. People’s perceptions will not change unless we work closely with them.

Shifting our mindset means building a support network with a few key stakeholders and spend some of your energy to gradually shift their perceptions.

We tend to believe that in coaching, mindset shifts cannot be measured. We just need to  “believe” it works.

The contrary is true. “What cannot be measured cannot be managed,” said P. Drucker. I agree! Investing time and money without having clear visibility on the ROI is not an option for corporations or family businesses.

Shifting our mindset means seeing that progress and outcomes can be measured in a reasonably objective manner. We conduct several measures over time, enabling cross-corrections if needed. Measuring progress is actually a healthy practice and a critical success factor in coaching!