Coaching Approach

Our Approach

We have developed our approach over many years using ideas taken from sports coaching, cognitive behavioural coaching, clean language, behaviourial techniques and emotional intelligence to provide our clients with a tried and tested method which works. We call this approach “In the Zone”, referring to the mental state that athletes in all sports talk about when they are performing at their best.

Principle 1 – People can only develop new behaviours when they are completely aware of their current behaviours.

It’s easy to suffer from performance “self-delusion”. For example when we coach people to carry out presentations – it’s quite normal for them to be completely unaware that they talk in a monotone way, shuffle from side-to-side, or mumble. Telling them of their faults can correct some people, but many others carry on making the same mistakes. “In the Zone” techniques raise their self-awareness so they can improve. This can range from simply videoing them and showing them their speech or a range of other “In the Zone” methods.

Principle 2 – Performing better is initially uncomfortable.
We all get used to a way of behaving, whether it’s how we manage our teams, how we do presentations or how we make strategic decisions. Using a new method takes us out of our “comfort zone”. It’s only natural that after a few attempts it’s all too easy to slip back into our old comfortable style and thus not improve. Using “In the Zone” methods we coach people through this process until the new behaviour becomes natural.

Principle 3 -We all have self-limiting beliefs and behaviours.
We all limit our performance by out-dated beliefs & thoughts that can be hanging around in our head for decades. For example a child who was laughed at in a school play can turn into a high-level director who – years later – has trouble giving speeches in front of crowds. Using “In the Zone” approaches we work with clients to identify these outdated beliefs, amend the irrational ones and so perform better.

Principle 4 – People only improve when they take full responsibility for their behaviour.
It’s easy to blame the environment, your boss, your background and your coach or trainer for poor performance. People who improve to peak performance are the ones that take absolute full responsibility for their own results. We use special “In the Zone” approaches to ensure that our clients never hand this responsibility either back to us or to others.