I’m taking this opportunity to give an abundant outline of my particular approach to coaching.
To me a kaizen mind is a mind which has clarity and focus. It is a mind that has streamlined its’ cognitive processing to remove unwanted beliefs, values and thoughts. It is a mind that knows how to change the way it talks on a conscious level so that it can change how it thinks on a subconscious level. Then you change your behaviour to get what you want.
You may be on my site for business or personal reasons. Honestly, it is my experience that all behaviours and thought processes come down to the individual self. Even when we work on team development it is the belief systems, and the ability to self-actualise that shapes the group.
Sometimes people engage my coaching services because their professional life is in a crisis, or simply stagnant. They have lost confidence or experienced a burnout. I can confidently say that 99.9% of the time we can change this limiting experience when we have unearthed unhelpful behavioural beliefs in their personal psyche.
Sometimes people engage me to work with them to resolve personal issues relative to confidence, relationships, burnout, divorce, parenting or health issues such as weight management or giving up smoking. When we work on these issues the benefit often develops further into other aspects of their lives such as family or work.
Sounds too good to be true? Perhaps that’s your first limiting belief.
How do I achieve excellence? Experience. Research. Training. Application. Evaluation. I use a psychodynamic approach that embraces many other approaches from psychology to business. Some of you may already be familiar with Japanese business terminology: Kaizen, Ikigai, Muda, Genba, Kaikaku. Others may know the language of cognitive psychology and neuro linguistic programming: values, needs, limitations, imprints and psychometrics. All of you will understand experiences such as sadness, anger, frustration, disappointment, joy, success, excitement, excellence. The list is endless because NLP coaching and behavioural change is an ever evolving science.
Kai means ‘change’ and Zen means ‘for the better’.
Kaizen is a known Japanese inspired business approach that examines how an organisation can make efficiency and behavioral changes to create a more lean, cost effective and productive workplace. In my kaizen mind approach I apply these concepts to the cognitive mind i.e. the behaviours of the individual or a team. I use the application of practical psychology and NLP techniques to create lasting change. Though my approach is both practical and simple, underneath is a wealth of training, knowledge and experience that I have honed to an effective yet elegant coaching approach. I embody a growth mindset. Always seeking, continuously learning, constantly curious. It is this mindset that has lead me to study literature, drama therapy, drama in education, psychology, gestalt, NLP, mindfulness and various other psychotherapy techniques. I have studied these at graduate and postgraduate level in three differing countries. This investment in formal training has been crafted into a simple but practical approach that helps my clients implement change to achieve excellence: the kaizen way. The expertise that I bring is merely a catalyst for your personal or corporate change.
Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment. Lao Tzu
The journey of knowing yourself is a constant process of discovery and change. A kaizen approach supports a change for the better. I take a people centered approach to coaching, which resonates with the approach of Carl Rogers. This is ‘a basic philosophy rather than simply a technique or method’, which empowers the individual, and leads to personal and social transformation. This approach is non-judgemental and fluid. Like a long chat with some pertinent questions from me, and a focus towards tasks, mindset changes, and answering the simple coaching question:
What do you want?
How do I do this? I take all of that formal training and work with you to know yourself mind, body and soul. At the basis of my approach is Mindful NLP, or, Neuro Linguistic Programming. NLP allows you to challenge limiting beliefs and demand your true desires/goals in life without judgement. Our sub-conscious can be a reservoir of limiting beliefs or belief systems that strive to hold us back. My approach teaches how to identify and challenge such beliefs with confidence and agency. Then I work to help you create new empowering beliefs. This makes your mind, body and sense of self more congruent. Ideally you finish coaching with a toolbox of mental and practical resources, but most importantly, a belief that you yourself have achieved these new empowering beliefs and possess a mindset that you can apply to more challenges that present in your life.
Voila: A kaizen mind!