The Blind Leading the Blind: Why You Really Need a Coach
The Blind Leading the Blind:
Why You Really Need a Coach
Most successful people are self-directing and self-managing. They take initiative and they have discipline. They know their strengths and weaknesses. They have action plans to follow in order to avoid procrastination and keep on track with goals.
So why would successful people seek out the services of a coach? Why do so many executives—who are already in top positions—demand an executive coach as part of their benefits package? Because they know from experience that even their highly refined ability to see what is needed is limited by their own assumptions and beliefs.
It is like the blind leading the blind when you only have yourself to turn to. The problem is that we all use our inner assumptions and beliefs to make decisions. We are driven by motivations and values that are outside our own awareness.
Let’s define further here what we need to discuss:
Beliefs
Beliefs are the assumptions we make about ourselves, about others in the world and about how we expect things to be. Beliefs are about how we think things really are, what is true and what to expect as likely consequences that will follow from our behavior.
Values
Values are about how we have learnt to think things ought to be or people ought to behave, especially in terms of qualities such as honesty, integrity and openness.
Basic Assumptions
Basic assumptions are our long-learnt, automatic responses and established opinions. We are usually unaware of the nature of our own basic assumptions, but they are enacted through our behavior—what we say and do. Basic assumptions are usually rooted in our infancy, early family life and social context. More widely, assumptions shaping our behavior relate to cultural context.
Attitudes
Attitudes are the established ways of responding to people and situations that we have learned, based on the beliefs, values and assumptions we hold. Attitudes become manifest through our behavior.
There are two kinds of beliefs that operate behind the scenes:
1. Empowering beliefs: these are related to excellence and how it can be achieved.
2. Limiting beliefs: these are the beliefs you have that limit your behaviors; even though your behavior is not what you want, you don’t believe you can change it, for one reason or another.
(Source: http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/character_beliefs-values.html )
Have you ever tried to draw or paint a self-portrait? Even if you are artistic and talented, this is a very difficult task. To take a look at your assumptions and beliefs by yourself, and to explore them—examine them for their usefulness and value, is even harder to do— if not impossible.
Both our social and work habits have been built on assumptions. Even our relationships and marriages operate on beliefs formed from our early histories. And while circumstances may have changed since the start of these practices, their continued use tends to reconfirm the old beliefs—they often still feel right to us. We keep on doing what we have always done, and expect different results!
A coach can help you see what you can’t see yourself. A good coach will ask the right kinds of questions – the kinds you can’t answer right away, the ones that make you think. If you only have yourself as a coach, you may be missing an opportunity to explore beyond your assumptions and beliefs, both the limiting and empowering.
The Blind Leading the Blind Why You Really Need a Coach - To learn more about this author, visit Jerry Pinney's Website.
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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