Category: Redworks Blog (all posts)

Six main insights about the brain

In David Rock’s book, Quiet Leadership, he outlines six insights that are central to understanding how and why coaching works. Here is a brief summary of the six insights.
 

1. The brain is a connection machine

Our brain creates millions of new connections every second. When we refer to connections we’re also talking about the brain’s circuits, wiring, neural pathway, or mental maps.

When we have a new idea, the brain is “creating a map of that idea in our mind, and then compares it subconsciously in a fraction of a second to our existing maps.” The creation of this new map releases energy motivating us to take action.

It is important for someone to think things through for themselves so they can make their own connections and become motivated to take personal action.

2. No two brains are alike

Each person has a unique set of connections for how they think about things. We each have more than “300 trillion constantly changing connections,” which means that each person’s mental map is different from others. Everyone has their own experiences, learning and information and each brain encodes it differently.

This information helps us understand that our solution for someone else is usually not the right one for them.

3. The brain hardwires everything it can

New ideas or behaviours use what is called “working memory” which is a very limited resource in the brain.

The brain therefore, likes to automate actions, thoughts or behaviours that are repeated by hardwiring them, “so we literally don’t have to pay any attention.”
 

4. Hardwiring drives automatic perception

We perceive the world according to our mental maps which are hardwired.

As a result we “perceive the world according to our beliefs and attitudes, rather than seeing things as they are or as they could be.”

So it is natural for people to fight hard to hold on to their view of the world especially during times of change because there is a fear that their “whole world might collapse.”
 

5. It’s practically impossible to deconstruct our wiring

Many of our connections are firmly embedded into our subconscious mind so changing a habit will be very difficult to do. In fact, the more a person focuses on the habit they want to change, the deeper the connections will be made.

The solution is rather than changing a habit, it is easier to create a new habit with new thinking.
 

6. It’s easy to create new wiring The brain creates new connections all the time.

Every time we do something new, meet a new person, or understand a new idea, new connections are made which create a new mental map.

If we want to create a new map, “we need to pay it lots of attention in the form of quality and quantity (seconds) of focus. This is what changes the brain over time.”

Source: Quiet Leadership, David Rock.

5 Things Results Coaching is NOT

1. Results coaching is not therapy.

Therapy focuses on helping people who are struggling in the present to address problems from the past.
 
Coaching, on the other hand, focuses on supporting personal and professional growth and positive change based on self-learning, self-discovery, and self-initiated changes to achieve specific goals. Coaching is future-focused and results-oriented and not focused on analysing the past. From a brain-science perspective, focusing on the past drains our mental energy, using up resources that could be better used in finding the answer. By focusing on the solution and moving forward, this creates tangible energy in our brains motivating the person to action.
 

2. Results coaching is not consulting.

Management consultants are hired for their expertise – they may diagnose problems, prescribe a solution and if required may even implement the solution.
 
Coaches don’t give advice nor do they tell people what they should do. People are very able to generate their own solutions. In fact, we know through brain science, that people want to find our own answers. The role of the coach is to have a conversation that is appropriate for the individual and to support them to make positive change.
 

3. Results coaching is not training.

Trainers usually have a preset curriculum with specific objectives and expected outcomes. A coach doesn’t follow a set curriculum nor has specific objectives other than the goals the person sets for themselves with the support of the coach.

4. Results coaching is not mentoring.

A mentor is an individual who shares his or her wisdom and guidance based on their own experience. Mentoring also tends to focus on career development.
 
Coaching is far broader and is applicable to any area of the person’s personal or professional life. Coaches do not advise or counsel but rather focuses on supporting a person set and achieve their own goals.
 

5. Results coaching is not being a nag.

Coaches don’t nag clients about what they didn’t do. The coach is there to remind the person of the commitments they have made to themselves. The individual is accountable to themselves and not to the coach.

Now that you know what NOT to expect from Results Coaching, you can click here to find out what Results Coaching CAN do!

Professional Coaching – What is it, and Who Uses it?

Sandra* is a solo entrepreneur. She has been in business five years and she is very happy with her success so far. However in pursuit of her business goals she has neglected her health – she rarely exercises, she makes poor food choices, she does not sleep well, she has gained weight and her blood pressure is on the rise. She does not want to live this way anymore.

What she does want is to feel well again. She wants to have lots of energy, get a great night’s sleep every night and wake up refreshed, to make and eat more nutritious meals, bring down her blood pressure and to feel comfortable in her clothes. She is not sure how to get there. Enter: Professional Coaching.
 

Close the Gap with Professional Coaching

There is a gap between where she is (unhealthy and unwell) and where she wants to be (healthy, with lots of energy and feeling great).
Coaching helps people close the gap. Coaching helps people make positive, lasting changes in their lives by supporting them to focus on their goals, gently helping them find their own answers and create their own solutions. On their journey to achieving their goals, people develop new positive habits, they feel empowered, confident and happy with their new life.

* To preserve anonymity, names have been changed.

Positive Change Through Improved Thinking

 
Through the study of brain science, we know that our “neural pathways,” or the way we think about things are firmly established. That’s why it’s easier to create a new habit than it is to stop an old habit. So to create positive change in your life, you may have to change how you think or build new neural pathways in order to do things differently.
Results Coaching Systems has developed a brain-based approach to improve thinking to create positive change. This approach draws from many different fields including brain science, positive psychology, change theory, and learning theory. It helps us understand why the brain has trouble making changes, and how to create new habits to make these changes possible.
At Redworks Coaching, we have a strong focus on supporting you to make positive changes by improving your thinking. Change requires ongoing attention and focus, a determined willingness to achieve the change and significant effort.
 

Redworks’ Approach to Coaching

 
The Redworks approach is to have facilitated conversations with you to find out what your current reality is and what future reality you want. Based on what you want to change, this can include working with any number of different types of goals such as:

• Workplace
• Creative
• Health
• Personal, business
• Financial
• Career
• Relationship
• Community goals.

Once you have identified your goals, Redworks then support you to create strategies and set actions to make concrete, meaningful and long-term change.
Woven throughout the coaching is the focus on your thinking. The goal of focused thinking supports you to create a new mindset about yourself, your life and your capabilities for change. The final goal is to facilitate insights about your beliefs, attitudes, behaviours and abilities; and to create better habits that will support your new goals to get results.

Brain Science – What is it?

Coaching is about supporting individuals to make positive, lasting changes in their lives. A Results Certified Coach (RCC) uses on social neuroscience or ‘brain science,’ as the foundation for coaching so we coach with the ‘brain in mind.’
Using a brain science platform means that Redworks Coaching supports individuals answer their own questions and find their own solutions. We let them do the thinking while coaching them on how to change that thinking. In short, the person goes on his or her own ‘self-directed’ learning journey.
David Rock, founder of Results Coaching Systems, says that the individual on a self-directed learning journey, “will learn, think, invent, create, solve problems, visualize, rethink and re-engineer,” and that, “as coaches, our aim is to support coachees to think better by letting them do the thinking and helping them to think.” This all happens within the process of making their own changes.
 

What is the Process?

Have you ever heard, ‘this is what I think you should do?” Were they right? While their heart is in the right place, advice from well-intentioned people isn’t always the best path for you to take. This is because everyone’s brain processes information differently. What one person thinks someone should do is often just what their brain would do. This will most likely not be the right solution for another person.
 

The Redworks Approach

Redworks Coaching focuses on improving the quality of a person’s thinking. Rock states, “if we want to improve the quality of others’ thinking, our best option is to help them process ideas better: things like helping people make their ideas more clear, or find relationships between concepts or prioritising their thoughts.”
Redworks’ role is to facilitate a conversation with the intention to help a person have an insight or an ‘aha’ about themselves. This may include discoveries about their beliefs, attitudes, behaviours or abilities.
 

What Are Insights?

Insights create new neural connections in the person’s brain, releasing energy that fills them with a desire to take action for change. Insights are the Holy Grail of personal growth because they allow a person to gain a deeper understanding of themselves. These insights often come in the form of clarity around long held beliefs or behaviours that may have been limiting them from the life they want. By having these insights, this helps the person find their own answers and solutions which leads to long-lasting change.