CEQ Coaching Methodology Programme

Before we begin, let us ask you two questions we have asked hundreds of times to individuals and groups of managers. There are no right or wrong answers. Just be honest with yourself.

How the brain works under pressure is the foundation of CEQ coaching: the amygdala hijack and the neocortex.

Coaching is a term much used in the world of modern leadership, however when asked to define it we struggle. The biggest problem any of us have in achieving excellence in coaching is that we tend to believe the myths that surround the term itself.

OUCH! stands for Our Unconscious Controlling Habits. These are the coaching behaviours that creep in under pressure: closed questions, filling silences (including making statements) and multiple inputs. Recognising them is the first step to changing them. Most of us think we ask good questions, until we hear ourselves back. The data from real coaching conversations reveals patterns we simply cannot see without evidence.

This is the module you can try free: one ~40-minute AI-guided practice round with ARIA, with a written debrief. Try Module 3 free →

We make our decisions subconsciously and emotionally, then pile in the rational justification afterwards. So if we interrogate people’s motives under pressure, we only get their defensive left-brain answer, never the real reason.

We jump to asking what someone is going to do far too early: this is the Tigger-like energy that makes us follow the Fire, Ready, Aim methodology. The left brain banks the first acceptable idea and slams it into action.

How many times has someone told you they do not want you to solve their problems for them, they just want you to listen? We rarely believe listening adds value, and yet we crave to be listened to ourselves.

When we hit the edge of our comfort zone on the path to any target, we choose not to go outside. So we have to come up with reasons why we cannot achieve the target, and since we turn all our energy and creativity into these reasons, they are always perfect and cannot be denied. We call these perfect reasons, and a good coach learns to hear them for what they are.

Both versions of the person, the one who is bogged down and struggling and the one who is passionate and courageous, know what the answer is. But the one who is bogged down is never going to get there. This module teaches you to bring the finest version of someone into the room using Maslow and Dilts’ Logical Levels, and then ask that version to solve the problem.

We simply have to give our feedback honestly and with as much care, in the proper sense of that word of caring for the other person, as possible. Not sanitising it or sugar-coating it as this leaves them confused.

Once we become aware of the real habits we need to break, once we realise that we have been focussing on the wrong habits, we achieve a new self awareness, and then it is simply practice. And our clumsiness as we practise, our vulnerability as we transparently develop ourselves, will in itself inspire our people.