Rewire your brain with executive training, and increase your chances of success.
I recently came across an article in Psychology Today by Ray B. Williams titled How Brain Science Can Change Coaching. The article, which explored how brain science research has significant implications for executive coaching, gave me much to think about.
Our brain is our greatest ally and our greatest detractor. It plays a pivotal role in our successes and in our failures. It is wired magnificently to help us be both successful and safe—and therein lies the rub. When we are feeling threatened or unsafe, rational parts of our brain shut down and we are left with only partial ability to be our best.
Additionally, when we learn how to do things or set up thinking patterns, we create neural pathways to get the job done. They can become embedded and habitual. That is important when we want to do things like get up and walk. We would not want to have to think about how to do that every time we did it. It is not so good when we develop a bad habit or a self-limiting belief. When we discover those, we want to be able to change or “rewire” them.
We can do that by using brain science and various techniques associated with it. For example, one of my coaching clients, Ann, came to me distraught because she was having difficulty accomplishing a certain task at work. No matter how hard she tried, he kept getting the same dismal results. She was beginning to doubt her skills—and herself as a leader.
During the course of our executive training I worked with Ann to discover how she was using her brain and skills to accomplish her task, and mapped that out. Then I mapped out a different task she excelled at. When we compared the two maps we found she was using her brain differently in her unsuccessful attempt to complete the worrisome task. We worked on remapping the way she addressed the task, essentially “rewiring” some of the neural pathways she had been using. When she went back to work and used her reconfigured map, she was able to successfully complete the task.
Ann was not even aware she had a brain pattern that helped her to be successful. Now that she is aware of it, she can use it to address similar challenging situations.
This process is very similar to how a coach of an athlete, let’s say a swimmer, would coach that athlete to success. A successful swimmer has developed a technique that helps him or her win. The coach’s job is to identify and improve that technique. At certain times the swimmer may, for whatever reason, deviate from that technique. The coach then helps the swimmer get back on track.
Using an executive coach to tap into your brain science may be just what you need to turn challenges into successes. If you would like to learn more about how executive training can help you rewire your neural pathways and reconfigure your map, contact TurnKey Coaching Solutions at 281-469-4244.
