After a splendid feast on Monday night our housemates were all off to bed early and ready for their first full day of planning.
My own day began at 6.00am with a 90-minute email catch up before heading out to the Riverside. As I have mentioned, there is no mobile phone signal or internet connection down in the Helford Estuary – so my client maintenance must be completed early and my own mobile phone messages collected on the drive to the cottage.
Arriving just before 9.00am I found the housemates finishing off an English cooked breakfast (Linda working her magic again).
I had decided earlier to set up my laptop and digital projector in the lounge – a strange contrast between chintzy furnishings and modern electronics – but better than a flip-chart because I can make notes, create mind-maps and show PowerPoint – keeping a permanent record for the housemates on their return to the 21st Century.
So what happened on our first coaching day?
8 hours of discussion and field work on:
- Establishing each individual’s objectives before Friday morning
- Describing the “breakthrough” process – moving through the discomfort zone into the breakthrough zone (thank you Paul Fox)
- Writing a limiting belief which admitted the “uncomfortable truth” about each housemate – what holds them back?
- Re-writing the limiting belief as a liberating statement – how it would sound if they were to change
- Introducing the concept of Personal and Professional Evolution Circles – what they are and how they work
- Identifying 12 key limiting beliefs around 6 areas of personal and professional evolution
- Turing each of those limiting beliefs into a liberating statement
- “Joining up” all the liberating statements into a 3-year vision statement (much to the surprise of the housemates)
- Introducing the concept of Strategy Circles (thank you Strategic Coach) and showing how each liberating statement can then be reversed into a 12-month plan of action
- Introducing 90-day goal setting and showing how each 12-month planning action can be reversed into a 90-day goal
- Identifying the key obstacles and reseources that would be necessary to achieve each 90-day goal
- Establishing the need to build a superb support team to do all the “stuff”
Bingo!
We have 3-year visions, 12-month plans and 90-day goals. Never easy – but so simple once you have a protocol.
By 5.00pm everyone (including me) was truly exhausted.
After a couple of hours to enjoy some relaxation and fresh air – we reconvened for yet another magnificent dinner:
- pate
- salmon steaks with potato and vegetables
- the most amazing chocolate cake