Coaching Approaches

What is Axiogenics and the VQ Profile® Assessment?

The practice of ‘Axiogenics’ and value-genic self-leadership is an emotional intelligence development framework that I apply to my coaching practice. It has been developed based on Axiology - the science of value. Neuro-axiology is a system that identifies puts logic around how we think and where we place value. By measuring this we can evaluate what our thinking patterns are and whether we are over-valuing (placing too much importance), under-valuing (placing not enough importance) and correctly valuing (placing the right level of value) everything that happens to us. This is known and thinking biases and thinking assets or, put another way, our unhelpful thinking habits and our helpful thinking processes.

Research by neuroscientists and neuropsychologists has revealed that up to 95% of a person’s thinking is subconscious and habit driven. Axigoenics research has revealed that 85-95% of our thinking is driven, or greatly influenced, by over or under-valued thinking patterns that developed as we experienced life known as ‘cognitive bias’. These ways of thinking sometimes become incredibly unhelpful keeping us stuck and holding us back from achieving the things we want.

Flipping the statistics means that people are only engaging their best thinking, their ‘cognitive assets’ about 5-15% of the time. This leads to the question - if all the best decisions we’ve made in our lives up to this point have been the result of best ways of thinking for such a small percentage of the time, how much more could we achieve if we began thinking this way just 1-2% more of the time?

If you could objectively know which ways of your thinking are your best and which are not, would you want to make better use of your best? The Hartmann Value profile, an assessment tool that uses the logic developed in Axiology, helps us do just that. The results from the assessment reveal our ‘cognitive biases’ and our ‘cognitive assets’. In coaching, we then work through how to make use of ‘cognitive assets’ more consciously and consistently.

Read more on my personal discovery of axiogenics, which transformed my leadership coaching process.

Axiogenics coaching program

My programme is a three-phase self-leadership development process that focuses on developing:

1. Clarity around your goals and what you want more of and less of in your work and life.

2. Developing active mindfulness about the thinking patterns that are unhelpful and sabotaging your efforts.

3. Creating new capability through learning how to pause, pivot and access your best thinking habits.

This begins with the VQ Profile® Assessment to identify the strengths, gaps and weaknesses in your cognitive behaviours. We then go through a learning programme focusing on how different mindsets and thinking habits are linked to your identity, beliefs, choices and decisions, ultimately affecting how you experience work and life. After this, we’ll work on how to leverage your best ways of thinking, to change your life for the better.

Want to find out more? Book a free session with me.

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Axiogenics resources
Answering the Central Question - Peter D Demarest

Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)

What is NLP?

NLP is a vast library of tools and techniques that are used in the coaching process.

These help people to see the world from a different mindset or perspective, enabling them to become more flexible and resourceful in the way they approach obstacles. The tools create cognitive behavioural change, helping people find a better solution to their problems and achieve their goals.

The easiest way to understand NLP is to break down the name:

Neuro - this references the mind. NLP is a structure that shows us how things happening in our mind are affecting the way we behave and communicate.

Linguistic - the language we use is reflective of our thoughts, feelings, reactions, beliefs, and traditions. It’s the key to understanding what’s going on inside. In NLP, language is used to reveal what’s happening internally and to access unconscious thoughts which might seem vague or unknown to us.

Programming - once we have a better understanding of the way we habitually think, NLP tools and techniques helps us to re-program the unhelpful ways we are communicating with ourselves and others.

The practice of NLP focuses on all our forms of communication - the way we talk to ourselves internally, and what we are communicating externally. This isn’t just in the words we use, it is our mindset, attitudes and feelings.

Let’s go through an example. Imagine you’re waiting for a friend for lunch at a cafe and you’re feeling uneasy about it. Even though nothing is obviously wrong, you’re feeling tense. Inside, you’re communicating with yourself using images, sounds and feelings that are causing you to feel tense. You may be imagining different scenarios such as your friend not showing up, or talking to yourself critically saying that you shouldn’t have worn that outfit and so on. The problem is, you may not even be consciously aware that this is happening.

NLP starts with the premise that people are not broken. That no matter what, we are working perfectly, simply responding to communication going on inside. When things go wrong, when we feel tense, down and powerless, it’s because of the thinking patterns and mindsets we have developed over time. These are what NLP helps to reveal and re-programme.

How NLP can help you

NLP helps us to build awareness of our inner communication and teaches us how to transform this to make ourselves feel better.

During coaching, I’ll work with you to become more aware of how you’re creating an unhelpful mindset, teaching you how to build your own library of tools and techniques that will help you change your thoughts, attitudes and feelings in the moment. Some of the benefits include:

• Becoming a better, more powerful and influential communicator.

• Developing deeper, more meaningful relationships at work and in life.

• Mastering and controlling your thinking and emotions.

• And much more.
  

There are well over 200 scientific studies that support the practice of NLP. If you’re interested in finding out more, the INLP centre is a great source of information. Book a free session with me to talk more about how NLP can help you.