STRENGTHS COACHING
For many of my career coaching clients, the process we follow is that of strengths coaching followed by emotional intelligence coaching. The decision to coach around these two topics wasn’t a random choice. It was my Strategic strength at work.
The decision to blend strengths coaching with emotional intelligence coaching came about after someone came along and introduced me to my own unique strengths. It was an eye-opening experience.
Once my strengths coach introduced me to the idea that I was uniquely built and he helped me to understand how I was built and why my unique wiring mattered, all kinds of light bulbs lit up in my mind.
Reaching a point where I understood my unique personal strengths was a life-changing experience. I decided that adding strengths coaching to my coaching practice. However, I felt like something was still missing. I continued on my journey to find best-in-class tools to add to my coaching practice and discovered that something I had seen for many years had been labeled by someone else.
Once I connected the dots and realized that what was on my mind for a long time was emotional intelligence, I found a way to become educated, trained and certified in the topic of emotional intelligence. Once again, it was my Strategic strength at work again.
VALIDATION of my THEORIES
There is no shortage of articles that have been written about Emotional Intelligence. Here are a few you might want to read.
In this Inc. article, one of the 10 Qualities reads like this:
“6. They know their strengths and weaknesses.
Emotionally intelligent people know what they're good at and what they're not so great at. They've not just accepted their strengths and weaknesses; they also know how to leverage their strengths and weaknesses by working with the right people in the right situation.”
UNDERSTANDING, EMBRACING and LEVERAGING STRENGTHS
In my strengths coaching practice, I help my clients understand their unique personal strengths. Once they understand what they have to work with and they choose to embrace their uniqueness, I’m then in a position to show my clients how to leverage their strengths to create their best personal performance.
WEAKNESSES
On the other side of an individual’s strengths are an individual’s weaknesses. I don’t believe in trying to turn weaknesses into strengths but I do believe in the importance of knowing one’s weaknesses so that a strategy can be built around weaknesses to keep them from getting in the way of fine-tuning one’s strengths.
Another one of the 10 Qualities mentioned in the Inc. article reads like this:
5. They're empathetic.
Daniel Goleman, psychologist and author of Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence, told The Huffington Post that empathy is one of the five components of emotional intelligence. In fact, being able to relate to others, show compassion, and take the time to help someone are all crucial components of EI. Additionally, being empathic makes people with EI curious about other people and leads them to ask lots of questions whenever they meet someone new.
Empathy is one of the 34 traits measured by the StregnthsFinder assessment I use for strengths coaching.
Empathy is also one of 15 emotional intelligence skills that are measured in the assessment I use to determine a person’s baseline emotional intelligence before we start the emotional intelligence coaching process.
While the StrengthsFinder assessment and the EQi-2.0 Assessment are owned by two different companies, I determined that they strategically fit together. More importantly, my clients who have worked with me on both strengths coaching and emotional intelligence coaching appreciate the results they have personally achieved through the coaching process where these two tools were used to record baseline results.
CONCLUSION
The decision I made to blend strengths coaching with emotional intelligence coaching has benefited my clients in amazing ways. Here are a few of my client's thoughts on the subject:
"I wish I had known about Jeff and Strengths base Coaching before I put myself in a situation that isn't ideal."
"It wasn't until I started Emotional Intelligence Coaching with you that I started seeing the world through other people's eyes. That's a gift you've given me".
"You sir are a magician at assisting me in accessing and having confidence in my abilities based on my natural strengths."
"I am so thankful I was introduced to Jeff's EQi-2.0 Emotional Intelligence Assessment and his amazing coaching skills. I only wish it was years earlier."
"Jeff, I just wanted to thank you for today's session. I continue to get more "Ah-Ha" moments as we continue to process the StrengthsFinder exercise."
Jeff Snyder Coaching, 719.686.8810
