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"We are the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with." Famously stated Jim Rohn. Have you done your Relationships Audit? Here is a framework to assess how the people with whom you surround yourself affects your behaviour. ✅Make a list of as many people as you can think of in your network of friends, family and colleagues. ✅Consider which categories they fall into: 1. Supporter – who is there by your side, and boosts your confidence 2. Vampire – someone who seems to suck your energy and life out of you. 3. Role Model – a person whom you look up to and respect 4. Consultant – someone who has the information that can help you achieve your goals. 5. TILIS friend – a friend who “Tells It Like It Is” without holding back. 6. Enemy – a person who undermines your efforts and actively does not want you to succeed. ✅Consider whether you want to keep each of these people in your life. ✅Seek out people who value you for who you are and not what you do and then spend more time with those people. ✅Seek out people who inspire you and book a lunch with them. Who you are with can elevate you as much as it can bring you down.

New Year's resolutions always fail. This is what I feel every year. Yet I continue to make them annually. And I typically abandon them by mid-February. This year, to ensure that my intentions are solid and sustainable, I have decided to begin by asking myself eight questions. 1. What would make 2023 awesome for you? This question helps you create a mental imagery of success (like athletes do), contemplate your desired future. Setting a GOAL is essential, but defining appealing OUTCOMES is a game-changer. 2. Which behaviours have not served you in 2022? This question uncovers undesirable behaviors that held you back, such as procrastination, negative self-talk, avoidance of certain tasks. Time to replace them with positive ones… 3. Which behaviours have served you well in 2022? See yourself operating from strengths, feeling energized and confident, aligned with your core values. Bringing positive emotions is a great way to broaden your scope of cognition enabling creative thinking and motivation for 2023. 4. What has been planted and is waiting to grow? Look at what efforts have already been made and consider how to continue nurturing and supporting them in order to see them grow and come to fruition. 5. Who are the five people you spent the most time with in 2022? Motivational speaker Jim Rohn says that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. Who you spend time with influences the person you eventually become. Who you are with can elevate you as much as it can bring you down.So, who do you want to spend time with in 2023? 6. Who were your most valuable relationships with? When you surround yourself with positive people who inspire you and understand you, it's so much easier to stay focused on your goals. They help you to stay energised and motivated, and you'll feel less stress. 7 What mountain are you climbing? What long-term objective are you striving for? Evaluate if it Is it still important and if effort and resources are still directed towards it. 8. If you were not afraid, what would do this year? Are fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of change, fear of the unknown holding you back? Contemplate your possibilities if you were less afraid and more confident. Ready? Subscribe to the newsletter to receive "The Coaching Tip of The Week" https://www.w2pconsulting.com/subscribe Themes include Neurolinguistic programming, Behavioural Coaching, Psychology, Mental Health Issues, Brain Coaching Techniques and Leadership.

When I was just a newbie, I made many mistakes. Today I want to save you some time (and pain) by sharing the 6 common mistakes I made and the lessons I learned from them. 6 mistakes I made as a newbie coach Mistake #1 Trying very hard to sell coaching No one wants wants to buy coaching. People want to buy results! The day I understood that my conversion rate shifted from 20% to 80%. 💡 Solution Share the results you got with your clients, success stories, testimonials... Share you passion! Share WHY you are doing what you are doing (and not WHAT you are doing). Mistake #2 Absorbing my clients’ emotions I quickly became emotionally drained by carrying my clients' problems as if they were my own burden (without even realizing it). 💡 Solution Get mentored and supervised with the 7-eyed model to offload the emotional burden, stay grounded and maintain professional and ethical boundaries. Mistake #3 Just asking vanilla questions, not challenging my client nor sharing my intuition As a people pleaser, I was too scared to hurt my client's feelings, challenging them or sharing my intuition. 💡 Solution It is okay not to please as long as you put your client's interest above all: Think about the spinach in the teeth moment! Share what you observe, what your client is not seeing, make sure nothing important is left unsaid. Coaching requires courage. Mistake #4 Letting chatty clients share long-winded tales Sometimes clients want to give you many details and descriptions, but they don't learn anything in the process. I let one client do that during several sessions and came across as too passive. I lost this client. 💡 Solution Intrude! Interrupt! That's okay to interrupt nicely as long as your intention is to create value for your client. Ask: "What is the essential question on your mind as you are telling the story?" Mistake #5 Pressuring myself too much to get quick results My clients are often leaders who work in fast-paced environments. They want results now or yesterday. Trying to get quick results often lead to mediocre outcomes. 💡 Solution Stop forcing the results and manage your clients' expectations: Shift the focus on the coaching process, results will follow. Mistake #6 Bringing in judgments I kept on judging myself in the process ("we are going nowhere with this conversation") and sometimes my client ("she is not ready to change", "he is totally inflexible"). 💡 Solution The antidote to blame is curiosity. Be curious about your own narrative and acknowledge your judgement. Build a genuine relationship along the way. Can you relate with some of these? I strongly encourage you to reflect on your practice to identify the things that don’t really help (without beating yourself) and recalibrate to bring your coaching to the next level.

10 TIPS TO SUCCEED 60% of first-time managers fail within the first 2 years according to Gartner. And there is only ONE reason behind this: “What got them here, won’t get them there.” For an individual contributor, the game is about individual productivity, and it pays to be a subject matter expert. But when you become a manager, the rules of the game change. Your success is now dependent upon your ability to help others succeed. The game is about team collaboration and soft skills. Being too technical will undermine your career. First-time managers fail to let go of the workplace persona that helped them thrive as an individual contributor. From Individual Contributor to Manager? To Leader? Let’s overcome this prominent struggle. As a coach, I have helped many individual contributors successfully shift their mindsets to lead others. Here are the 10 lessons I have learned from this experience. If you apply them, you are guaranteed success. 1. Shift from ME to WE 2. Spend 1-on-1 time with every employee on a weekly basis 3. Understand your employees’ drivers (Recognition? Rewards? Challenges?) and motivate them accordingly 4. Know their top 3 strengths and delegate accordingly 5. Co-create a vision, a roadmap, and clear responsibilities 6. Regularly check-in with your key stakeholders 7. Communicate your goals and vision. 8. Adjust your narrative based on feedback. 9. Embrace your UNIQUE leadership style. Others are taken. You don’t need to be an ALPHA male to be a great leader. Be authentic. Stick to your core values" 10. Find a coach – the most successful people have one! Do you think Federer succeeded on his own? Congratulations: you are now a successful Manager! Are you ready to climb the corporate ladder and become a great Leader? Most of us are aware of the challenges to shift from Individual Contributor to Manager, but very few truly understand the challenges to shift from Manager to Leader. But when you become LEADER, the rules of the game change. AGAIN. If you don’t know how to influence, manage ambiguity, and inspire with a compelling vision, you're out of the game. To climb the corporate ladder, you need to let go of your past persona and shift your mental game every few years because “What got you here, won’t get you there.” Geraldine

Most companies don’t have a productive onboarding process. Do you agree? As an executive coach, I’ve seen up close the varied onboarding processes that companies have in place and I’ve decided to develop a coaching program to support my clients in their first 100 days. I always tell them "Don't wait for your employer to guide you when you start a new job. Own your onboarding process. Own your career." Here is a proven framework to create a strong impact in the first 100 days, a unique window of opportunity to set yourself up for success. 1. Prepare Your Pitch What do you want people to say about you when you are not in the room? This is your personal brand! Build a structured pitch Present: Who you are Past: What you have achieved Future: Share your vision and enthusiasm 2. Visualize Your Success Ask yourself: What is your vision for your role? What would you like to achieve? How can you overcome obstacles? Visualize your success like athletes do: Create a mental imagery of your achievements in 1 month, 6 months, 1 year. Great technique to overcome impostor syndrome! 3. Map Your Stakeholders: Ask yourself Who are your key stakeholders? Who are your potential allies? Who sets the tone in the office? What are the circles of influence? Look beyond the org chart, draw a map List 10 names and schedule meetings 4. Form Alliances Schedule 1-on-1 meetings Identify their strengths and drivers Identify their pain points – empathize Identify how you can help them Listen more than you speak. Absorb the culture. Set the groundwork for win-win relationships. You can go a long way when you know people’s strengths and drivers. 5. Write a Fresh-Eye Report Note all your first impressions in a report What surprises you? What is efficient? What is dysfunctional? Share your fresh perspective Bring in new ideas 6. Secure Quick-Wins Identify early wins Identify symbolic changes Create a momentum Circle back with your key stakeholders Share plans & recommendations: Start doing - Stop doing - Continue doing What technique has helped you succeed in your roles? Share with us!

I do much more to avoid immediate PAIN than I do to gain immediate PLEASURE. How about you? You might run a red light to make a meeting on time (I hope not though). Why? You're avoiding the pain (shame) of being late. But you won't run red lights to get home for dinner (pleasure). All decisions that human beings make are to either gain pleasure or to avoid pain. BUT avoiding short-term pain is much more motivating than gaining short-term pleasure. How can we use the pain-pleasure principle to achieve a goal? Here are 8 coaching questions to motivate yourself by creating a sense of urgency.

Many of my coaching clients reach out because: ...they are unhappy with their job... ...they are not using their full potential... ...they desperately lack meaning in their life... They tell me: "I want to have an impact on our society." "I want to find a fulfilling role where I could get a decent salary." "I want to clarify what I really love." "I want to understand my strengths." Sounds familiar? Well, like all of us, they are searching for their ikigai. But what is behind this buzz word? Ikigai is a Japanese word whose meaning translates roughly to "a reason for being, encompassing joy, a sense of purpose and meaning and a feeling of well-being." The word derives from iki, meaning "life" and kai, meaning "the realisation of hopes and expectations." To help my clients find their Ikigai, I have developed an approach which requires a conscientious and diligent hunt to achieve a whole new level of awareness about appetences, competences, drivers, and purpose. Step 1 – Create Awareness The first step involves creating awareness about the four circles, independently. You can start by asking yourself/discussing the following questions: What You Love What could you talk about for hours? What are your three favourite books and movies? What could you spend hours on? What aspects of your life that bring you the most joy? What part of your current job do you love the most? If money were no object, what would you do for a career? Which activities do you get lost in? (when you are in the flow) What You are Good at What do you get complimented on most? What do you like about yourself? Where do you bring value? Where do you have impact? What unique skills do you have that come most naturally to you? What comes easily to you? What talents have you cultivated and what do you excel at even when you aren’t trying? What parts of your current job do you find effortless? What the World Needs What do you like to see different in the world? What problems would you like to help solve? What change would you most love to create in the world? What cause do you believe in? What breaks your heart or pulls at your gut? What are the trends in your industry? In other industries? What You Can Get Paid For Which skills could you be paid for? Which passion could you get paid for? What do people value and pay you for? What is mainly valued in your experience? Why people would hire you today? Have you been hunted? What for? Step 2 – Identify the Overlaps The second step involves looking for areas of natural overlap in the circles, reflecting on the various elements and how they may relate to each other. Bring yourself quietly to the centre of the circles and leave space in your mind for whatever impulse or calling that may emerge naturally in the coming days… What is one simple thing you could do or be today that would be an expression of your Ikigai? Step 3 - Create Opportunities The third step involves sharing with others what resonates with you, expressing your goals and desires, communicating your vision, connecting with like-minded individuals, exploring areas of interests, and experimenting new approach to create opportunities. The objective is to fine tune your goals, learn (online, workshops, training), test (through professional or personal projects) and experiment new perspectives or behaviours that will lead you towards your Ikigai. Ready to Create the Life you Desire? Let's discuss! Geraldine Gauthier

Asking the right question at the right time is the cornerstone of coaching. I have compiled here my 12 favorite questions and the reasons why I love them. 1. What would you like to get out of this conversation? This question helps my client focus on what they REALLY want and narrow down the coaching topic that is sometimes very broad. 2. What does success look like? Help your clients create a mental imagery of success (like athletes do) with my all-time favorite question. Whenever I ask it, my clients say: “ That is a GOOD question!” and they start contemplating their desired future. Setting a GOAL is essential, but defining an appealing OUTCOME is a game-changer. 3. What are you doing to NOT achieve this goal ? This question is very simple yet powerful. It uncovers undesirable behaviors & beliefs that prevent clients from thriving. 4. What is the REAL challenge here? I use this question when the client starts digressing into long winded tales that are not helping them. I try to keep my client’s interest in mind to help them focus on what REALLY matters. 5. WHY is this important for you? Help your client understand the deep WHY of their goal. Don’t stay at the superficial level, go deeper to reveal their deep motivation. It will boost their drive to achieve their goal. This magic question is also the best way to shift a conversation from the Problem to the Person, from the What to the Who, from transactional coaching to transformational coaching. “When the WHY is clear the HOW becomes easy”. 6. What would happen if you DON'T change anything? Seeing success is one thing, seeing failure is another one. People will do much more to avoid pain than they will to gain pleasure! With this question, you offer them an opportunity to see a future they don’t want. Their motivation to avoid the status quo will suddenly rise. You can use a #NeuroLinguisticProgramming Technique: Collapse anchoring that involves taking a negative state, and integrating or collapsing it into a positive state. People will do much more to avoid pain than they will to gain pleasure! 7. What are you afraid of? Explore the real blockers and discover potential limiting beliefs. You can’t change what you don’t notice. 8. What is your intuition telling you? Many of my clients are very rational thinkers. When they are stuck, I ask this question to help them tap into their intuition and reconnect with their emotions for fresher perspectives. 9. Who are you when you are at your best? This helps my clients see themselves operating from strengths, feeling energized and confident, aligned with their core values. Bringing positive emotions is also a great way to broaden the scopes of cognition of your clients enabling problem solving and creative thinking. 10. Which strength(s) can you leverage to reach your goal? Empower your coachee to leverage their strengths to reach their goals. We spend way too much time trying to fix our weaknesses although there is a more efficient road to our genius. When we focus on developing our strengths, we grow faster than when trying to improve our weaknesses. An alternative question could be “Where are you ALREADY Amazing?” 11. What would your mentor (or best friend, or someone you admire…) advise you now? When my client is stuck, I offer them the opportunity to see the situation from a different angle : someone else's perspective. The conscious attempt to imagine another’s point of view can build new neural pathways, create real learnings and reshape perceptions. It helps clients question their frames of reference and perceive their environments from new original angles and their issues under different lights. Breakthrough is immediate! 12. SILENCE... is one of the best questions. "Silence is the great teacher and to learn its lessons you must pay attention to it." Deepak Chopra What is your favorite question? Share with us! A bientôt, Geraldine

WORDS are our tools, not just as coaches, but as humans. I didn't realise that before I became a coach and started using WORDS as tools. I didn't realise that before I start changing some WORDS intentionally to create deeper conversations. Now that I understand that words shape our beliefs, drive our behavior, and ultimately, create our world, I try to choose them wisely. I try to choose WORDS wisely for my clients but also for myself, for my inner voice. Words create filters through which we view the world around us. What are you favorite WORDS?

My client Anna told me last Friday (her name has been changed). “But I stayed. I started looking outside… exploring options but couldn’t leave. I couldn’t even hide my lack of enthusiasm. I was mentally, emotionally, and physically checked out altogether. One day, I asked myself, since I've already got one foot out of the door, it's probably best for everyone if I take that other step over the threshold? I decided to find a new employer, #quietquitting was not an option.” So, what is quiet quitting? A buzz word? A pseudo-trend? The great resignation in SLOW motion? The label doesn’t matter, what matters is that the gap between employers and employees is indisputably growing. As a coach, I see many clients like Anna. For one client like Anna who decides to quit, 4 clients decide to stay in their job, do the bare minimum, sometimes launch side hustles. For one client like Anna, I coach 5 managers who struggle to (re)motivate their employees. When I ask them; “What REALLY motivates your employees? Is it rewards? independence? challenge? security? belonging? power? Many managers answer: “Well, I believe I need to clarify that”. And they initiatie coaching conversation with those 5 questions: 1. You seem disengaged, what is happening? 2. What could motivate you more? 3. What is not working for you? 4. What is important for you? What do you value? 5. How can I help? Only managers are in a position to know employees as individuals - their life situation, strengths, drivers and goals. Quiet quitting is beneficial for neither side. Both sides need to learn to compromise and come to a workable solution. What is your view on that? If you need help to organise workshops on Team Motivation and Individual Values, reach out!

I struggled to get clients. I am not alone. The coaching industry is crowded. Here is what I’ve learned the hard way to build my coaching business: ❌ Mistake 1 : Selling Coaching, Selling Processes No one wants to buy coaching. People want to buy OUTCOMES. The day I understood that, my conversion rate shifted from 20% to 80%. ✅Lesson : Share success stories, share possibilities. Ask : What would success look like if we were to work together?” ❌Mistake 2: Wanting to coach everyone “If I “niche down”, I will reduce the number of potential clients” ✅Lesson: This is the exact opposite. To survive in this crowded industry, differentiate yourself. Narrow down your niche. ❌Mistake 3: Loving Coaching, Despising the Business of Coaching This is what holds me back from growing my practice. ….Until I discovered that my coaching skills were my best selling assets. ✅Lesson: Leverage your coaching skills to become a great salesperson: · Understand your client’s pain points with empathy · Listen actively and ask powerful questions. · Create a sense of urgency to create positive changes (and get hired, now!) ❌Mistake 4: Being afraid to post on Social Media Social Media h as become an embodiment of our fears; fears of criticism and fear of failure. But as an entrepreneur, this is a critical tool. ✅Lesson: Stick to your values. Stick to your mission, People might judge you but people will see you; who you are, how you want to help and the impact you want to make. What lessons have you learned to grow your business ?