What coaching methods get the best results for sustainability leaders?

In my experience of coaching sustainability leaders to transform their lives and careers, these four elements create the most successful coaching outcomes for sustainability leaders: working holistically across your past, present & future; using therapeutic tools to take the sting out of significant events; working deeply to reconnect with your values and purpose; and creating a practical, future focused plan. 

Holistic: working holistically across your past, present and future

Many sustainability leaders come to coaching thinking (perhaps, hoping) that the conversation will stay in the realms of the here and now. The issues you’re currently facing. They might expect that if they bring a work, or career related question to coaching, that the discussion will stay office-based. But that ignores the fact that however “professional” we may like to be, whatever environment we work in, and whether your organisation encourages it or not, we do all bring our “whole selves” to our work. 

Our upbringing, our family dynamics, our early experiences, our schooling, our early career experiences, all shape who we are and how we show up at work (whether we like it or not). Traditional coaching that begins with a focus on your goal and the practical options you have for achieving it often skirts around these deeper issues, and may only ever create surface level, tactical results. For the deeper, long-lasting change in outlook, self-belief and purpose that the leaders I work with are looking for, this can only result from working across all parts of your life in the coaching room. 

At the start of every coaching partnership, I ask my client to write out their life story in one or two pages of A4. I ask them to consider their whole life, not just replay their CV to me. I ask them to describe the good, the bad, and the ugly moments. We begin our coaching journey here, and we do this so we can get right to the heart of what’s going on, without wasting valuable time by dancing around the deeper issues.

Therapeutic: using therapeutic tools to take the sting out of significant events

It’s one thing to identify and discuss the early events that have shaped you today. In fact, you may not even need a coach to help you do this. Many of the clients I work with are very self aware and can point to formative experiences that continue to impact their lives. However, it’s quite another to take the sting out of them, put them to one side, and create new, more helpful perspectives. And just simply talking about them is unlikely to do the job. 

That’s why I was so pleased to discover the therapeutic tools and techniques that can be used by trained coaches to help neutralise significant events, and reframe limiting beliefs laid down in early life. The Paseda360 methods that I’m trained in take the best of neuroscience, psychology and behaviour change and channel it into helping leaders grow through coaching. Methods including Event Havening and Limitless Light Therapy help to rewire old patterns, heal old wounds and create lasting breakthroughs.

In every coaching partnership with a new client, whether they’re working with me for 1 month, 6 months, or a year, we always start by working intensively for a month using these tools. By doing this work first (my Stop Being Stuck package), we know that when we move on to exploring values, purpose and looking ahead to future plans, we are working on a deeper, and more meaningful level - which makes for more successful, long lasting results.  

Purpose: Working deeply to reconnect with your values and purpose

Most, if not all, long term coaching programmes will encourage you to think about your values and your purpose. But not all coaches will do this in the same way.

Firstly, there’s the matter of timing. Often, coaches will begin working with you by asking you about your values and purpose. However, until you’ve done the hard, deep work of peeling back the layers of your past experiences, and taking the sting out of your most difficult moments, it can be hard to be sure whose values and purpose you’re really talking about. So much of what we describe as our personal values and purpose are actually borrowed from other people, or formed as a response to difficult experiences. So it’s worth really digging down into that first, before unthinkingly parroting your parent, teacher or first boss’. 

Secondly, this is something that’s worth exploring deeply. Many coaches give you a list of values and ask you to pick words that resonate with you from the list. This often results in selecting words that ‘feel good’ but may not actually reflect what you really think, deep down. When I work with sustainability leaders we take a ‘bottom up’ approach to identifying values. We talk at length about what’s really important, and then work together to distil that into a set of core values. 

Thirdly, as a sustainability leader, you may describe yourself as ‘purpose-driven’. You may have already feel that you’ve found your purpose, to tackle social or environmental crises. This sometimes results in this element being somewhat ‘skipped over’ when working with a coach. But, this can feel a bit surface level, and not having enough clarity in this area can sometimes result in sustainability leaders losing their ‘mojo’, even whilst they are doing what, on paper at least, looks like their dream job. When I work with sustainability leaders, we dig down into the next level of detail. We explore why you’re drawn to the work you do. We explore the specific philosophy behind the mission you’re on. We discover where it might align to your organisation’s mission, and where it might diverge. 

Practical: Creating a practical, future focussed plan

OK, I agree, that this might seem an obvious thing to expect from coaching. But it’s important to highlight, because it’s where coaching often diverges from a purer form of therapy or counselling. When my clients bring a work or career related challenge to coaching, we may spend many sessions working on events, patterns and beliefs that have their roots outside of the work sphere. But we always come back to the original career or work related issue, with an exploration of options, with the development of a clear plan of action, and with the commitment to take those first steps towards change. 

In conclusion

For sustainability leaders who are exploring coaching, I recommend taking the time to find a coach who works holistically, and will help you tackle the root causes of your challenges to result in longer lasting transformation. Leaning into a deep exploration of your values and mission, before turning your attention to the future and taking practical steps forward will allow you to move forward with purpose. 

From Liv 💛

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