Our mental model of the world is the way we see the world, informed by our beliefs and our experiences in childhood and life.
- Have you looked at your beliefs about yourself and others?
- How can shifting your mental model be of value to you?
Our coaching work is based on partnering with coachees in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential.
As experienced coaches, we use a range of skills and techniques when we work with people to help them to build understanding of their individual motivations and challenges as well as work to understand their thinking, beliefs, attitudes and values that support or inhibit behavioural change. The total pattern of beliefs we hold blends together to form a mental model of the world, that is how we see ourselves, how we see others and our views of the world overall.
Most coachees know what they should be doing, and yet experience challenges in the ‘how to do’ in relation to taking the necessary action in context of high demand environments. They also need support and guidance to identify and unravel any internal limitations that stop them making the needed changes and taking relevant action.
These internal limitations can be a result of our mental models and can hold us back from achieving our goals. Beliefs that hold us back, we call self-limiting beliefs.
It is also important to recognise that we have developed those beliefs for a reason, often as protective mechanisms to get us through challenging times in life. Some of the patterns of thinking and belief are easy to identify and others seem to be further below the surface and not so readily accessed and understood. Getting to those older or more deep-seated beliefs, especially if they are unhelpful, comprises much of the hard work of coaching for coachees.
In coaching, we first establish the specific goals each person has and then work to identify what changes are needed. If appropriate we then work with some of the core beliefs. We encourage further exploration of those beliefs through a series of questions such as:
- Is this serving you well now?
- What could be a more helpful way to look at this?
- How might you be able to let go of this belief if it isn’t working for you?
- What might you need to change?
Often there are one or two key beliefs that need to be let go of to free a person to move forward and thrive. When it happens, we see this as a liberation and often significant and meaningful changes are then possible. From there, we can work on developing the skills, techniques and habits that support goal achievement.
The graphic attached to this article is made up of the following beliefs.
- I have to work hard
- Be competent
- Don’t show fear or weakness
- This is likely to go wrong
- I don’t deserve this
- Fear of failure
- I need people to like me
- Don’t stand out in the crowd
Do any of these apply to you?
Are they serving you well now?
Call us to discuss how coaching might assist you or your team.