The basis of coaching is founded on the now widely accepted principle that beneath the surface of our own language and actions, lies a concealed knowledge, an inner structure. This structure reflects our deep seated capabilities, our beliefs and values and ultimately our identity.

The greater awareness we have of this inherent structure, of discerning the patterns and making the connections, the greater control we have over our life. Following the same patterns in the same sequence, repeatedly, will always produce the same result. But start changing these and you will improve your leadership skills, your ability to establish a rapport with people, your self management skills, your ability to speak with a distinctive voice, mobilise people to drive the business forward and so on. By gaining greater clarity, the leader widens his choice, and through choice the possibility to achieve heightened performance, experience new growth and establish new areas of excellence.

Carpe Diem Coaching’s approach is based on certain key behavioural presuppositions brought to light by applied cognitive psychology, and which experience shows facilitate change. Amongst these are:

• the presupposition that each person has a very individual representation of the world, what one would call a ‘map’ of the world. Our individual map is not the actual territory, just like the abstract London tube map does not represent the actual layout of the tracks. Our map is our representation of the world through our own inner perceptions and experience. And it is to our map of reality that we respond and react to, not to reality itself. It follows that once you become aware of how your map is drawn and you are willing to change it to better suit your changing needs, you will also change your experience of ‘reality’;

• another presupposition is that every behaviour has a positive intention, however limiting or negative that behaviour may appear at first. By behaving in a given fashion, we make what we consider to be the best choice possible and available to us in a given context. However, life and circumstances change and it sometimes becomes necessary to change behaviour. That can prove difficult but coaching will help you achieve that without changing the values and beliefs that support that behaviour;
• still another presupposition is that people already have all the resources they need, including those necessary to undertake any kind of desired change. Only they sometimes forget that they actually have these resources, so what they need is to learn how to properly access these.

Coaching is a one-to-one collaborative process, an alliance between two people that is based on trust, candour and complete confidentiality. It is a give and take relationship between a coach and his/her client which provides the client with a safe space to engage with him/herself. Its aim is to encourage learning, invite creativity and deliver positive choices for a positive outcome.

The coach comes from a place of non judgemental and open curiosity. Non judgemental because the only thing that matters is for the client to become aware of his/her map of the world, so that he/she may then perform the changes required to realise the desired outcome. No one else, least the coach, will perform these changes. You the client will make those changes happen because you want to, not because someone told you to.