We all have inner voices chattering away to ourselves silently. We think, we judge, we imagine. It’s all going on, on the inside. We think about everyday things, we think about good things, and we think about challenges we are facing. But simply thinking about those challenges doesn’t necessarily resolve them. I find the thoughts simply go round and round without any resolution. It’s when we articulate those thoughts out loud, that we are able to get a better perspective…….
Talking out loud to ourselves as adults can be rather frowned upon; it’s certainly seen as a bit odd if we do it when others are around!
However, a 2019 study from Bangor University found that thinking and talking out loud brought many benefits; while yet another study suggested that talking to yourself might even be a sign of intelligence.
There is nothing wrong with having internal dialogues. They help us organise our thoughts and emotions. But the Bangor University study found that talking out loud while completing a task was found to improve control in comparison to inner talk.
But, whilst there can be many advantages to self-talk and inner dialogues, there is something missing from both….
Many years ago, a cartoon was published in a newspaper. In the first image, a ragged man stands on a desert island, pointing excitedly at a small craft out at sea and shouting, “Boat!”. In the next image, a ragged man sits in a small boat, pointing to the desert island, shouting with excitement, “Land!” This cartoon clearly shows two different perspectives on the same situation.
Imagine then taking the power of talking out loud and sharing, your thoughts, with someone else and, by extension, gaining a different perspective. When talking to another person, you structure what you’re saying, put your thought processes and your words in order to make things clear to that person, adding context and background to what you’re saying to explain further. And by doing that, you:
You can do this with friends, family or colleagues, but by working with a professional leadership coach, you will have a safe space to process your thoughts, to explore your own challenges and situation with someone who doesn’t bring expectations, attachments or judgment to that safe space. Someone who is objective and non-judgmental; who is not there to tell you what you should do and shouldn’t do, but actively listens to your thought processes, hears the voice tone, notices the body language and spots what you’re not saying, just as much as what you are.
Business Owners, Directors, and Managers all face challenges every day. Most of those challenges will be business orientated, but they can be personal issues that are starting to impinge on work-life. Coaching can be of specific benefit if you are facing a current challenge and unsure as to how to approach or solve it. On a more regular basis, it’s also used to help leaders lead more effectively and to help managers achieve and cope with promotion in their career paths.
Leadership coaching can be significant in helping successful leaders sharpen their leadership skills to tackle new challenges and inject fresh thinking into their lives.
At Growth Plans our Leadership Coaching provides dedicated time to explore your challenges, enable clarity of thinking, inject fresh thinking, and provide diversity of thinking; equipping you to make good decisions in the knowledge that you have thought them through from different perspectives.
Discover how Leadership Coaching can benefit you. Get in touch with Liz for a free consultation and see if she’s the right fit for you. Liz will provide that listening ear, that other perspective, to guide, challenge and support you in your aims – contact [email protected]
